Leland Ryken - The Christian Imagination: The Practice of Faith in Literature and Writing

O THER B OOKS BY L ELAND R YKEN

A Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (coeditor)
Redeeming the Time: A Christian Approach to Work and Leisure
The Discerning Reader: Christian Perspectives on Literature and Theory
A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible (coeditor)
Contemporary Literary Theory: A Christian Appraisal (coeditor)
Realms of Gold: The Classics in Christian Perspective
The Liberated Imagination: Thinking Christianly About the Arts
Effective Bible Teaching (coauthor)
Work and Leisure in Christian Perspective
Words of Life: A Literary Introduction to the New Testament
Words of Delight: A Literary Introduction to the Bible
Worldly Saints: The Puritans as They Really Were
Culture in Christian Perspective
Windows to the World: Literature in Christian Perspective
The New Testament in Literary Criticism (editor)
How to Read the Bible as Literature
Milton and Scriptural Tradition (coeditor)
Triumphs of the Imagination
The Literature of the Bible
The Apocalyptic Vision in Paradise Lost

The Christian Imagination
A S HAW B OOK
P UBLISHED BY W ATER B ROOK P RESS
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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ( ESV ) are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ( KJV ) are taken from the King James Version. Scripture quotations marked ( RSV ) are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, and 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.

For further acknowledgments please see .

eISBN: 978-0-307-56884-7

Copyright 2002 by Leland Ryken

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of The Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.

S HAW B OOKS and its aspen leaf colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.

Portions of this book have been previously released by Baker Books under the same title.

v3.1

For my grandchildren

T he idea for this book came from the continuous requests that I received for copies of a book that I edited two decades ago titled The Christian Imagination: Essays on Literature and the Arts. While the present book contains relatively little overlap with its predecessor, it began with a similar impulse, which was to make available in a single volume the best that has been written about the announced subject.

The result is a book that covers all of the essential topics related to literature and writing as viewed from Christian perspectives. My guiding principle as a compiler of this anthology has been comprehensiveness: I have included both past and living authors, both writers of imaginative literature and literary critics, both poetry and narrative, and the interests of both writers and readers. I know of no other book that brings together this much information about Christianity and literature.

In terms of format, the main units of the book contain foundational essays and shorter excerpts labeled viewpoints. In addition, five of the main units conclude with collections of choice excerpts on the respective topics.

Elizabeth Goudge, herself a compiler of anthologies, wrote in the preface to A Book of Comfort:

And so of the making of books there is no end, and of the making of anthologies there seems particularly to be no end because we are all anthologists. The collection and hoarding of bits and pieces is basic to all animals, from the squirrel with his nuts to the anthologist with his oddments stored up in his memory. Anthology-making is therefore essentially selfish, like self-preservation with the advantage of literature over nuts that it can be shared without personal loss to the hoarder.

In compiling this anthology I did, indeed, make sure that I included virtually all of my favorite passages, large and small, on the production and reading of literatureeven to the extent of including short gems in boxed form throughout the essays of the book.

The book that follows is for lovers of literature, both readers and writers. It contains theory that will clarify thinking about the nature and value of literature. It is equally a practical book, filled with tips for reading and writing literature in the best ways possible. The keynote of the book is excellenceexcellence in reading, in writing, in thinking about literature, in teaching and studying literature.

As the contributors to this volume declare, Christian writers and readers alike are free to revel in literaturein its ability to capture human experience, in its capacity to express truth, in its potential to provide the occasion for artistic enrichment and enjoyment. Here you will find a celebration, a discussion, an appreciation of the Christian imagination.