Fiction as a means of grace
Body
“… the discipline of reading fiction seriously and openheartedly is a practice that ought to be encouraged in church alongside other means of discipleship.” Aslan’s Library
As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“… the discipline of reading fiction seriously and openheartedly is a practice that ought to be encouraged in church alongside other means of discipleship.” Aslan’s Library
“I wonder, what’s the reading level of Hebrews? We see in this warning that the writer had to condescend to a lower level of teaching than he wanted. And yet I think many of us today would agree that Hebrews is very meaty. This should cause us to stop and evaluate whether we are growing in our knowledge of the Lord.” Ref21
Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read…The books featured during Banned Books Week have all been targeted with removal or restrictions in libraries and schools.
Changes in technology also bring other kinds of changes. Technologies shape the way that people envision reality. They help to form or dismantle social relationships. They either reinforce or erode cultures.
Republished with permission from Craig’s blog, Theology for the Road.
“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance” (Confucius).
For the longest time I hated to read. Yes, “hate” is a strong word but that is how I felt about reading. I even hated reading my Bible (heresy, I know!). Don’t get me wrong. I loved my Scofield Study Bible that I used for 18 years. I just didn’t like to read—period. I remember crying as my dad (who was himself a reader) would have me sit down and read my Bible. I dreaded the reading plans he made for my three siblings and myself. I was always behind in grammar and reading in school which was a result of my lack of desire to read.
Then one day things changed. I went from hating reading to loving reading. During my senior year in high school my youth pastor decided to meet with me every Monday for the whole year to mentor me since I wanted to go into ministry. I will never forget that first meeting. He took me to a fast food restaurant. He sat me down and plopped down three books on the table. My heart sunk. He told me to start reading them and we were going to discuss them together along with other things. At this point I had no choice. I had to read them and there was no saying no. I went home and began to read them. Call it divine intervention or what have you but all of the sudden I began to love reading—and I found that I couldn’t stop.
Today I have a good sized theological library for someone who is not in ministry. I have purchased books while I was in and out of school. I found books for free at different places and this last year I was able to use this blog to acquire more books which I in turn reviewed. I also won a number of books by entering giveaways.
Discussion