Articles by Michael J. Morris, PhD
The history, language, manuscripts, and scholarship beneath The First Silence.
Explore the novel’s setting
Enter through the surviving art, manuscripts, places, and objects that inform the story.
Path I
Islands, manuscripts, language, and the histories that enter The First Silence. The documented past remains distinct from the novel's invention.
Folio 004
Genesis devotes four difficult verses to the sons of God and the Nephilim. The Book of Watchers develops that episode into an account of rebellion, illicit teaching, violence, and judgment.
5 minute read
Read article →Folio 001
Why a small Hebridean island became one of the most consequential centers of faith, learning, pilgrimage, and manuscript culture in the medieval world.
7 minute read
Read article →Folio 002
From the language of Eden to the ambition of Babel: Genesis, the Watchers and Augustine open a question at the heart of The First Silence.
6 minute read
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General-reader guides to the texts, practices, and interpretive problems Michael has studied as a biblical scholar.
Folio 003
The ancient response to evil was not limited to expelling a demon after attack. Some texts sought protection before the danger arrived.
7 minute read
Read article →Folio 005
Exorcism responds after evil has arrived. Apotropaism asks an earlier question: how might danger be turned away before it takes hold?
5 minute read
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