With Brett agreeing to come on full-time to the JI, we would like to announce of advent of the Juvenile Instructor’s latest guest blogger, Elizabeth. Here is her self-introduction:

Hi, friends and fellow bloggers, my name is Elizabeth Pinborough. I am a first-year graduate student at Yale’s Divinity School. The degree that will occupy me for the next two years is a Master of Arts in Religion and the Arts, with a literature concentration. From the title of my degree, you can tell that the content of my study will be fairly fluid, but I hope to work toward developing a religious literary critical theory. I am also interested in religious material cultures (particularly that of Shakers), hymnody, and poetry. I am a dilettante in photography, film, singing, and drawing.

What she didn’t mention is that she is also a master of traditional Shaker dancing (I’ve witnessed it live and on video), a rare combination of brilliant and humble, and one of the kindest people I know. I’ve known Elizabeth for close to three years now, and feel confident that readers will greatly enjoy her contributions here.