by Jason Joyner | Aug 1, 2007 | Blog, books, fiction, non-fiction, reading
My wife homeschools our two older boys. Of course this means mailing lists! How these people find out about you, I don’t know, but in no time we were receiving catalogs and whatnot related to homeschooling and curriculum.
I just got one catalog from Memoria Press called The Classical Teacher. It pushes classical education like Latin and rhetoric. What was interesting was a little article inside by Martin Cothran called “Is Fiction False?”
He discusses the idea that we can’t take all of our information in by just rational/logical means. He argues that fiction not only can speak to the head, but to the heart. A story can put a truth in a context and see how it works out.
A good quote from the article:
I have a friend who regularly asks me to recommend books for him to read. And among the books I recommend are a good dose of fiction, mostly novels. His response is always the same: a grimace, followed by the declaration, “Is that fiction? I just don’t read much fiction.” My rebuttal has become equally predictable: “Yes, I understand,” I say. “In fact, I’m thinking of only breathing out of one lung from now on.” Or: “I’m wondering why I need two eyes: I’m thinking of just putting one out.” He gets the message: you only limit your understanding if you limit yourself to expository or argumentative writing.
Good thoughts. We can know information, but we don’t necessarily know something. “”…By merely assenting to a proposition about something, we have understood it.” When fiction places a concept into a situation and sees how it works outside in an experiential realm, we can be more fully impacted by the concept.
So go read some good fiction before the summer days slip away.
Currently reading: (3 non-fiction and 3 fiction)
Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture
Intercessory Prayer
It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian
The Legend of the Firefish
Return of the Guardian King
Shivering World
by Jason Joyner | Aug 1, 2007 | Blog, books, fiction, non-fiction, reading
My wife homeschools our two older boys. Of course this means mailing lists! How these people find out about you, I don’t know, but in no time we were receiving catalogs and whatnot related to homeschooling and curriculum.
I just got one catalog from Memoria Press called The Classical Teacher. It pushes classical education like Latin and rhetoric. What was interesting was a little article inside by Martin Cothran called “Is Fiction False?”
He discusses the idea that we can’t take all of our information in by just rational/logical means. He argues that fiction not only can speak to the head, but to the heart. A story can put a truth in a context and see how it works out.
A good quote from the article:
I have a friend who regularly asks me to recommend books for him to read. And among the books I recommend are a good dose of fiction, mostly novels. His response is always the same: a grimace, followed by the declaration, “Is that fiction? I just don’t read much fiction.” My rebuttal has become equally predictable: “Yes, I understand,” I say. “In fact, I’m thinking of only breathing out of one lung from now on.” Or: “I’m wondering why I need two eyes: I’m thinking of just putting one out.” He gets the message: you only limit your understanding if you limit yourself to expository or argumentative writing.
Good thoughts. We can know information, but we don’t necessarily know something. “”…By merely assenting to a proposition about something, we have understood it.” When fiction places a concept into a situation and sees how it works outside in an experiential realm, we can be more fully impacted by the concept.
So go read some good fiction before the summer days slip away.
Currently reading: (3 non-fiction and 3 fiction)
Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture
Intercessory Prayer
It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian
The Legend of the Firefish
Return of the Guardian King
Shivering World
by Jason Joyner | Jun 6, 2007 | Blog, books, CFBA, fiction
This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing These Boots Weren’t Made for Walking (WATERBROOK Press June 19, 2007) by Melody Carlson
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Melody Carlson has published over 100 books for adults, children, and teens, including On This Day, Finding Alice, the Notes from a Spinning Planet series, and Homeward, which won the Rita Award from Romance Writers of America. She and her husband, the parents of two grown sons, make their home near the Cascade Mountains in Central Oregon. Melody is a full-time writer as well as an avid gardener, biker, skier, and hiker.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Willing to make the necessary sacrifices–even skipping the occasional latte–to ensure career success, 31-year-old Cassidy Cantrell “invests” in a chic pair of boots, certain they’ll make a spectacular impression and help seal the deal on a long-anticipated promotion from her Seattle employer.
But reality tromps all over her expectations. Cassie’s job is abruptly eliminated–and her love life obliterated, when her longtime boyfriend dumps her for a “friend.” Her self-esteem in tatters, Cassie limps home to the resort town she once so eagerly fled–only to find her recently divorced mother transformed into a gorgeous fifty-something babe with a thriving social life. Cassie wrestles with envy and apathy as she considers the dismal shape of her own physique and romantic prospects. What will it take for her to jump back into life and regain her stride?
