Writing

The Vision of Literary Apologetics

Holly Ordway — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:00:03 -0800

Why is apologetics, the defense of the Christian faith, important?

In one sense, Christianity needs no defense. God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, does not depend for His existence on our belief. However, many people who do not know the living God are separated from Him in part by intellectual obstacles. Removing those obstacles by showing that Christianity indeed makes sense on a rational level is an act of love and care for our neighbor. Defending the faith also builds up a strong foundation for believers. A securely built house has a solid, well-built foundation, so that the vagaries of wind and weather don’t damage it or cause distress to the inhabitants. It’s natural to have questions and doubts - think of the disciples, asking Jesus “increase our faith!” or the man who cries out “Lord, I believe: help my unbelief!” Apologetics helps strengthen the foundations by providing answers to questions and doubts, so that the Christian can grow stronger in his or her faith.

What about “literary apologetics”?

Literary apologetics is that mode of apologetics that functions through the use of the Imagination in stories, poetry, drama, and song. Imagination is a mode of knowing; it is the twin sister of Reason. Imagination that is not grounded in Reason can become what JRR Tolkien called “morbid fantasy,” unhealthy and unhelpful; conversely, Reason that is not supported by Imagination can become sterile, rigid, and unfruitful. Literature is particularly well suited to bring these two often-separated sisters together, so that Reason and Imagination can illuminate the path to truth.

Stories, poetry, and drama can help us to both comprehend the truth (with our intellect) and apprehend it (imaginatively and emotionally). As with rational argument, literature cannot in itself bring a person to know Christ, but it can open doors, challenge assumptions, and most importantly provide a glimpse of experienced truth. Stories invite readers to indeed “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).

Literature can best fulfill this role when the author is committed both to expressing the truth and to creating a good story. The best literary apologists - CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, GK Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, and others, just to name those of the past century - did not set out to wrap a moral in a story, or explicitly to promote Christianity through their fiction writing. Rather, they believed fully and deeply, and sought to glorify God in all that they did - and so their stories show the truth, in deep and satisfying ways.

Today, we need a new generation of Christian writers who will do what those great writers did. We need well-informed, thinking Christians, who know their Scripture and theology, are committed to living out the Christian life in word and deed, and show forth that living truth in their work.

We need writers who will immerse themselves in the best writing of centuries past and learn from it, and be able to draw on that rich treasury of imagery to do new things.

We need writers who are willing and eager to view writing as a God-given calling, and to joyfully pursue the craft and art of it with dedication and hard work.

Fortunately, we do not have to start from scratch! We have the works of Lewis, Tolkien, Chesterton, MacDonald, and others to study and learn from. Going further back, we have an absolute treasure chest of writers: Coleridge, Donne, Herbert, Hopkins, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Spenser, Dante, to name just a few.

We are not limited to the great writers of the past, however. We have people who even now are taking up the challenge of writing to draw people through the imagination to know Christ. In England, the poet and scholar Malcolm Guite (www.malcolmguite.com) is doing marvelous work with poetry. In my own blog, Hieropraxis (www.hieropraxis.com), I am attempting to cultivate an appreciation for literature and literary apologetics, as well as writing my own poetry.

To be an effective literary apologist means a commitment to the craft of writing, so that the great and glorious truth of our faith is presented to the world in the most beautiful, powerful, gripping, and transformative ways possible. It also means a commitment to community. Just as Lewis and Tolkien were part of the Inklings, commenting and critiquing each others’ work, so too the writers of today need the kind of community where “iron sharpens iron.”

One of the challenges of Christian writers is to find that kind of community - so part of the project of literary apologetics is to help provide the kind of context where new writers can grow. That’s why I’m delighted to be part of a new project as the Program Director of the Literary Apologetics Certificate Program from Athanatos Christian Ministry. I’ve been involved with ACM for several years as a conference speaker and sponsor of their writing contests: they are on the front lines of training writers and encouraging the reading of great works of Christian literature. This online program combines classes in theology and Scripture with specifically writing-related courses to help Christian writers share the good news of God in Christ in ways that are artistically powerful and effective, engaging readers through the work of the Imagination. (Classes start in February, and I will be teaching a class in “Wordsmithing” as well as co-teaching “Principles of Literary Apologetics.”)

