Scott Cairns (Emeritus)

Scott Cairns (Ph.D., University of Utah), teaches modern and contemporary American literature and creative writing. His poems have appeared in such venues as The Atlantic MonthlyThe Paris ReviewThe New RepublicSpiritusImage, and Poetry, and have been anthologized in Upholding MysteryThe Pushcart Prize Collection, and Best American Spiritual Writing and elsewhere. His poetry collections include Compass of Affection: Poems New and Selected (Paraclete ’06), Philokalia (Zoo Press ’02), Recovered Body (Braziller ’98), Figures for the Ghost (Georgia ’94), The Translation of Babel (Georgia ’90), and The Theology of Doubt (Cleveland State ’85). With W. Scott Olsen, he co-edited The Sacred Place (Utah ’96), an anthology of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. He has taught at Kansas State University, Westminster College, University of North Texas, Old Dominion University. His spiritual memoir, Short Trip to the Edge (HarperSanFrancisco) and his translations and adaptations, Love’s Immensity: Mystics on the Endless Life (Paraclete) were both published in 2007. Most recently, The End of Suffering: Finding Purpose in our Pain, was named by Publishers’ Weekly as one of the top 100 books of 2009, and among the top 10 in the religion category.