This sassy and hilarious novel leads readers on a romp through the wilds of relationships, romance, career, and spirituality, revealing that, while God’s plans may look drastically different than our own, it’ll always be a perfect fit.
by Jason Joyner | Jun 6, 2007 | Blog, books, CFBA, fiction
This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing These Boots Weren’t Made for Walking (WATERBROOK Press June 19, 2007) by Melody Carlson
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Melody Carlson has published over 100 books for adults, children, and teens, including On This Day, Finding Alice, the Notes from a Spinning Planet series, and Homeward, which won the Rita Award from Romance Writers of America. She and her husband, the parents of two grown sons, make their home near the Cascade Mountains in Central Oregon. Melody is a full-time writer as well as an avid gardener, biker, skier, and hiker.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Willing to make the necessary sacrifices–even skipping the occasional latte–to ensure career success, 31-year-old Cassidy Cantrell “invests” in a chic pair of boots, certain they’ll make a spectacular impression and help seal the deal on a long-anticipated promotion from her Seattle employer.
But reality tromps all over her expectations. Cassie’s job is abruptly eliminated–and her love life obliterated, when her longtime boyfriend dumps her for a “friend.” Her self-esteem in tatters, Cassie limps home to the resort town she once so eagerly fled–only to find her recently divorced mother transformed into a gorgeous fifty-something babe with a thriving social life. Cassie wrestles with envy and apathy as she considers the dismal shape of her own physique and romantic prospects. What will it take for her to jump back into life and regain her stride?
This sassy and hilarious novel leads readers on a romp through the wilds of relationships, romance, career, and spirituality, revealing that, while God’s plans may look drastically different than our own, it’ll always be a perfect fit.
by Jason Joyner | May 15, 2007 | Biblical worldview, Blog, books, fiction, music
(For reference: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, and Day 6)
Time to wrap up this topic before it becomes “Day 33”. Helps me to have something to say each day, but I don’t want to end up rambling either. Today is mainly scattershot, dealing with a few separate issues.
1. Looks like I was anticipating what CCM Magazine was doing. Now instead of CCM standing for “contemporary Christian music,” it stands for “Christ. Community. Music.” They will be discussing musicians who are Christians, not just ones that publish under “Christian” labels to Christian book stores. Here’s CCM’s announcement, and a response at a Christianity Today blog, as well as a listing of some of the musicians that don’t fall under the CCM label.
2. Becky asked about false teaching. Good question! Next? (Just kidding)
Again I think it comes back to realizing that pop culture shouldn’t be where we get our discipleship and daily bread. This issue can get very tricky because some groups consider speaking in tongues as “false teaching” whereas Pentecostals hold that dear as a Biblical teaching. I know she is referring to major issues like the person/deity of Jesus. I think that major Christian publications will probably catch a lot of these. A prominent preacher, Carlton Pearson, who had released gospel albums and had performed with Carmen, started teaching universal salvation. Quickly this was reported in Charisma magazine, and most national figures he associated with pulled away from him.
I think my point is that it is not up to us as consumers to be the Holy Spirit for the artists. There is a fine line on this issue, for sure. The review of The Light of Eidon mentioned on day 2 suggested there was an inappropriate bedroom scene and the book should be avoided. I argue that the scene was NOT inappropriate (the scene doesn’t have anatomical references, and is the literary equivalent of 2 people kissing on scene while the camera fades) , but perhaps more than some people (mainly young kids) should read. I would like to see a reviewer say, “Hey, this book has [this], be careful” rather than the way it was handled in the above example. What if it was more explicit? It does get trickier there. I don’t pretend to have all the answers in this case. I think we know when something is grossly wrong, but The DaVinci Code might prove me wrong. Of course, Dan Brown is not a Christian producing art, which is my premise…
3. There is a real movement to try and encourage excellence in Christian fiction and music. Why not? Should we do anything less than our best for our Lord?
There has been a stigma with these arenas that Christian fiction or music was synonymous with lesser quality – that the art was merely packaging for a sermon. There are a lot of conversations on the web regarding letting our creativity be for art’s sake first of all. I’ve touched on that in this series, and just a few places that discuss this include Infuze, Faith in Fiction, and the Master’s Artist, as well as many individual blogs. I love the conversations at these places, and want to see some tangible results from it all.
However, I have sensed a critical spirit creeping up as a reaction to the “lesser quality” charge. It is almost that, to get away from this label, we can’t acknowledge or enjoy lesser works. In certain circles, it is almost a badge of shame to say you liked the Left Behind books. Were they high literature? No. Did I read some? Yes, until I grew tired of the formulaic delivery in each book. Should I be snooty over someone who read and enjoyed them? Hopefully those who read Left Behind have moved on to read more Christian fiction.
Is the quality label fair? I’ve seen plenty of bad books and music in the secular arena, yet Christians get unfairly stigmatized in my opinion. There used to be less choice in the CBA, but this has really begun to change over the last several years.
Mark Bertrand had a timely post called “Bring on Bad” where he admitted that bad books can be fun and serve a purpose, with a link to a Sunday Times article “Why Not the Worst?” (may require free registration) that also discusses the same topic. Now Mark is a paragon of good taste and a good voice for improving our craft, to aspire to the classics and not just good enough to get published. I don’t want to tarnish his image here 😉 . But it touched on this feeling of criticalness I’ve been feeling in some circles.