I think we’re at the beginning of great things for literature in the service of God. My friends, let’s go further up and further in!

Best Books I Read in 2011

Brett McCracken — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:28:56 -0800

My 2011 recaps ends here, with my list of the best books I read in 2011. I read 42 books, of vast variety–some old, some new, some fiction, mostly nonfiction–many of which were in some way research for the book I am currently writing. About half were for no other purpose than pleasure. Here are my picks for the ones that stood out the most:

10) Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? by C. John Collins: A very thought provoking, biblically informed and fair assessment of a timely and important question. See also this Christianity Today story on the topic of the historical Adam.

9) Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer: For some reason the movie version looks terrible to me, but I enjoyed the book, which is lively, creative, unexpected and, in the end, a requisite bit of post-9/11 American literature.

8) Earthen Vessels by Matthew Lee Anderson: Anderson’s first book is a comprehensive but accessible theology of the body, covering plenty of controversial ground (tattoos, homosexuality, etc.) but doing so with impressive eloquence and erudite insights. The book is a welcome contribution to a very neglected but vital topic for evangelicals.

7) Walking in the Spirit by Ken Berding: Berding’s book is a quick read and offers a practical, biblical, wise guide to life in the Holy Spirit, as outlined in Romans 8. Filled with real-life examples and engaging personal stories, Spirit recalibrates our understanding of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, providing an invaluable corrective to many of us who have either ignored, forgotten, or misunderstood the role of the Spirit in the Christian life.

6) A Meal With Jesus by Tim Chester: As a lover of Jesus and a lover of food, I was in heaven reading this book, which combines the two. Chester sketches a sort of theology of eating (missionally, with hospitality, etc.) by taking us through the biblical instances of eating–particularly the many “eating scenes” of Jesus in the Gospels. A delightful read.

5) Last Call by Daniel Okrent: Between Ken Burns’ documentary Prohibition, Boardwalk Empire, and the speakeasy bar craze, it seems Prohibition is en vogue right now. Okrent’s book is a fascinating history of it, full of all sorts of great details about how the Volstead Act came to pass, what life was like during Prohibition, and what led to its demise. A must read for anyone curious about American history during the Prohibition years.

4) On Evil by Terry Eagleton: Aside from the occasional cable news talking head who refer to terrorists or serial killers as such, “evil” is not a word you hear much anymore. That’s why Eagleton’s treatise on the subject–a witty, sharp, characteristically well written argument that yes, evil exists–is so surprising and refreshing. Eagleton is not a Christian apologist (he’s a Marxist literary critic, albeit with a penchant for calling B.S. on people like Richard Dawkins), but his book on evil would be a helpful addition to any theologian’s library.

3) King’s Cross by Tim Keller: Keller is as reliable as they come. He’s a rock-solid biblical expositor, pastor, writer, and all around exemplary Christian, and his latest–King’s Cross–is a wonderful read. Refreshingly straightforward–essentially a chapter-by-chapter exposition of the Gospel of Mark–Cross is a biography of Jesus Christ that brings the story to life in a way that is relevant and powerful without feeling opportunistic or agenda-driven.

2) Columbine by Dave Cullen: The most haunting and intense book I read this year. A true page-turner, Cullen’s book is the definitive account of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. Massively detailed–part psychological portrait of the killers, part harrowing account of the massacre itself as compiled from a decade’s worth of research and interviews–Columbine is a modern day In Cold Blood. It dispels many myths (the Trench Coat Mafia, Cassie “She Said Yes” Bernall’s martyrdom, etc.) and in 400 pages offers more detail about the killers and victims than any of us every picked up through the media coverage. For anyone who remembers watching the Columbine massacre unfold live on T.V. that horrible day (as I do–I was a sophomore in high school), this book is essential reading.

