Our passage from the Word of God today is Psalm 139:16 which reads: "Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them."

Our quote today is from Francine Rivers. He said: "I want to see Christian fiction speak to the hard and real issues that tear people’s lives apart.  We need writers who are willing to ask the hard questions and go through the soul-searching and agonizing to find answers – and present these stories with skill that surpasses the general market.  Some of the greatest works or art and literature were rendered by Christians.  I believe God is at work in these areas now."

In this podcast, we are using as our texts: "Literature and Spirituality" by Yaw Adu-Gyamfi and Mark Ray Schmidt, and "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing" by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. If you enjoy this podcast, please feel free to purchase any one of these books from our website.

Our first topic for today is "Art and the Divine, Part 4" from the book, "Literature and Spirituality" by Yaw Adu-Gyamfi and Mark Ray Schmidt.

Rudolf Steiner said, "Art is the daughter of the divine." From a certain perspective, he is right. To add another step, religion is also the daughter of the divine. When we creatively explore and experience things beyond the immediate physical world, a metaphorical child is born. Sometimes that child is religion, and sometimes it is a work of art. In either case, we are building and delighting in new connections. And, in either case, our inner selves are expanding.

This anthology of literary works gives a taste of some of the ways that writers have explored, shared, dismissed, or argued about the ultimate, spiritual questions of life. The first goal is to give a range of works that shows authors can take us beyond our immediate, daily experience. The mere exposure to these works is intellectually enriching, emotionally expanding, and suggestive of new ways that the reader can consider the connection between the spiritual and literature.

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Our second topic for today is "Reading a Story, Part 4" from the book, "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing" by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia.

Types of Short Fiction

Modern literary fiction in English has been dominated by two forms: the novel and the short story. The two have many elements in common. Perhaps we will be able to define the short story more meaningfully - for it has traits more essential than just a particular length - if first, for comparison, we consider some related varieties of fiction: the fable, the parable, and the tale. Ancient forms whose origins date back to the time of word-of-mouth storytelling, the fable and the tale are relatively simple in structure; in them we can plainly see elements also found in the short story (and in the novel).

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Our passage from the Word of God today is Deuteronomy 31:24 which reads: "And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished."

Our quote today is from R. Payne Smith. He said: "The books of men have their day and grow obsolete. God’s word is like Himself, 'the same yesterday, today, and forever.'"

Our first topic for today is "Art and the Divine, Part 3" from the book, "Literature and Spirituality" by Yaw Adu-Gyamfi and Mark Ray Schmidt.

Once again, both art and the spiritual draw us into new connections with the world and with ourselves. They help us move from our immediate experiences with the physical world to a new awareness of a deeper reality. With the intangible, creative energy of our minds and hearts, we make pieces of art that are very physical. Yet, those physical things (novels, poems, paintings) often point us toward the ultimate - the spiritual. In the same way, our spiritual longings, questions, and experiences lead us to write religious textbooks and perform religious rites that are very physical. Yet, those physical books and religious actions point to the spiritual. In both art and religion, an intangible dimension of life becomes physical, yet that physical thing points us back to the intangible again. Put another way, the spiritual and creative energy within humans produces concrete things (a sculpture or a cathedral), but those things are not the goal of art or religion. The objects of art and religion lead people to intangible experiences and truths.

When we stretch ourselves and go beyond the immediate, physical world, we begin to move into either the realm of the creative or the realm of the spiritual. When we are creative, we are stepping out of the world as it currently exists, and we are looking for new possibilities or at least new connections among things that already exist. When we seek the spiritual, we are stepping out of the immediate, physical world of daily experience, and we ae seeking to know God and our souls.

Our second topic for today is "Reading a Story, Part 3" from the book, "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing" by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia.

Literary fiction calls for close attention. Reading a short story by Ernest Hemingway instead of watching an episode of Grey's Anatomy is a little like playing chess rather than checkers. It isn't that Hemingway isn't entertaining. Great literature provides deep and genuine pleasures. But it also requires great attention and skilled engagement from the reader. We are not necessarily led on by the promise of thrills; we do not keep reading mainly to find out what happens next. Indeed, a literary story might even disclose in its opening lines everything that happened, then spend the rest of its length revealing what that happening meant.

Reading literary fiction is no merely passive activity, but is one that demands both attention and insight-lending participation. In return, it offers rewards. In some works of literary fiction, such as Flannery O'Connor's "Revelation," we see more deeply into the minds and hearts of the characters than we ever see into those of our families, our close friends, our lovers -- or even ourselves.

Our passage from the Word of God today is Jeremiah 30:2 which reads: "Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book."

Our quote today is from Gene Veith. He said: "One thing, however, is certain: Reading can never die out among Christians.  This is because the whole Christian revelation centers around a Book.  God chose to reveal Himself to us in the most personal way through His Word—the Bible."

Our first topic for today is "Art and the Divine, Part 2" from the book, "Literature and Spirituality" by Yaw Adu-Gyamfi and Mark Ray Schmidt.

This artistic expansion of our selves through new connections can come in many forms: empathizing with the emotions of characters in an ancient drama, a sense of awe when viewing a landscape painting, or a sense of fear when a short-story character walks into a dark, mysterious room. Art enriches our lives with all sorts of new connections. 

But what is the relationship between art and the spiritual? Before we can solve that question, we need to ask, what is the spiritual? The term spiritual is often associated with "the beyond;" it is associated with truths and experiences which transcend our immediate experiences. When we are aware of the spiritual, we are discovering unique connections, just as art helps us discover new connections.

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Our second topic for today is "Reading a Story, Part 2" from the book, "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing" by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia.

The Art of Fiction

Fiction (from the Latin fictio, "a shaping, a counterfeiting") is a name for stories not entirely factual, but at least partially shaped, made up, imagined. It is true that in some fiction, such as a historical novel, a writer draws on factual information in presenting scenes, events, and characters. But the factual information in a historical novel, unlike that in a history book, is of secondary importance.

Many firsthand accounts of the American Civil War were written by men who had fought in it, but few eyewitnesses give us so keen a sense of actual life on the battlefront as the author of "The Red Badge of Courage", Stephen Crane, who was born after the war was over. In fiction, the "facts" may or may not be true, and a story is none the worse for their being entirely imaginary. We expect from fiction a sense of how people act, not an authentic chronicle of how, at some past time, a few people acted.

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