The Christian Imagination: The Practice of Faith in Literature and Writing

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Crown Publishing Group, Feb 19, 2002 - Religion - 480 pages
The Christian Imagination brings together in a single source the best that has been written about the relationship between literature and the Christian faith. This anthology covers all of the major topics that fall within this subject and includes essays and excerpts from fifty authors, including C.S. Lewis, Flannery O’Connor, Dorothy Sayers, and Frederick Buechner.

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Contents

Leland Ryken Thinking Christianly About Literature
23
Francis Schaeffer Perspectives on Art
35
Annie Dillard Literature As an Art Object
49
Reflections on an Understanding of Literature
55
Imagination Beauty and Creativity
61
Luci Shaw Beauty and the Creative Impulse
81
George MacDonald The Imagination Its Functions
101
S Lewis Creating Narnia
107
Robert Engler Confessions of a Poetry Editor
261
Clyde S Kilby The Aesthetic Poverty of Evangelicalism
277
Christian Writers
299
John Ciardi The Writers Facts
313
Frederick Buechner The Gospel As Fairy Tale
319
Flight to Reality
335
Poetry Fantasy
343
Miriam Hendrix Why Fantasy Appeals
357

To Teach and to Delight
115
A Hedonistic Defense
135
Richard Stevens and Thomas J Musial Reading
155
The Christian Writer
157
Chad Walsh The Advantages of the Christian Faith for a Writer
169
Writing Bluesville
177
Walker Percy On Being a Catholic Novelist
193
Peter J Leithart Authors Authority and the Humble Reader
209
Reflections on the Joy of Reading
231
State of the Art Success and Failure in Current
237
J R R Tolkien The Consolation of the Happy Ending
365
Timothy DudleySmith The Poet as Hymn Writer
387
Wendell Berry The Responsibility of the Poet
397
Definitions of Poetry
403
Madeleine LEngle Is It Good Enough for Children?
427
Brian Godawa Redemption in the Movies
433
S Lewis On Stories
453
Reflections on Storytelling
459
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About the author (2002)

Leland Ryken is Professor of English at Wheaton College, where he has taught since 1968. He has published nearly two dozen books on various subjects including literature in Christian perspective, the Bible as literature, and Milton. His previous titles include The Liberated Imagination, The Discerning Reader, A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible, Words of Delight and Realms of Gold.

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