1) Simply Jesus by N.T. Wright: Subtitled “A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters,” N.T. Wright’s latest (his 2nd or 3rd book to come out in 2011, I can’t keep track) is a wonderfully concise, popular-level summary of his 1996 magnum opus, Jesus and the Victory of God. As he typically does, Wright tells the story of Jesus in a way that makes it seem fresh and thrilling, even for someone who’s been a Jesus follower their whole life. Wright is the rare academic star who is also a wonderful writer–accessible, witty, to-the-point, full of apt metaphors and imagery (his “storm” motif in this book is especially memorable). His books are incredibly meaty and rich, but not intimidating, full of historical insights and big-picture context. Simply Jesus is a grandiose, inspiring, fascinating book about Jesus that I’d eagerly lend to even my most skeptical of unbelieving friends.

Honorable Mention: For Calvinism by Michael Horton, The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk, Art For God’s Sake by Philip Ryken, Everyday Theology edited by Kevin Vanhoozer, Rabbit Run by John Updike

An Examined Life over Morning Coffee

bo.white — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:15:56 -0800

I am sitting alone, in the morning with my Starbucks instant coffee (Via) brewed and properly laced with skim milk, no sugar. I am wearing a sweater and jeans, both from second hand shops (which is where most all my clothing comes from nowadays). No radio is on, no stereo, and no television. It’s quiet. The violent noise of the modern world is just not there. I can hear myself sip my drink and I can hear the chair creak when I shift to turn the page in my book.

I can’t decide if I want to read Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot or Henri Nouwen’s Can You Drink the Cup? Both books are on my ‘to read’ list. Yet, I may finish an escape novel (lately it’s Bruce DeSilva’s Rogue Island) and give my brain a bit of a rest. But, the rest doesn’t come.

Instead, I feel a sense of loss that surprises me and frankly it hurts a bit. The loss begins with the retiring of the band, REM. They have been my favorite rock band for more than two decades. I have listened to all sorts of music, but I have lived with REM. I don’t know exactly why, but their retirement hurts a bit. It reveals not simply my love for certain music, but also my own identification with what REM stands for and has artistically produced. And I am driving quite a bit lately for work splitting my time between two cities, so I decide to spend some time creating a post-REM playlist that will both accompany me on the road, but will also describe where I am at in life. An hour later, my playlist is done and ready to be unleashed on the open road. For the record, here’s the playlist, in order:

1. Lake Michigan—Rogue Wave
2. Losing You—Boxer Rebellion
3. Semi -Automatic—Boxer Rebellion
4. Cities of Night—Blaqk Audio
5. Blinding—Florence and the Machine
6. Hurricane Drunk---Florence and the Machine
7. Princess of China--Coldplay
8. Amor Fati—Washed Out
9. Where Once I Feared to Walk—Jason Clark
10. Run in the Night—Jars of Clay
11. If You Run—Boxer Rebellion
12. Broken Glass—Boxer Rebellion
13. Open Your Arms—The Editors

I think to myself that thirteen is a good number and strangely, I am now looking forward to sitting in the car alone. This is a bit weird because I am already alone and suddenly my thoughts are back to feeling loss. I decide to check email, partly out of habit, partly because I really want connection. I like solitude, don’t get me wrong, but I also want to share things and explore ideas, maybe pour someone else a coffee, and sit, listening not to his or her voice, but heart. So, I open up my inbox and see several updates from the Washington Post and New York Times. I sometimes forget what I have subscribed to in my inbox, so I am surprised at the headlines about Iran and the threat of nuclear war.

I also see a note about a kidnapping in Latin America, a suicide blast in the Middle East, and borderline panic about the global economy. When did the international landscape become part of my morning coffee? Who dumped all of this news in to my inbox? Then, it hits me.

I am more connected than I often think and I don’t mean the plugged in version. I am part of an international community, a global economy, and a worldwide humanity. Not to mention the fact that this is just the visible world. I am also part of an invisible, spiritual world, a supernatural world, and an emotional world. The loss I feel turns in to all sorts of things as I think about friends in Africa searching for food, friends in Asia searching for dignity, and friends in Latin America searching for their parents.

Forget email. So, I shut down and go back to my cup of coffee and my books. I refill my mug, relocate my page, but I can’t recapture solitude. A new day has already run me over and I didn’t see it coming.