When I did 9 months of Bible school, one of the best things I did was to bring a few old Louis L’amour novels. I’d read them many times when young. After months of studying and living and breathing Biblical times, it was a real treasure to sit down with something unrelated, something I didn’t have to really think about, and enjoy it. They followed the L’amour formula to a tee, but it was nice to have such a mental break.
I want to see Christians produce the highest quality fiction, music, paintings, films, or whatever medium they choose to create in, as we are motivated by the greatest Creator. But we don’t have to get too uptight about it either.
—
Have I said enough now? I think so. Fire away with questions, comments, concerns, quibbles, or complaints.
by Jason Joyner | May 15, 2007 | Biblical worldview, Blog, books, fiction, music
(For reference: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, and Day 6)
Time to wrap up this topic before it becomes “Day 33”. Helps me to have something to say each day, but I don’t want to end up rambling either. Today is mainly scattershot, dealing with a few separate issues.
1. Looks like I was anticipating what CCM Magazine was doing. Now instead of CCM standing for “contemporary Christian music,” it stands for “Christ. Community. Music.” They will be discussing musicians who are Christians, not just ones that publish under “Christian” labels to Christian book stores. Here’s CCM’s announcement, and a response at a Christianity Today blog, as well as a listing of some of the musicians that don’t fall under the CCM label.
2. Becky asked about false teaching. Good question! Next? (Just kidding)
Again I think it comes back to realizing that pop culture shouldn’t be where we get our discipleship and daily bread. This issue can get very tricky because some groups consider speaking in tongues as “false teaching” whereas Pentecostals hold that dear as a Biblical teaching. I know she is referring to major issues like the person/deity of Jesus. I think that major Christian publications will probably catch a lot of these. A prominent preacher, Carlton Pearson, who had released gospel albums and had performed with Carmen, started teaching universal salvation. Quickly this was reported in Charisma magazine, and most national figures he associated with pulled away from him.
I think my point is that it is not up to us as consumers to be the Holy Spirit for the artists. There is a fine line on this issue, for sure. The review of The Light of Eidon mentioned on day 2 suggested there was an inappropriate bedroom scene and the book should be avoided. I argue that the scene was NOT inappropriate (the scene doesn’t have anatomical references, and is the literary equivalent of 2 people kissing on scene while the camera fades) , but perhaps more than some people (mainly young kids) should read. I would like to see a reviewer say, “Hey, this book has [this], be careful” rather than the way it was handled in the above example. What if it was more explicit? It does get trickier there. I don’t pretend to have all the answers in this case. I think we know when something is grossly wrong, but The DaVinci Code might prove me wrong. Of course, Dan Brown is not a Christian producing art, which is my premise…
3. There is a real movement to try and encourage excellence in Christian fiction and music. Why not? Should we do anything less than our best for our Lord?
There has been a stigma with these arenas that Christian fiction or music was synonymous with lesser quality – that the art was merely packaging for a sermon. There are a lot of conversations on the web regarding letting our creativity be for art’s sake first of all. I’ve touched on that in this series, and just a few places that discuss this include Infuze, Faith in Fiction, and the Master’s Artist, as well as many individual blogs. I love the conversations at these places, and want to see some tangible results from it all.
However, I have sensed a critical spirit creeping up as a reaction to the “lesser quality” charge. It is almost that, to get away from this label, we can’t acknowledge or enjoy lesser works. In certain circles, it is almost a badge of shame to say you liked the Left Behind books. Were they high literature? No. Did I read some? Yes, until I grew tired of the formulaic delivery in each book. Should I be snooty over someone who read and enjoyed them? Hopefully those who read Left Behind have moved on to read more Christian fiction.
Is the quality label fair? I’ve seen plenty of bad books and music in the secular arena, yet Christians get unfairly stigmatized in my opinion. There used to be less choice in the CBA, but this has really begun to change over the last several years.
Mark Bertrand had a timely post called “Bring on Bad” where he admitted that bad books can be fun and serve a purpose, with a link to a Sunday Times article “Why Not the Worst?” (may require free registration) that also discusses the same topic. Now Mark is a paragon of good taste and a good voice for improving our craft, to aspire to the classics and not just good enough to get published. I don’t want to tarnish his image here 😉 . But it touched on this feeling of criticalness I’ve been feeling in some circles.
When I did 9 months of Bible school, one of the best things I did was to bring a few old Louis L’amour novels. I’d read them many times when young. After months of studying and living and breathing Biblical times, it was a real treasure to sit down with something unrelated, something I didn’t have to really think about, and enjoy it. They followed the L’amour formula to a tee, but it was nice to have such a mental break.
I want to see Christians produce the highest quality fiction, music, paintings, films, or whatever medium they choose to create in, as we are motivated by the greatest Creator. But we don’t have to get too uptight about it either.
—
Have I said enough now? I think so. Fire away with questions, comments, concerns, quibbles, or complaints.
