Christos Jonathan Seth Hayward was born in 1975 in Riverside, California and had a childhood filled with curiosity and exploration. In eighth grade, he ranked 7th in the U.S. in the 1989 MathCounts competition, programmed a four dimensional maze, and did an independent study of calculus. This mathematical fascination prepared the way, over time, to ongoing explorations in other areas. These other explorations would feed into his work as an author on the web.
Hayward entered high school in 1989 at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. There he continued in mathematics while pursuing a breadth of other interests. These interests laid broad and deep foundations for his later multidisciplinary endeavors on the web. In 1990-92, he administered a student-use social network that effectively provided web 2.0 functionality before the web became widely known. He also participated in, and wrote for, discussions on the social network, continued in French, and pursued more whimsical endeavors such as programming a video game on his calculator. He graduated in absentia in 1992, away in Washington, D.C. for a math contest.
He went on to study at Wheaton as a National Merit Scholar majoring in math in 1992, before transferring in 1994 to Calvin. Outside of class time at these two schools, he continued with interests that would come to have surprising connections and bear fruit in his later writing. He read the Bible at length, began working on the web, and started to write works that would be published on his main site. During his studies at Calvin, he earned an advanced certificate from the Sorbonne in 1995 before graduating from Calvin in 1996.
He began his post-graduate education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1996. He earned his M.S. in applied math in 1998 with a computational science and engineering option and being the first person to graduate with the new master's thesis option. During that time, he began to explore other languages besides French and English. He passed a proficiency test to opt out of a year's German coursework within two weeks of self-study. (He would go on to study well over a dozen dialects and languages: ancient, medieval, modern, "conlang," computer...) By the time Hayward had finished his first master's, he had already begun his literature site. This site began to receive the first of what would grow, over years, to become more than 200 awards.
After some time out of school and beginning work as a computer consultant, Hayward enrolled at Cambridge in 2002. He earned a diploma (2003) and second master's (2004), this time an M.Phil. in theology directed under the philosophy of religion seminar. He then completed doctoral coursework in theology at Fordham University (2005-7), and briefly audited postgraduate anthropology and linguistics courses at Wheaton (2007). He is continuing computer work and writing literature, and his work has been published in journals including Inner Sanctum, Noesis, Perfection, Ubiquity, and Vidya, in addition to works for the popular Orthodox humor site, The Onion Dome, and a puzzle analysis published by some of the people at IBM's Watson Labs.
Hayward holds both a distinctive perspective and an ability to make surprising connections. Everything is connected, and this enriches his writing. His diverse academic interests and achievements are tied to an ability to make connections between seemingly remote areas, which brings a very rich fuel to see old things in new ways and new things in old ways. One Cambridge thesis used a concept in object-oriented programming as a basis for analysis in assessing Biblical studies. Such connections are a part of his writing and life. Hayward wears many hats: author, philosopher, theologian, artist, poet, wayfarer, philologist, inventor, web guru, preacher, teacher. He has created in, if anything, more genres than these hats: annotated bibliography, article, Borges-style short works, Christian, dictionary, dystopia, Eastern Orthodox, essay, experimental, fantasy, game, game review, humor, imaginary anthropology, interactive fiction, journal, koan, metacognition, mysticism, novella, parody, philosophy, poetry, poster, prayer, reference, satire, science fiction, short story, Socratic dialogue, speculative fiction, and theology.
All of these add a unique spice to what he writes, whether it be a story he wrote while doing postgraduate work at Cambridge and overcoming an advanced state of cancer (2003), a paean of praise about the beauty of Creation (2005), a meditation on what more time is than what a clock measures (2006), a revisited version of Plato's famous allegory (2007), a parable about the dark side of being considered someone with unusual talent (2008), the story of a young man's spiritual awakening after discovering a book of Arthurian legends (2008), a paean of praise about the glory of the Creator (2009), a poetic meditation on silcence as organic food for the soul (2010), a pilgrimage that begins in Narnia (2011), or a poetic meditation on treasure (2012).
And people are starting to talk. John Burroughs of the Midwest Book Review wrote:
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The Sign of the Grail, 9780615202198
5 stars:
Down through the centuries, the Legend of King Arthur has been used as an icon for so many literary works in the western world. "The Sign of the Grail" is a collection of memorable literary works by CJS Hayward centering around the Holy Grail and what it means to orthodox religion, as well as those who follow those teachings. Tackling diverse subjects such as iconography and an earthly paradise, he pulls no punches when dealing with many of the topics laid out through the legends. "The Sign of the Grail" is a unique, scholarly, and thorough examination of the Grail mythos, granting it a top recommendation for academia and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in these subjects. Also very highly recommended for personal, academic, and community library collections are CJS Hayward's other deftly written and original literary works, essays, and commentaries compilations and anthologies: "Yonder" (9780615202174, $40.00); "Firestorm 2034" (9780615202167, $40.00), "A Cord of Seven Strands" (9780615202174, $40.00), "The Steel Orb" (9780615193618, $40.00), "The Christmas Tales" (9780615193632, $40.00), and "Hayward's Unabridged Dictionary" (9780615193625, $40.00).