Tonight, I’ll vow to be better prepared for tomorrow. I’ll go to bed on time and fight the urge to watch any of the late night monologues or news updates or that one last, quick, ‘it’ll only take a second,’ glance at email or goodreads or linked in or any of those sites. I will simply try to rest, then get up, have my morning coffee and seek to make a difference in the world, unless, of course, I get distracted.

Then, what happens? What if I do get distracted again? What if I feel this aching loss about wanting to see her or talk to him? What if I don’t sleep well and my pillow doesn’t hug me back? What if I wake up on the wrong side of the bed and hurt the world before I even have my coffee?

“Relax,” I finally say to myself, “Quit over thinking things.” I agree with my inner voice of reason, but want to qualify it. So, I begin to argue with myself, finally ending it with these words: ‘we’ll deal with this tomorrow.’ Finally, I am back to silence. I can hear the chair creak again as I turn another page.

-bo

A Good Reminder from Emergency Sex

bo.white — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:30:39 -0800

So much of the media centers around gloom and doom and economic woes, corruption, war, and scores of problems that plague our world. I fear that our 24/7 news outlets resemble more the voyeurism we find on the freeway, where traffic gets backed up due to people not being in a car wreck, rather lines of cars queue up to simply get a look at someone else’s misfortune.

We’re in danger of becoming a cynical culture that peddles more pessimism than hope and now with the latest and greatest technology, this fascination that pockets of humanity has with the fall of other people, can now go viral. My hope is that with all of the current protests going on, whether it’s Wall Street or Greece, whether it’s in the West or the Majority World, people don’t forget to hope, to point to something better, to say at least a few things that remind us of something beautiful.

In the book, Emergency Sex, humanitarian workers seeking to make a difference in the world fight against the hopelessness that can so easily settle in to our lives, like a wretched fog that simply lingers throughout the day. This particular part of the book is a good reminder and worth a second look:

“I'm not ready to let the youthful part of myself go yet. If maturity means becoming a cynic, if you have to kill the part of yourself that is naive and romantic and idealistic - the part of you that you treasure most - to claim maturity, is it not better to die young but with your humanity intact?”

-bo

Inspired by Tozer

Stan Jantz — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 23:54:45 -0700

I've been a fan of A.W. Tozer for some time. His classic book, Knowledge of the Holy, had a profound influence on my early spiritual formation. And now that I'm the Publishing Director at Regal Books, I am thrilled that I am part of a team that is bringing previously unpublished content by Tozer to a new generaton of readers.

Recently I was asked to contribute to a new Regal book called Inspired by Tozer that features more than 50 artists, writers, and Christian leaders giving their own insights into Tozer's classic writings. It was an assignment I was eager to take on, especially because I share a singular connection with this man who has touched millions with his profound insights into the nature and character of God.

Here is my contribution. If you like it, I hope you will get a copy of the book. I think you will truly be inspired, especially since there are so many outstanding contributors, including Chuck Swindoll, Joni Eareckson Tada, Randy Alcorn, Britt Merrick, and Lauren Barlow of Barlow Girl, who served as the general editor.

EXPERIENCING HIS PRESENCE

"Start the day seeking God's presence and search for Him all through the day and revel in the gracious encounters of God throughout the day."

I met A.W. Tozer for the first and last time when I was four years old. I don’t remember much about that day, except that my father was dying and Dr. Tozer was his only hope.

My father grew up in a Christian Missionary Alliance Church in a small town in Minnesota. He married his high school sweetheart, attended a Bible college in St. Paul, and then moved with his wife and son to a Chicago suburb so he could continue his studies at Wheaton College. During this time, before my father’s twenty-fifth birthday, he was diagnosed with Hodgkins disease. Today this form of cancer is highly treatable if detected early. In the mid-1950s there was little hope for survival. Still, my father held out hope. He served a mighty God and believed God could and would heal him. But he needed someone to pray for his healing. That’s when Dr. Tozer came into our lives.

For more than thirty years, A.W. Tozer served as the pastor of Southside Alliance Church in Chicago. Though he had no formal theological training, Tozer was known as a man whose deep heart for God was wedded to a keen mind. Our family attended Southside, so Dr. Tozer was our pastor, a fact clearly lost on me, but of great significance to my father. When it was clear that there was no medical answer for his grave condition, my father asked Dr. Tozer to come to our home and pray for his healing.

