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Interview

The following interview from the January 2005 Christian Advance appears here courtesy of Spring Arbor Distributors:

Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started writing.
A: I’ve been a reader and writer as long as I can remember. I became an English professor mostly because that profession enables me to live in a world of words, constantly learning and sharing my enthusiasm with others.

Q: Who has had the greatest impact on your own spiritual journey and why?
A: I’ve learned so much both from extraordinary deceased writers and from ordinary living people. Great writers from the past seem so real and immediate to me when I read their books: Augustine, C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, Julian of Norwich, John Calvin, Henri Nouwen—these people have left us the treasures of their wisdom and experience and sometimes their mistakes, too. So I have depended on great books, but more importantly I’ve been blessed by many ordinary people who demonstrate without a lot of fanfare what it means to be faithful Christians. People in my growing-up church, for instance, lived out Christian community and genuine love for God. I should mention my mom, too, who exemplifies simple, practical ministry to others.

Q: Where did the idea for So Much More come from and what was your initial response to this idea?
A: My editor at Jossey-Bass, Sheryl Fullerton, asked me to consider writing a new kind of introduction to the Christian faith. She recognized the need for a book that would start from the beginning, assuming little to no knowledge about the faith, yet be aimed at educated, fairly demanding readers—people who wanted things explained plainly but also deeply and beautifully. I immediately recognized what an enormous challenge this would be. Where would I begin? Or, more problematically, where would I end? How on earth could I organize such an enormous topic?

Q: How does So Much More differ from other books introducing the Christian faith such as C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity or Amazing Grace by Kathleen Norris?
A: I love both these writers. Lewis especially, because he was so prolific in so many genres, leaves me in awe. As much as I love Mere Christianity, though, the book is 50 years old now and readers’ concerns have changed somewhat. Mere Christianity introduces the faith mostly by offering reasonable arguments to defend basic beliefs. This is still helpful and necessary, but rationalizing beliefs is not, for many people in our postmodern climate, the most urgent concern. So I tried to approach the basics of Christianity from different starting points: our longing for transcendence, our desire for integrity in all parts of our lives, and our need to find a way of thinking and living that makes sense in a bewildering marketplace of ideas and lifestyles. I also speak freely from my experiences as a woman and a parent, perspectives that seem to me missing in Lewis’s book but which can offer critical spiritual insight for all of us.

I admire Kathleen Norris for her ability to speak so well both to the confirmed in and the curious about the faith. So Much More differs from her books because it is organized specifically as an introduction that builds a foundation when read through in sequence. It begins with chapters on fundamental beliefs and how they shape our imaginations, then moves on to fundamental practices and how they shape our lives.

Q: Chock-full of information for seekers, what does So Much More have to offer to more-seasoned Christians?
A: Because we are a people of the Book, Christians often make wonderful, hungry readers. If something is precious to us, we long to read about it again and again in different forms. I hope that seasoned Christians will find that I’ve expressed beloved truths in fresh, renewing ways that are both comforting and challenging.

Q: What is the most important message you hope to convey to readers?
A: The title says it well: There’s so much more to the Christian faith than cartoonish, hostile public images suggest. I want to help people see beyond all the distortions of Christianity—and the many failures of Christians—to the mysteries at the heart of the faith. When we encounter these mysteries faithfully, seeking to practice Christianity at its best, we are drawn into the heart of God. And there we find so much more life and peace than we can imagine.

Q: What’s next for you?
A: I’m on sabbatical from teaching right now, so I’ll be doing some research on sixteenth-century English religious poetry as well as writing some poetry of my own.

 

Interview by Cindy Solomon, editorial coordinator for Christian Advance.