Seeing consists of twenty brief essays about the role of contemporary artists of faith, their audience, and Christianity. These essays bring to discussion topics from postmodernism, authenticity and iconoclasm to individualism, beauty, and truth. Each essay focuses on issues that relate to how artists of faith approach their thinking about art, how viewers can enhance their experience of artworks and the relationship between Postmodernism and Christianity. Campbell explores, within the current Postmodernist environment, how art and Christianity can be discussed in the present tense and how Art by Contemporary Christians is now a topic for serious discussion that cannot be dismissed as merely an oxymoron. These essays bring to discussion issues that have been ignored by mainstream art publications.
Parktails is an adventure that takes place in the aftermath of a great forest fire. Once the fire is extinguished, the animals of Geyser District, led by Zornova and Gondzor, are forced to confront numerous difficulties. Many of these displaced animals become despondent as a result of the loss of homes, relatives, and friends. As part of their attempts to find answers, they send parties of their representatives to oracles in search of answers and wisdom. While searching they confront a variety of dangers and obstacles, which they must overcome for the sake of their community. Unfortunately, the answers are not always clear, so they work together to interpret these ambiguous nuggets of wisdom.
"What happens when the Edenic protection of a national park is visited with a destructive fire of biblical proportions? In his first novel, Doug Campbell gives us a window on the lives of those most overturned in the calamity, the animals . . . [They] must make . . . decisions about their future, always painfully aware of what humans are doing . . . [Conflict erupts as] prophetic omens drive the animals on a quest to find sacred space and safety."
Jay Beaman
Author of Pentecostal Pacifism
A book of 100 poems written during the years before the author's stroke in 2012.
"In an age when complex ideas and important events are too often reduced to the minimalist garble of text and tweet, when the very notion of communicated truth is in question, the poetry of Douglas Campbell is nothing less than long-sought oasis - a cool and refreshing elixir of words generated in the context of streams of deep, thoughtful and eloquent reflection. Luminous, artful, evocative, playful, and thought-provoking, Campbell's poems return the reader to places and times long forgotten, and draw them into others yet to be imagined. Turning Radius is every bit as life-giving as a draught of cool water to a thirst ravaged traveler long lost in the desert."
Mark Terry
Chair, Department of Art and Design
George Fox University
Poetry written during the years before the author's stroke in 2012.
“Tree Story and Other Poems challenges us to see through a different lens, one that clarifies and sharpens the natural world, and that places humans as supporting actors in the grand drama nature gives us. It beautifully traces the centuries-old life of a Douglas Fir, the tree itself narrating an epic journey with the action occurring at the tree’s roots and around its trunk. Subsequent poems limn the theme established by “Tree Story”: that is, we are called to celebrate life, even amidst the entropy and decay of a seemingly indiscriminate nature.”
Melanie Mock
Professor of English
George Fox University
Short stories written during the years before the author's stroke in 2012.
A series of short stories, "Parables Ironic and Grotesque" is true to its title: irony reigns in these biting and ofttimes darkly humorous tales. Campbell invites us to ponder upon the common follies of his fellow man, highlighting such weaknesses as pride, selfishness, fear, and greed, and pointing out the further foolishness of ignoring such shortcomings. Allegorical in nature, this body of work challenges the reader to a closer look into their own frailties and deficiencies, and invites him to a healthy dose of quiet introspection.
Karen Bowdoin
Associate Professor of Art and Design
George Fox University