Within a few months my father passed from this life into the presence of God, an event that profoundly affected my mother and me. Yes, there was pain—deep pain and sorrow—yet there was also healing, something I have come to understand in the years since.

Physically, my father wasn’t healed, but that doesn’t mean Dr. Tozer’s prayer was ineffective, or that God somehow dropped the ball. Our primary desire in these kinds of life and death situations is always for physical healing, and sometimes this happens. But God’s overwhelming desire is for our spiritual healing, and in this sense Dr. Tozer’s prayer was highly effective.

Although he died physically, my father was healed spiritually on the day Tozer came into our home. Within a short time he was enjoying what Tozer often referred to as “the manifest presence of God.” Of course, experiencing God in this way is something every Christian can anticipate, but we don’t have to wait for heaven to come into the presence of the One who loves us more deeply and knows us more intimately than we could ever imagine.

Tozer believed that “the heart of man truly hungers for God’s presence.” Although my father’s hunger was long ago satisfied once and for all, I have the opportunity each day to enter into God’s presence—and so do you—thanks to the person and work of Christ.

I am grateful for the connection I have to two men who knew what it was like to experience God’s presence in a profound way on earth, and who are now basking in His glory in heaven. Even more, I am thankful that whether I live or die, I belong to the Lord and can truly revel in those gracious encounters of God each and every day.

Book Review: The King Jesus Gospel

bo.white — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:03:49 -0700

At times, I fear the evangelical world acts like the U.S. Congress where party lines are drawn up and there’s much preaching to already-convinced choirs. And rarely do people seem to be able to cross the proverbial aisle with any credibility or at least enough to be heard on their own merit. Are you in the restless/reformed camp or the emergent one? Are you traditional or postmodern or some of both? Are you for or against denominations? If we can take a break with the labels a moment, there are some people whose works are getting a hearing (or should) across denominational lines. Tim Keller’s A Reason for God, N.T. Wright’s Simply Christian, and Dallas Willard’s Divine Conspiracy come to mind in the past decade, as books that have been able to gain some appreciation inside and outside their ‘normal’ audiences.

A new book, entitled The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight will admittedly not please everyone, but it should be read across many traditional lines. The thesis and exploration done within the book could foster truly robust discussions that could not only enlarge one’s view of the gospel, but also drive people back to their Bibles for the discussion which isn’t a bad thing at all. First, I must confess that I have been blessed by McKnight’s work in the past. His books Jesus Creed and One.Life were helpful to me in practical ways. Secondly, I must also confess that I think it’s important to read widely and to appreciate the fact that denominationalism and divisiveness common in some areas of the blogosphere is often a luxury found in the West, not necessarily as prevalent in the global south or what Philip Jenkins has called The Next Christendom. I don’t have the space to expand on this latter point here, so I will simply leave it as an observation for now.

McKnight’s book aims to rearticulate the gospel for people who have reduced the good news of Jesus to ‘personal salvation’ bullet points. The first two chapters introduce McKnight’s line of thinking, setting up the discussion concerning the gospel itself in chapters three and following. I found the second chapter and parts of the third chapter a bit confusing at times due to the fact that McKnight introduces labels and phrases that are key to his book, but that are not necessarily common to the everyday lexicon of evangelicals sitting in the pew. The ordo salutis (order of salvation) which McKnight also calls the ‘Plan of Salvation’ is not a common phrase to laypeople, but seminarians and pastors will recognize it. I, for one, recalled B.B. Warfield’s The Plan of Salvation often as the phrase came up. I would be interested in McKnight’s thoughts on Warfield, since he uses the exact phrase.

A key line for the book comes on page 39, where we read: “this Plan of Salvation is not the gospel. The Plan of Salvation emerges from the Story of Israel/Bible and from the Story of Jesus, but the plan and gospel are not the same big idea.” A few lines later, we read “what I hope to show is that the ‘gospel’ of the New Testament cannot be reduced to the Plan of Salvation”. McKnight goes on to make the solid observation that many believers today act like they don’t need their Old Testament to articulate the gospel story. Since about 70% of the Bible is the Old Testament (not counting the OT quotes in the NT), it is a good reminder that we take the context of the world and story of Jesus seriously.

