What made Scrubb look so Dingy was the splendor of their surroundings.
When compared to the court in Narnia, Scrubb and Jill looked downright horrible. What do your surroundings look like? No, here’s a better question: What do you surround yourself with? Do you surround yourself with splendor? Or do you surround yourself with the ordinary?
I [...]
Archive for the ‘Novel’ Category
The Shack: Style and Semantics
Posted in Blog, Fiction, Language, Novel, Religion, William Young, tagged Blog, Bultman, Fiction, Novel, Religion, Resurrection, Semantics, The Shack, Theology, William Young on August 18, 2008 | 3 Comments »
I have finished listening to The Shack. The recording included an author’s explanation of how the book came about as well as a “friendly” interview (I have also just finished listening to an “unfriendly” interview.) Young answered my concerns about the quality of writing: basically self-published.
As stated in an earlier post, I struggle to comment [...]
The Fractal Garden
Posted in Fiction, God, Novel, William Young, tagged Chaos, Douglas Adams, Fractal, Garden, Gardening, God, Holy Spirit, Mathematics, Order, Pi, The Shack, William Young on August 9, 2008 | 9 Comments »
Theology aside, the concept of a fractal garden as created by Young’s Holy Spirit character in The Shack fascinates me. I have always loved mathematics. The endless complexities of this world and the amazing order that accompanies these complexities excite my inquisitive mind. Think about pi: a number that never repeats and never ends yet [...]
Offering belief in suffering
Posted in Alan Paton, Belief, Church, Fiction, Love, Novel, Suffering, tagged Alan Paton, Cry The Beloved Country, Disciple, Fiction, Kindness, Love, Novel, Pastor, Suffering on August 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Kumalo said,
…so in my suffering I can believe.
How? In the face of what he had suffered: a child condemned to death, a sister forsaking hope for sin, starvation among his people, how could he believe?
Kindness and love can pay for suffering.
The body of Christ rose up and held his hand, supported his frail body and [...]
Why else do we live?
Posted in Achebe, Alan Paton, Fiction, God, Novel, Service, tagged Achebe, Alan Paton, Cry, Fiction, Novel, Service, South Africa, The Beloved Country, The Shack, Things Fall Apart on August 4, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I have been beyond impressed by Cry, The Beloved Country. While I enjoyed Things Fall Apart, Achebe does not write with the same passion as Paton. The richness of the plot in Cry, the language, the pace, the emotion all make this a most enjoyable summer read. At the same time, I have been listening [...]
The power of love
Posted in Alan Paton, Fiction, Love, Novel, tagged Alan Paton, Corruption, Cry, Fiction, Huey Lewis, Johannesburg, Love, Novel, Power, Sacrifice, The Beloved Country on July 17, 2008 | 3 Comments »
I must confess that I was not looking forward to reading Cry, The Beloved Country. After reading Things Fall Apart, which I particularly enjoyed, I didn’t know if Paton’s could live up to Achebe’s. Seven chapters in, I am impressed. Paton does great job of capturing the emotion of Kumalo’s first visit to Johannesburg. At [...]
Believing despite knowing
Posted in Achebe, Belief, Fiction, God, Knowledge, Novel, tagged Achebe, Belief, Fiction, God, Knowledge, Novel, The Village, Things Fall Apart on July 9, 2008 | 2 Comments »
In The Village (a must watch for any Christian) the leaders keep the rest of the group in the dark about certain things in order to perserve their way of life. (Even though this is “Thoughts on what I am reading…,” it might be worth it at some point to discuss that movie.) No one [...]