New Around the Mission
Conversation Explores Why Christians Should Read (Good) Stories
September 13, 2011
Everyone loves a good story. But is it possible that good stories can do more than merely entertain us? The Rev. Kenny Benge of St. John’s Anglican Church in Franklin, Tennessee, recently explored how reading good novels can expand our capacity to understand, appreciate and love the world and people around us at the first in a fall series of conversations about faith and everyday life called Why Christians Should Read (Good) Novels. Thirty-five people gathered around tables in a local restaurant St. John’s rented for the evening to sip drinks and share their opinions.
“Novels help us develop an imagination, the kind that’s required to love different kinds of people, and become familiar with our own stories of creation, fall and redemption,” explains Kenny, an avid reader. “Good stories, honest stories show us a spacious world in which God creates and saves and blesses.”
He used a dialog form of teaching, talking for 10 minutes on each point then opening the floor for discussion. During the night, the group actively engaged topics like how good stories help us develop a moral imagination—by giving us moral maps of the world, stories help us imagine larger possibilities and purposes. Other talking points included how good stories can train our imaginations to help each other see our destinies and fulfill them, and how good novels help us resist the contemporary preference for information over story.
At the end of the conversation, Kenny handed out a book list recommending some of his favorite novels, among them Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner, The Road by Cormac McCarthy and all of the writings of Agatha Christie. He believes these novels have deeply impacted him as a person.
“Good stories don’t just tell us something and then leave it there—they invite our participation,” he says. “We feel the emotions, identify with characters, expand our understanding of what it means to be human.”
Learn more at St. John's Franklin.
Posted By: Cynthia P. Brust
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