I was surprised at the attention given to 1 Corinthians 15, by McKnight, as I felt set up for a robust discussion of Genesis 3:15 or Genesis 12 before jumping to Paul (we get to Genesis 1-3 on pg. 137). With that said, I benefited from the time McKnight spends in explaining the context of 1 Corinthians 15 followed by the evangelistic sermons in Acts. On page 93, McKnight summarizes “the gospel is to declare something about a Person, about God in his revelation in Jesus Christ and about what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.” McKnight affirms justification by faith and then lays out these points beginning on page 153.

First, “we have to become People of the Story” (p. 153). In other words, read the whole Bible and not just certain colored letters or summaries of the Bible. This is timely counsel in a world of sound bytes.

Secondly, “we need to immerse ourselves even more into the Story of Jesus,”(p. 153) which means truly soaking in the texts and teachings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Again, this is a good word. My own pastor is teaching through Luke’s gospel as I write this and I have been invigorated again at how Jesus is coming alive in his person and passion. Thirdly, “we need to see how the apostle’s writings take the Story of Israel and the Story of Jesus into the next generation and into a different culture, and how this generation led all the way to our generation,” (p. 155). Again, it’s a good word to not only know your Bible, but know your history. I have often wondered if some evangelicals would be helped by doing a sort of ‘family tree,’ or ancestry.com version of their own faith journey.

Fourthly, “we need to counter the stories that bracket our story and that reframe our story,” (p. 157). The brief discussion on hidden worldviews in this section (pg. 157-159) was particularly helpful to me. Finally, McKnight advocates that “we need to embrace this story so that we are saved and can be transformed by the gospel story, (p. 158).

There is much to agree with, though McKnight claims to reframe a discussion and drive the discussion about the gospel to a wider lens view of Scripture. His final point of embracing the story will take time as people come to understand and read the whole story and this counters much of the ‘hurry up and get saved’ language common to some wings of evangelicalism. With that said, there’s some controversial elements in the book and McKnight understands this.

This is by no means a flawless book. Sometimes the writing is cluttered (see the first part of chapter four where we read these words: “a dad of a friend of a friend of my son….”), but the thesis is clear and the affirmations are noteworthy. More importantly, the application is rather practical and a welcome challenge.

I hope McKnight gets a fair hearing with groups like the Gospel Coalition and I hope that McKnight continues to reach across ‘party lines’. I am reminded of the beauty of the gospel in diamond terms sometimes. A diamond is judged on clarity, cut, and color, we’d do well to see the gospel clarity in association, not separate from, its historical layers and multi-faceted wonder. At the end of the day, a robust gospel discussion is always worth our effort as Christ followers and for that reason alone, it’s worth picking up the book.

-bo

Fighting Indifference, pt. 2

bo.white — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 08:29:09 -0700

“Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.”
--Aristotle

“Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.”
--Plato

Below is my effort at recording the world through a couple poems. Whether Aristotle or Plato would find them acceptable is for another day.

From my Hotel Room in Greenwich Village

Without moving from the bed, the sky cries on the city
And I understand it. Ground zero is a brief walk away, people walking by
Remembering, but no longer noticing, because life goes on.

I stayed up too late.
Cassandra’s Dream is one block down the street, next to the organic food store, where I tried a vegan cookie for the first time. There was a couple making out in Washington Square the other day, but neither looked like they were in love—too impatient.

I really should get up.

Across the street, the bouncer who guarded the door last night is gone, the club looks quiet and there’s a man trying to pull a refrigerator on a dolly through the apartment door. I want to yell at him, warning people of his futility, but his ambition fascinates me.

Sitting on the edge of the bed

My small town Illinois accent sticks out in this city, but people don’t care enough to point it out. Most just walk by acting like they don’t hear anything different, pretending that all is normal, hoping that no one notices the loneliness plastered on every billboard.