John Burroughs
Reviewer
[The Midwest Book Review]
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Sydney "Nicoletta" Freedman of the Irish World Academy of Music at the University of Limerick, wrote of the 2010
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Doxology:
Doxology, 9780557346509
5 stars:
Jonathan/C.J.S. Hayward's Doxology is an essential book of wisdom for our times. The truths that it contains, however, are not from our times but are the teachings and experiences of the Church. Hayward has elucidated the commandments of Christ and the wisdom of the saints for modern readers with the eyes of a fellow struggler in our contemporary world. He shows us how the truth is not found in any of the clamoring voices around us--including those who claim to speak for Christians--but rather in Christ and His Church, in carrying out our lives therein.
The book consists of twelve works, not by coincidence, as Hayward is drawing on the biblical symbolism of the number. They represent several genres and treat various contemporary topics, joining the ever-relevant words of the fathers with the author's astute observations and experiences, Christian faith with its practical implications for current struggles. Three outstanding examples are "Silence: Organic Food for the Soul," "Religion and Science Is Not Just Intelligent Design vs. Evolution," and "Exotic Golden Ages and Restoring Harmony with Nature: Anatomy of a Passion." Orthodox readers and even those from other faiths will find these articles intriguing if not enlightening. The remaining topics are just as timely and include everything from technology and spiritual growth to survival during economic hardship, from evangelical converts to ecumenism, and everything in between. The overarching theme in Hayward's discussion of such issues is the presence of God, both how such issues appear when illumined by His truth and glory and how His glory can be seen even in our troubled world. The final three works demonstrate this two-fold perspective along with the aforementioned weaving of human experience and Orthodox faith. The author's reflections on his life are followed by "a meditation on what it is to have the maximum in life," and the book fittingly ends with a doxological hymn of praise to the Trinity...
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Diane Donovan, eBook Reviewer for the Midwest Book Review on The Best of Jonathan's Corner: An Anthology of Orthodox Christian Theology:
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5 stars:
The Best of Jonathan's Corner: An Anthology of Orthodox Christian Theology
Christos Jonathan Seth Hayward
C.J.S. Hayward Publications
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0072ZX512
www.jonathanscorner.com
ASIN: B0072ZX512 [$2.99]
Christos Jonathan Seth Hayward's kindle e-book THE BEST OF JONATHAN'S CORNER: AN ANTHOLOGY OF ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY is a new release recommended for any Christian theology reader and addresses spiritual issues of special concern to any Orthodox Christian. Discussions range from art and worship to the unique Eastern Orthodox perspective on leading a spiritual life and blend essays with poetic and spiritual reflections from Jonathan's Corner.
Author Christos Jonathan Seth Hayward "lives to contemplate God, and worship his glory": that said, he discusses the many ways this feeling can be reflected by 'creating treasure' in life; one of which is Jonathan's Corner, an online storehouse of spiritual thinking.
"There are treasures everywhere" - spiritual insights, that is - and THE BEST OF JONATHAN'S CORNER is one of them.
From an interview discussing "the damned backswing" and category theory's math and relationship to spirituality to the lovely reflection "The Gospel is the story of God changing the game", poetic, spiritual and intellectual observations blend in a series of discourses that are delightfully varied in scope, subject, and insights.
One wouldn't expect the epic poem 'A Pilgrimage From Narnia' to accompany an essay discussing theological 'trick questions' in 'Two Decisive Moments'; nor a spiritual hymn 'Akathist Hymn to St. Philaret the Merciful' to be juxtaposed with a chart analyzing basic philosophical and spiritual questions, Orthodox Christianity, Academic Theology, and Modern Science.
Each piece is a delight: partially because each 'speaks' using a different voice and partially because a diversity of topics and cross-connections between theology and everyday living makes the entire collection a delight to read, packed with unexpected twists, turns, and intellectual challenges.
Fans of C.S. Lewis and similar Christian thinkers will find THE BEST OF JONATHAN'S CORNER: AN ANTHOLOGY OF ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY an absolute delight.
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Hayward remains active in computers; in 2010 he posted a proof of concept for Ajax without JavaScript or client-side scripting that, like the webport of his four dimensional maze, received coverage on Slashdot. His Django JavaScript Integration: AJAX and jQuery is published January 2011 by Packt Publications. Hayward continues to grow and develop as a web development professional who cares deeply about usability.
And faith? Math and computers have played a large part in Hayward's life, but they have never been as important to him as faith. Hayward is fond of C.S. Lewis's words, "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun is risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." Faith is not one more interest. It is the ground for every other concern. Almost everything that he writes now is in relation to Orthodox faith and spirituality, and growing into a life of community in the Church.
And that has made all the difference.
