Welcome to the BEN KILPELA Web Site

Welcome to the Ben Kilpela Web Site

Sylvan Lake Memories of the Ano & Lill Kilpela Family: A tribute to my grandparents, my parents, aunts, and uncles, and "The Lake"

Ben Kilpela is a Finnish-American writer, fund-raising writer, and Great Lakes ship’s captain from Okemos and Copper Harbor, Michigan (CH in the summer). Feel free to write.

On this site are pages devoted to my various passions:

1. Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior, where our family’s historic passenger ferry transports people all summer long;

2. Yvor Winters, the cantankerous and controversial literary critic who has deeply influenced me in my literary studies; and

3. Fiction and philosophical non-fiction writings.

BOOKS: I have four books published on this site currently:

1. a collection of short stories;

2. a collection of philosophical tales on a philosophical problem related to skepticism that has received little attention, what I call “the problem of disagreement”;

3. a book on my experiences of doubting Christianity and the experience of philosophical doubt in general; and

4. my wide-ranging chrestomathy on the writings of Yvor Winters, poetry and criticism.

Ben’s YVOR WINTERS Web Site: One of the most influential thinkers in my life has been the controversial poet and literary critic Yvor Winters, who was a defender of rational thought, traditional literary structures, and moral purpose in the literary arts. He was once, in the 40s and 50s, a fairly prominent figure in American literary criticism but is now rather obscure. The web site is a general introduction to Winters’s thought and career. He has been very meaningful in my journeys in literature and philosophy, and I hope you will learn more about him at my site and be inspired read some of his works. He has never had a web site dedicated to his work -- until now.

Ben’s ISLE ROYALE Web Site: My family’s passenger ferry boat, the Isle Royale Queen IV, takes passengers to Isle Royale National Park most days in summer. I have a large site devoted to this extraordinary place, one of only two island national parks in the US, including photo essays about the island. You can email me for more information about Isle Royale or go to the web site of the Kilpela Family's Ferry Service, sailing out of the beautiful hamlet of Copper Harbor, Michigan.

My 1991 book A Journal on Doubt is a featured work on my site. It has a new preface, the original 1991 preface, a new section of quotes on doubt, and new topic headings. I wrote the book to help Christians who struggle with doubt keep their faith. Though helping Christians shore up their faith doesn't concern as much now as it once did, I believe the book has value as a close look at the nature of skepticism and doubting and at the specific question of skepticism of Christianity.