We live in a world that I would argue is “story-shaped”—a world that, for better and worse (and I believe it is both), most often seems to process through narrative, not facts or law or other methods.
Consider the stories you have told yourself over the years about what you would like to be or hope to do. We know the reverse is true as well. We can probably all think of examples of people who get “stuck” because they can’t imagine living out a different storyline. Think of how many times you have heard someone say, particularly after a disappointment, “That’s not what was supposed to happen.” Without dismissing the sadness of these situations, it is telling that such a comment implies the existence of a story we narrate to ourselves constantly—and how strongly it shapes our responses and feelings.
And it’s not just the stories we tell, it’s the ones we listen to, it’s the ones we value, it’s the ones with which we engage. Through stories we come to understand the expectations and norms of others around us—our family, community, church and larger culture. Indeed, stories define those expectations and norms—and signal to us whether our lives are successful or not (at least according to those doing the telling).
Whatever the perspective, there is ample evidence that societal attitudes on any given issue are affected more by story than by anything else. It’s vital, then, to pay real attention to how we interpret the myriad of stories coming at us and at those in the pews. So, it is most important to think about the how and why of what we read. I am not going to claim that reading makes you somehow “better,” but rather that becoming a better reader—more attuned to narrative assumptions, strategies and expectations—is critical.
And for people of faith, for people of the Book, it is especially important to put those assumptions, strategies and expectations under the lens of the larger story to which we give allegiance, the gospel.
Here are several books to help sharpen those interpretative skills. These first three titles provide us with a strong framework.
The Prophetic Imagination: 40th Anniversary Edition by Walter Brueggemann (Fortress Press) continues to offer rich direction for the necessity of an interpretative scheme that can resist the temptations of power and comfort.
Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling by Andy Crouch (IVP) helps establish our identity as creators as central to our place in the kingdom.
Art + Faith: A Theology of Making by Makoto Fujimura (Yale University Press) provides winsome models on how we can best engage culture.
This next set of books, written for a broader audience, can help us develop a big picture.
Middlemarch by George Eliot (public domain) was deemed by Virginia Woolf as “one of the few English novels written for grown-up people,” by which I think she meant that it’s a book that struggles with all the dilemmas and disappointment of adulthood—and all the choices, complications, compromises and consequences (intended and unintended) that come along with it.
Homegoing: A Novel by Yaa Gyasi (Knopf) is an incredibly moving exploration of family history in the context of global history across time and geography.
Pachinko: A Novel by Min Jin Lee (Grand Central Publishing) asks how we interact with all the narratives that surround us to live a meaningful life.
Godric: A Novel by Frederick Buechner (HarperOne) alternates the narrative between the hagiography being written by a scribe and Godric’s own raucous memories.
Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson (Picador Paper) helps us calibrate and expand our understanding of the ways a God-focused life might play out.
Jennifer Holberg is professor and chair of the English department at Calvin University and co-director of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing. Her latest book is Nourishing Narratives: The Power of Story to Shape Our Faith (IVP Academic).
