I can’t say that I’ve read any of Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. I’m interested to read them at some point, but all the books… *le sigh*
However, I came across a great article written by Jeffrey Overstreet discussing the movie The Golden Compass in a very intelligent manner. I highly encourage you to check it out.
Hat tip to the illustrious Mir
I can’t say that I’ve read any of Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. I’m interested to read them at some point, but all the books… *le sigh*
However, I came across a great article written by Jeffrey Overstreet discussing the movie The Golden Compass in a very intelligent manner. I highly encourage you to check it out.
Hat tip to the illustrious Mir
I tried to shoe-horn these quotes into my discussion on violence, but they didn’t really fit. Still, they are thought provoking, which may be dangerous around these parts (watch yourself Mark).
From Mike Duran’s interview of Coach Culbetson of Coach’s Midnight Diner and Relief:
It seems to me that dedication to things of God is a dedication to reality, regardless of what that reality is. So, our publishing efforts reflect that value. My wife Kimberly and I have walked some tough roads, and we’ve found out that life isn’t always what we thought it was, or should be. So our goal is to allow authors to write with an abandon to reality, either directly in creative nonfiction or symbolically in fiction and poetry. When the authors of the Bible wrote their stuff, they weren’t abashed to talk about anything. Sex, violence, unresolved conflict and issues, tough calls, they’re all in there. We like to skip a lot of that because it’s not pretty, isn’t safe for our 6-year-old, or doesn’t jive with the picket fence world that we’d all prefer. But if it’s good enough for God to let into His book, we figure it’s good enough to let into ours.
This is from an article on Breakpoint discussing Russell Kirk, a Catholic thinker who writes ghostly tales:
“Alarming though (I hope) readers may find these tales,” Kirk writes, “I did not write them to impose meaningless terror upon the innocent . . . what I have attempted, rather, are experiments in the moral imagination. . . . All important literature has some ethical end; and the tale of the preternatural—as written by George Macdonald, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and other masters—can be an instrument for the recovery of moral order.”
I tried to shoe-horn these quotes into my discussion on violence, but they didn’t really fit. Still, they are thought provoking, which may be dangerous around these parts (watch yourself Mark).
From Mike Duran’s interview of Coach Culbetson of Coach’s Midnight Diner and Relief:
It seems to me that dedication to things of God is a dedication to reality, regardless of what that reality is. So, our publishing efforts reflect that value. My wife Kimberly and I have walked some tough roads, and we’ve found out that life isn’t always what we thought it was, or should be. So our goal is to allow authors to write with an abandon to reality, either directly in creative nonfiction or symbolically in fiction and poetry. When the authors of the Bible wrote their stuff, they weren’t abashed to talk about anything. Sex, violence, unresolved conflict and issues, tough calls, they’re all in there. We like to skip a lot of that because it’s not pretty, isn’t safe for our 6-year-old, or doesn’t jive with the picket fence world that we’d all prefer. But if it’s good enough for God to let into His book, we figure it’s good enough to let into ours.
This is from an article on Breakpoint discussing Russell Kirk, a Catholic thinker who writes ghostly tales:
“Alarming though (I hope) readers may find these tales,” Kirk writes, “I did not write them to impose meaningless terror upon the innocent . . . what I have attempted, rather, are experiments in the moral imagination. . . . All important literature has some ethical end; and the tale of the preternatural—as written by George Macdonald, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and other masters—can be an instrument for the recovery of moral order.”
4. Just tonight I was watching a show on the life and martyrdom of William Tyndale. Here was a godly man who lived in constant fear and danger of being discovered, yet still managing to translate the Bible into English and write books that would change history. Finally he was betrayed by a friend, imprisoned for 500 days, and when brought for execution had the privilege to be garroted so that he was dead when he was burned at the stake. I’m reminded again how our faith is not the sanitized, dressed up in “Sunday go meeting” clothes faith we live in America. Our predecessors suffered terribly for our rights and abilities to serve Jesus, and there are millions today who also are persecuted to the point of death for His name. To ignore this dramatic history and its legacy, to whitewash the blood of the martyrs, it would be a horrible injustice to the strength of our witness.
Ultimately as Christians it comes down to us being sensitive to the Holy Spirit and His guidance. If we write something that is integral to a great story, yet we realize that it will grieve the Spirit, do we serve the muse or the Lord? (Reminds me of the ending to Stranger Than Fiction) As I try to write, I want to increase my skill and what I can portray with words, but it has to come down to how it works out in my relationship with God. If being true to that means writing books that leave the squeamish behind, so be it. If it means sacrificing a little artistry to being a disciple, then make it so.
4. Just tonight I was watching a show on the life and martyrdom of William Tyndale. Here was a godly man who lived in constant fear and danger of being discovered, yet still managing to translate the Bible into English and write books that would change history. Finally he was betrayed by a friend, imprisoned for 500 days, and when brought for execution had the privilege to be garroted so that he was dead when he was burned at the stake. I’m reminded again how our faith is not the sanitized, dressed up in “Sunday go meeting” clothes faith we live in America. Our predecessors suffered terribly for our rights and abilities to serve Jesus, and there are millions today who also are persecuted to the point of death for His name. To ignore this dramatic history and its legacy, to whitewash the blood of the martyrs, it would be a horrible injustice to the strength of our witness.
Ultimately as Christians it comes down to us being sensitive to the Holy Spirit and His guidance. If we write something that is integral to a great story, yet we realize that it will grieve the Spirit, do we serve the muse or the Lord? (Reminds me of the ending to Stranger Than Fiction) As I try to write, I want to increase my skill and what I can portray with words, but it has to come down to how it works out in my relationship with God. If being true to that means writing books that leave the squeamish behind, so be it. If it means sacrificing a little artistry to being a disciple, then make it so.