Sydney Avey

Dynamic Women — Changing Times

Use Your Imagination, Part 2

Jun 5, 2018 | Word study, Writing life | 1 comment

Use your imagination

Use your imagination

In Use your imagination Part 1 I introduced bookseller Byron Borger, who shared his thoughts about the power of words with my Bay Area writing group. Part 1 included my takeaways on his talk and a partial list of his recommended reading. In Parts 2 and 3 I will post additional comments and suggested reading. Visit Byron’s website to see the full text of his remark and to purchase books. 

Tell it like it is 

Good fiction prompts readers to use their imaginations to create voices for characters. Avid readers are independent folk who have their own ideas about a character’s motivations. They weigh what they read against what they know to be true. Borger reminds Christian fiction writers that they should not be simplistic or preachy. Regardless of what the inspirational market wants, he says, we should invite readers to grow and confront the truth of how things really are. 

Authors must tell the truth about this glorious, broken world of wonder—the good, the bad, the ugly. Perhaps the most entertaining books satisfy our desire for a happy ending, but the best books touch our hearts because they ring true. 

The books on Borger’s list are largely meditations, essays, and personal growth books that encourage people of faith to pursue artistic callings. Many of these authors are new to me.

Book List, Part 2   

Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art and Culture Makoto Fujimura (NavPress) $24.99, beautiful essays, cries from the heart of a lively, thoughtful, Christian artist. Other titles: Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for our Common Life to Silence and Beauty: Hidden Faith Born of Suffering the specific, award-winning study of the classic Japanese novel, Silence, which raises huge questions about how art can be helpful as we live in a hurting world. 

Intruding Upon the Timeless: Meditations on Art, Faith, and Mystery, Gregory Wolfe (Square Halo Books) $22.99, a collection of short, luminous, essays by Wolfe from Image.

Imagination Redeemed: Glorifying God with a Neglected Part of Your Mind Gene Veith & Matthew Ristuccia (Crossway) $16.99, explores the role of imagination in faith. 

The Christian Imagination: The Practice of Faith in Literature and Writing Leland Ryken (Shaw Books) $24.99,  an anthology that brings together some of the very best stuff written on the integration of faith and literature. 

Title Pending: What I Think About When I Make Stuff Justin McRoberts (CreateSpace) $10.99, advice and ideas about being creative.

Holy Curiosity: Cultivating the Creative Spirit in Everyday Life, Amy Hollingsworth (Cascade) $18.00, essentials about the creative process.

Finding Divine Inspiration: Working with the Holy Spirit in Your Creativity, Scott McElroy (Destiny Image) $15.99, probes what active role the Holy Spirit has in our creative efforts.

Soul Fire: Accessing Your Creativity, Thomas Ryan, CSP (Skylight Paths) $16.99, deeply spiritual in an ecumenical, even interfaith way.

Different Drummer: Bold Thinking for the Rebellious Creative, Erik Lokkesmoe (Elevant) $13.99, encouragement to let go of fear and move forward into your essential role in God’s missional plan.

Create vs Copy: Embrace Change, Ignite Creativity, Break Through with Imagination, Ken Wytsma (Moody Press) $14.99, about how to cultivate a creative mindset in life and leadership, using greater imagination.

The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World, Lewis Hyde (Vintage) $16.95, a call for a culture not to be so governed by money and commodity but to be reformed by the audacious generosity of artists who share their work as a gift.

Everyone’s a Genius: Unleashing Creativity for the Sake of the World, Alan Briggs, (Thomas Nelson) $16.99, about team-building, brain studies, leadership, art and culture, and making stuff.

1 Comment

  1. Marie Sontag

    Thanks for getting these titles out there!

    Reply

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