In an Airport in Ethiopia

Should I tell the flight attendant about the sponsored child I held in my arms?
His parents had been killed in a tribal war, but that didn’t ruin his angelic smile;
It’s the kind that warms and haunts at the same time.

“Would you care for a beverage?” the nice person will say, all dressed up in a clean uniform.

I will say nothing.
I will most likely nod and point and without lifting a finger,
a drink will appear on a tray in front of me.

A tear will trickle down my cheek and I will toast the little man,
who held my hand all the way to the doorway of his little hut

“don’t forget about me,” he said with a smile that has never seen a dentist
whose face has seen God
whose parents have seen the devil
whose life I remember very well.

I think I will tell the flight attendant when she comes back
And I may just lean over and whisper to anyone else who will listen.

-bo

Announcing... Book No. 2

Brett McCracken — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:26:10 -0700

It’s been almost a year since Hipster Christianity, my first book, was released. Thank you to all those read it, responded to it, engaged it and supported me throughout the process of it. HC was a thrilling, humbling, once-in-a-lifetime experience. You only write your first book once, after all. I’m thrilled with the conversations it started, and I thank God for giving me the opportunity to contribute to such an important ongoing discussion, both in the writing of the book and in the subsequent interviews, dialogues, lectures, and speaking engagements I’ve been blessed to participate in.

HC came out of my deep passion for the church and my abiding interest in the dynamic narrative of Christianity’s relationship with culture. That general interest area–particularly advocating for a thoughtful, nuanced Christian engagement with popular culture–continues to drive my writing life, whether I’m talking about smartphones, Malick movies, or–as in the most recent issue of Christianity Today–marijuana.

How do Christians engage the culture in a way that enriches our spiritual walk, edifies God, and contributes to broader human flourishing? How should we go about consuming potentially dicey — but also potentially edifying — areas of pop culture? How do we get the most out of that which we consume, and how do we discern what is and isn’t appropriate among the vast range of cultural goods, experiences, and products to which we are daily beckoned as consumers?

These are the sorts of questions I’m always asking, and they’re questions that loom large in my next book project, which I’m proud to say I started writing last week (after signing a contract with Baker Books, who will be publishing it).

I don’t want to say too much about the specifics of the book just yet… But I will say that it’s admittedly ambitious and sprawling, and will require immense energies and focus as I write it over the next 14 months (even as I work full time, pursue relationships, and continue to travel and speak in support of HC). That said, it’s going to be an absolute blast to write. The research for this book will take me to Switzerland, Spain, England, Chicago, New York, among many other places. It will require me to spend plenty of hours conversing with baristas and filmmakers and poets and musicians, and may require a few trips to breweries and wineries. It won’t be a bad gig.

As I begin the writing process, one thing that is motivating me is my firmly held belief in the radical nature of nuance. Moderation. Balance.

As is the case (sadly) with so many things in Christianity, the Christian position on culture tends to fall into extremes: Either “hands off!” separatism on one hand, which views culture as mostly a corrupting thing, or an “arms open wide” embrace on the other hand, which accepts perhaps more than it should and sometimes (as in my generation of Relevant recovering evangelicals, for e.g.), in rebellion against legalism, overcompensates too much in the direction of license. We don’t really do nuance or balance well. But is there a middle way forward? How do we positively seek out and engage culture in ways that are mature, discerning and edifying rather than reckless, excessive or reactionary? How can we slow down, pause, and consider culture more attentively?

These are big, important questions. How we engage culture and consume it as Christians has as much of a bearing on mission–our witness as ambassadors of Christ–as it does on our own development as embodied beings seeking after Christ.

This book (which I promise is more specific than the vagueries I’m giving you here!) is more than anything an attempt to add something of value to the ongoing narrative of Christian cultural engagement (Niebuhr, Lewis, Schaeffer, Kuyper, L’Engle, Begbie, Dillard, Hunter, etc.), while speaking particularly to specific areas in culture that have proven thorny or contested within contemporary Christianity.

I’m excited to undertake this project, and I’m glad to have the support of so many of you along the way. I’ll be posting book thoughts and excerpts on this blog along the way, so stay tuned!

