--- title: Josh Matthews date: 2022-02-02T16:22:00-06:00 author: Click Rain Admin canonical_url: "https://www.dordt.edu/people/josh-matthews" section: People --- [ View Directory](https://www.dordt.edu/academics/faculty-information) ![](https://d3evso2dxyohou.cloudfront.net/generalUploads/people/6986f1cc9ab334014b6.jpg?mode=crop&pos=top-center&w=25&h=25&f=webp&c=ee260222&v=90c04c3672d4008c87b03f17a24205090d9f5a446c2017e1502532d656e301ae) [English](https://www.dordt.edu/academics/faculty-information?department=english) # Dr. Josh Matthews Professor of English ![]() [712-722-6250](tel:712-722-6250) ![]() ![]() **Dr. Josh Matthews** serves as professor of English at Dordt University. Outside of the classroom, Matthews has edited book reviews for [**Pro Rege**](https://www.dordt.edu/publications/pro_rege/), Dordt University's journal of reformed studies. He has also helped edit the [**Walt Whitman Quarterly Review**](https://pubs.lib.uiowa.edu/wwqr/) and the [**Walt Whitman Archive**](https://www.whitmanarchive.org/). Additionally, Matthews co-leads a class on Dante and the Italian Renaissance, which includes a nine-day trip to Florence, Italy. Matthews’ areas of interest span early American literature, science fiction, world literature, film as art, technical writing, and composition and literature. He has authored the following scholarly works: - "[**Towards a Robust and Scholarly Christian Engagement with Science Fiction**](https://christianscholars.com/towards-a-robust-and-scholarly-christian-engagement-with-science-fiction/)," *Christian Scholar's Review* 48. - "[**Walt Whitman's Vision of the Inferno, or Dante in Drum-Taps**](https://ir.uiowa.edu/wwqr/vol32/iss1/3/)," *Walt Whitman Quarterly Review* 32. - "[**The American Alighieri: Receptions of Dante in the United States, 1818-1867**](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=13&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CF0QFjAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fir.uiowa.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D3086%26context%3Detd&ei=q0N2U-_SCoSLqgaP54HICg&usg=AFQjCNGv78adUdvdlPrG9zzG0DJhx4rK7w&bvm=bv.66699033,d.b2k)" - "[***The Divine Comedy* as a Civil War Epic**](https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/the_journal_of_nineteenth_century_americanists/v001/1.2.matthews.pdf)", *J19: The Journal of Nineteenth-Century Americanists* I. - "[**Peddlers of the Rod: Melville's 'The Lightning-Rod Man' and the Antebellum Periodical Market**](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1750-1849.2010.01330.x/abstract)", *Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies* 12. In addition to his scholarly publications, Matthews shares his expertise in film through his YouTube channel, [*Learning About Movies*](http://www.youtube.com/c/LearningaboutMovies)*,*and his personal website, [joshmatthews.org](http://joshmatthews.org). **Education:** - PhD, English, University of Iowa, 2012. - MA, English, Kent State University, 2005. - BA, English, Indiana University, 2003. --- ## Articles by Josh Matthews [ ![](https://d3evso2dxyohou.cloudfront.net/generalUploads/iat-movies-commercials.jpg?mode=crop&pos=center-center&w=56&h=33&f=webp&c=03b3ec66&v=0bb99738e0cfaeb6b6e7c06f90d58dc780b4751dd9c538c7262d1502a338e2ce) Essays Aug 29, 2025 ### Are Movies Just Commercial Products Now? By Josh Matthews Many of today’s films seem to be replicas designed for maximum market appeal, not meaning. Does the modern cinema reveal a crisis of imagination? Read More ](https://www.dordt.edu/in-all-things/are-movies-just-commercial-products-now) [ ![](https://d3evso2dxyohou.cloudfront.net/generalUploads/iatchildrensfilm.jpg?mode=crop&pos=0.3763-0.3983&w=56&h=33&f=webp&c=7437af2d&v=892098583a16e6a33b779208b5073cbccc0e13922e562b8d30ad2c4b61f633f6) Essays May 05, 2025 ### International Children’s Movies: A Review of the Last Thirty Years By Josh Matthews What do children’s movies say about culture and what we value? The international films on this list resist the noise of mainstream media and return us to stories that nourish rather than exhaust. Read More ](https://www.dordt.edu/in-all-things/international-childrens-movies-a-review-of-the-last-thirty-years) [ ![](https://d3evso2dxyohou.cloudfront.net/generalUploads/thecircle.jpg?mode=crop&pos=center-center&w=56&h=33&f=webp&c=ab86167a&v=fa0813c355099c1bc6a1a33584095329ce59e37ca8b50ff1d5c97ae46789ddfb) Essays Apr 28, 2025 ### The Circle By Josh Matthews When convenience and connection are sold as progress, what do we sacrifice in the process? Films like The Circle force us to confront uncomfortable truths and evaluate where we place our trust and hope in a quickly evolving digital age. Read More ](https://www.dordt.edu/in-all-things/the-circle)