Academic Publications
Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away, edited by Emily Strand and Amy H. Sturgis (Vernon Press, July 2023), with a foreword by Ian Doescher, now available for purchase here. Contains the chapter “21-87: Not Just a Number in Star Wars” by Emily Strand.
Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier, edited by Amy H. Sturgis and Emily Strand (Vernon Press, April 2023), with a foreword by Dr. Una McCormack, now available for purchase here.
Forthcoming: Potterversity: Essays Exploring the World of Harry Potter, edited by Kathryn N. McDaniel and Emily Strand (McFarland Books, expected 2023); contains the chapter “The Real Magic of Christmas in Harry Potter” by Emily Strand
Forthcoming: “Parenting Models in Potter: Human and Divine” by Emily Strand in The Ivory Tower, Harry Potter, and Beyond, edited by Lana Whited, University of Missouri Press, expected 2023
“Said Hermione Earnestly: Harry Potter’s Prose and Why It Doesn’t Matter” by Emily Strand in Open at the Close: Literary Essays on Harry Potter, edited by Cecilia Konchar Farr, University Press of Mississippi, 2022; available for purchase here)
“Dobby the Robot: the Science Fiction in Harry Potter” in Mythlore Vol. 38 (no. 1), Fall 2019 (full article download here)
“Harry Potter and the Sacramental Principle” in Worship Vol. 93, Oct. 2019 (full article download here)
“The Second War was Won on the Quidditch Pitch of Hogwarts: Quidditch as a Symbol Set” in Harry Potter for Nerds, Vol. 2, edited by Kathryn McDaniel, Ph.D. and Travis Prinzi (Unlocking Press, 2015) (full article available on Academia.edu here)
Many essays on religion and popular fiction for the website HogwartsProfessor.com (search site for “Emily Strand”)
Catechetical Publications
In 2012, Emily authored Mass 101: Liturgy and Life for Liguori Publications, and in 2013 the book was published to excellent reviews. The book seeks to help life-long Catholics or those who are new to the faith get more out of the experience of Mass through understanding its history, meaning, structure and significance. The book focuses on the Paschal Mystery as central to Catholic liturgy, and its clear expression in worship as formative to the lives we lead after Mass. It is available for purchase where Catholic books are sold and online, especially through the publisher’s website.
Emily has also authored Your Baby’s Baptism, a handbook on infant baptism aimed at parents and godparents. Emily also authored the accompanying Leader Guide to Your Baby’s Baptism, which provides help to sacramental preparation leaders. Both resources are available through Liguori’s website.
While Emily was Director of Liturgy at the University of Dayton, she also wrote many essays on liturgical catechesis with youth and young adults for the Canadian ministry magazine Celebrate!, published by Novalis.
Conference presentations of note
“Pastoral Lessons from Fr. Clarence Rivers” with Eric T. Styles, National Black Catholic Congress, National Harbor, Maryland, July 2023
“One Way Out: the Enduring Influence of Arthur Lipsett’s 21-87 on Star Wars,” Realizing Resistance Episode III conference (virtual), the Digital Cultural Studies Cooperative, May 4-6, 2023
“Pastoral Lessons from Fr. Clarence Rivers” with Eric T. Styles, National Association for Pastoral Musicians annual convention, Louisville, KY, June, 2022
“Magical Muggle Holidays,” Chestnut Hill Harry Potter Academic Conference, Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA, October 2021
“Midi-chlorians, From a Certain Point of View,” Southwest Popular and American Culture Association conference (virtual), February 25, 2021
“Eucharistic Themes in Harry Potter,” Chestnut Hill College Harry Potter Academic Conference, Chestnut Hill, PA (virtual conference), October 16-17, 2020 (available on YouTube here)
“Selecting Music for Liturgy with Theological Savvy,” breakout session for the 43rd annual National Pastoral Musicians Association national conference (virtual conference), July 7, 2020 – named one of the Top Ten conference offerings
“Why the Books are Better,” Chestnut Hill College Harry Potter Academic Conference, Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA, October 2019
“Faery in Tolkien as a Metaphor for the Numinous,” the Ohio State University Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies’ Popular Culture and the Deep Past conference, February 2019
“Robots, Droids, House-Elves: How Science Fiction Informs Harry Potter,” Chestnut Hill Harry Potter Academic Conference, Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA, October 2018
“The Legacy of Fr. Rivers: Theology,” Breakout for National Pastoral Musician’s Assoc. conference, Cincinnati, OH, July 2017
“Harry Potter and the Sacramental Principle,” the Ohio State University Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies’ Popular Culture and the Deep Past conference, February 2017 (available on YouTube here)