Fighting Indifference, pt. 1

bo.white — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 09:00:00 -0700

“The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them,”

George Bernard Shaw

The gunman stood at the window looking out over the crowded streets below. Bobby paused from typing and surveyed the situation. Could he make a break for the door? What happens if he refuses to type? Maybe, he would simply charge and tackle the man, sending him crashing through the window to the street below. Something akin to an action hero would certainly do the trick. Then again, there was that gun. Knives are considered rather personal, guns seems so cold and impersonal. A sniper can shoot a complete stranger from a great distance and still remain seated at that great distance. Stabbings, though, happen at close range amongst people who can know each other. Guns seem to prevent struggles. In that case, so do bombs, missiles, torpedoes, and nuclear weapons. When a rather large bomb is dropped, there is nothing really personal about it; it simply means that people will die. We have simply become too efficient at hurting each other.

“You want out of here, don’t you?” said the gunman.

“Yes, sir, I do.”

Neither man moved and to Bobby’s surprise, the gunman never even looked over at him.

“You’re not going to let me leave, are you?” said Bobby.

The gunman shook his head and said nothing.

“Why me, then? Why make me do this?” asked Bobby.

“Because you are a good typist and I need my story written down. If I was on the ten o’clock news, I would be remembered for a day or two. CNN may run a special on me if I was really famous. But, if my life were written down, then another generation may possibly understand.”

“Understand what? What is there to understand about a gun to one’s head?”

“If I didn’t have this pointed at you, would you remember me? Would you care about my life?”

The gunman paused and wiped a tear from his eye. Again, the gun knocked against the window pane high above a crowded street. No one below heard the sound of the gun tapping the glass.

“You started this story, why can’t you finish it?” said Bobby.

“Because…I don’t know how it will end? I don’t know how my life is going to end and so I need someone else to write, while I figure some things out.”

“And if I don’t write?”

“Then, I guess we know how your life will end.”

“That seems fair.”

The gunman walked over to where Bobby was sitting. He checked the gun, saw that it was loaded, and then cocked it, ready to fire whenever he pulled the trigger. Bobby said nothing.

“You see, it isn’t about being fair, it’s about having a point. Does your life have a point? I used to go to church, you know, but couldn’t understand why so many people could sing on Sunday and scream out complaints on Monday. Now, I am sitting here with you and I have a vision of a life story that no one will be able to put down.”

“You don’t know where this is going, though?”

“No. But, I do know that this is kind of exciting, huh? This beats sitting around letting people tell you what to do. This beats a suburban existence where no one knows their neighbor. This beats the city where everyone is afraid of their neighbor. Here it’s just you and me. There’s something meaningful in just a single, purposeful relationship, don’t you think?”

“This isn’t a relationship.”

Suddenly, the gunman rose to his feet and began pacing around the room tapping the gun against the wall and then the glass. He began breathing heavily and sighing deeply. After several trips around the room, he stopped and put the gun to his own chest. Vincent Van Gogh did the exact same thing with a revolver at the age of 37 and two days later he died. Decades later he’s admired as an artistic genius. No, the world isn’t fair.

On this day, though, the man forcing a writer to write, threatening him with the weapon was no artist nor was he going to be well known. He might as well have been John Doe. He could be sitting next to you at school or behind you on Sunday morning. He could have greeted you a hundred times, but you kept walking. He’s created in the image of God, as the Bible says, but his image never stuck in your brain. And the pain of anonymity is killing him.

“I used to go to church,” whispered the gunman. “When you write this down, tell them I used to go to church.”

The Ambition - A Novel

Kyle Strobel — Tue, 17 May 2011 20:16:49 -0700

My father, Lee Strobel, has just released his first novel The Ambition (Zondervan). He has been talking for several years about weaving some of his experiences as a journalist and legal editor into a novel set in Chicago, and after a while, he finally has. The book has received fantastic reviews, so if you are looking for a fun read with murder, the mob, and a pastor looking to establish himself in the secular world, you should definitely check it out. Also, The Ambition would make a great Father's Day gift if you have a dad who enjoys thrillers!

Click here for Amazon

Check out the trailer