Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Report from ‘Writing as Christian Proclamation in Contemporary Contexts’
Report from Week 1 of Writing as Christian Proclamation in Contemporary Contexts: The Truth’s Superb Surprise, led by Debra Rienstra of Calvin College, sponsored by CICW and hosted by Seminars in Christian Scholarship:
Our first week has acquainted us with a variety of compelling Christian voices from (mostly) the past 10-15 years, including Anne Lamott, Kathleen Norris, Brian McLaren, and some intriguing newcomers such as Rob Bell and Russell Rathbun. We began with memoir and then moved to apologetics, noting how the two are becoming less distinct—an author today is more likely to embed an assertion of the truth of her faith in a personal narrative, which fleshes out beliefs with experience (or the other way around), while apologetics may ring hollow to readers now without personal reflections on doubt and struggle—argumentation alone isn’t enough (more on memoir here). We made Debra blush as we praised her book, but we had a point: the book has two important things we don’t usually think about as ingredients for apologetics: beautiful crafting and also consistent hospitality and respect for the reader. One of the most helpful words to tie these two together, offered by one participant, was witness. Meanwhile, we’ve all been struck by how differently two people can react to the same book, and develop different feelings toward the same author, especially with such a beautiful blend of different voices and experiences in the room.
Below are our beginning discussion questions from each day, and some summary statements that emerged from our discussion. Also read a blog reflection by participant Al Hsu, author and editor for InterVarsity Press. (Other links: blogs of Jana Riess of Publishers Weekly, who joined us all of last week, and Andy Crouch of Christianity Today, who joins us this week. Authors Vinita Hampton Wright and Al Hsu are here for the entirety of the seminar.)
Day 1: Spiritual Autobiographies
Books discussed:
Kathleen Norris, Cloister Walk
Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies
Patton Dodd, My Faith So Far
Books recommended:
Augustine, Confessions
Lauren Winner, Girl Meets God
Anne Lamott, Plan B
Discussion questions:
Is memoir the chief form of proclamation these days, Christian and otherwise? What are the virtues and drawbacks of proclamation through personal story? Do people need theological statement, too? Do they think they need theology?
Summary statements:
-memoir has been a growing genre everywhere (might be waning now)
-the rise of the personal, the story, is part of postmodern shift from objectivity to subjectivity, from abstract to embodied
-in Christian writing, the memoir is part of incarnational impulse to fit our stories into larger story of redemption
-the conversion narrative shape is popular throughout culture
-memoir can be for edification or invitation
-memoir can be a kind of interactive theology
Some things we appreciated about these memoirs:
-person’s own story integrated with other subject matter
-sense of connection to broader church, tradition, community: self is not center of authority
-stance of artistic objectivity, passionate openness
-showing the process of discovery
-immediacy balanced with the wisdom of some distance
Some pitfalls with memoir:
-reader can take lurid delight in someone else’s dysfunction
-the problem of closure in the conversion narrative: what kind of movement is portrayed and to what settling point
Day 2: The New Apologetics
Books discussed:
Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy and A New Kind of Christian
Debra Rienstra, So Much More
Books recommended:
Donald Miller, Searching for God Knows What
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
Discussion questions:
How have old apologetics, like Mere Christianity, been wearing? Do the “answer men” still have appeal or is that era over? What new literary forms are writers using to proclaim the faith? Is there a crisis of authority in apologetics, of structure, of proposition? Has apologetics become apology and essay rather than answers and explanations? Is this good?
Summary statements:
-memoir as apologetics (witness) is possible from position of privilege
-old-style apologetics is for those on defensive
-O. A. has never been much of a threshold tool (conversion); instead, used by insiders to reassure, defend, or provide missing pieces
-we still need old-style apologetics, but as one piece among many
Brian McLaren:
-exemplifies an author’s dilemma: how does a writer establish connection/credibility with a reader these days? disestablish one’s authority? acknowledge perspectival nature of contents? disarm critics?
-strengths: has the guts to open Pandora’s Box, emphasis on practice, sense of recovering history, reexamination of familiar terms
-the shift from old evangelism to “emerging”:
old: believe -> belong -> behave
new: belong -> behave -> believe
(note: second pattern is also the pattern of Christendom, although today we search for and choose the belonging rather than inheriting it)
Day 3: Apologetics continued
Summary statements:
-What’s different about the current context?
blurring of categories:
memoir and apologetics blur as genres
apologetic and catechetical writing blur
insiders and outsiders blur, too
-people go through stages in their faith life of settling and upheaval
-newbies are often wounded oldies
-but there is a world and vocab to learn when joining up intentionally: how do we help people “get through the first 100 pages”
-credibility:
not built from author’s specialization anymore
this has advantages as creative things happen when disciplines meet
-cyclical need for renewed passion (happens every so often)
-always have tension between “nothing new under the sun” and “for such a time as this”
So Much More:
-tone of respect for reader
-poetic style: persuasiveness of beauty
-starting point of transcendence/experience
-sense that Christianity is not easy
-doctrine embodied in life
-groundedness in community and tradition
-feminine perspective
-author as companion rather than instructor
-author as non-theologian, discovery through resources of other disciplines (poetry)
Articles:
-emerging: new or more of the same: corporate mindset? women leaders? issues of race?
-conversational attitude in writing
-books have credibility when they arise from real life and community/conversation
-evangelism changing
from being about crossing a line to being about movement in a direction
from bounded set to centered set
journey metaphor more apt
Day 4: Style and Hip
Materials discussed:
Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz
Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis
nooma videos
articles by L. Gregory Jones and Dietrich Bonhoeffer on language
Discussion questions:
What is the role of style in communicating the faith? Is faith today more about lifestyle than thought and belief? How do we keep up with or transcend style shifts?
Summary statements
Velvet Elvis:
-audience: based on mindset more than demographic
-style: videos are about using style as a hook: evoke urban, isolated scene, then heartfelt one-on-one conversation
-oral style (secondary orality)
-liked his sense of wonder
-structure is modular, episodic, snapshots
-we had different reactions to this style, partly based on whether we had heard him speak
Donald Miller:
-genre: the male confessional
-unlike Bell, his style is de-intellectualized
-his appeal: quest for authentic life, picture of Christian life apart from behavior codes
-high view of romantic love (discussion of relevance, strength and weaknesses!)
-So, what is the role of style in communicating faith?
style is inevitable, but substance is necessary
style is a way of inviting, making accessible
style helps self-select audience; can also create disconnect
style is incarnational
style culturally frames and constrains what we write
-Are we in a time of narrow-casting that makes communicating across style divides more challenging than ever?
-What will happen to the style of these authors in 10 years? 25 years? Will they grow?
Day 5: The State of Religion Publishing
Guest Speaker:
Jana Riess, Religion Editor for Publishers Weekly
Readings discussed:
Post-Rapture Radio: Lost Writings from a Field Revolution by Russell Rathbun (Jossey-Bass, 2005)
“Pomos Toward Paradise: A New Subcategory Points Christians to an Emerging Faith for a Postmodern World” by Marcia Ford. Publishers Weekly, January 17, 2005.
“The Emergent Mystique” by Andy Crouch. Christianity Today, November 2004.
Discussion questions:
What is the status of the CBA/ABA divide? What are the current trends in religion publishing? Where are the gaps?
Summary statements:
- new consideration: efficiencies of scale, choosing one’s audience, coterie publishing
- decline of readership but increase in consumerism as readers and writers
- sales are static overall, but number of titles has increased: market is fragmented, most books sell fewer copies
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