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Summary:
Walking on Water collects 12 brief meditations by Madeleine L'Engle on the nature of art and its relation to faith. L'Engle, the beloved author of A Wrinkle In Time among others, has written and spoken widely and wisely about the connection between religion and art. The gist of her understanding is as follows:
To try to talk about art and about Christianity is for me one and the same thing, and it means attempting to share the meaning of my life, what gives it, for me, its tragedy and its glory. It is what makes me respond to the death of an apple tree, the birth of a puppy, northern lights shaking the sky, by writing stories.
She believes that "[b]asically there can be no categories such as 'religious' art and 'secular' art because all true art is incarnational, and therefore 'religious.'" And "incarnation," in L'Engle's view, means "God's revelation of himself through particularity." In this book there is some slippage between L'Engle's autobiographical and critical voices. As a result, she often claims Christian significance for works whose meaning is not intentionally Christian. She admits this freely:
[B]ecause I am a struggling Christian, it's inevitable that I superimpose my awareness of all that happened in the life of Jesus upon what I'm reading, upon Buber, upon Plato, upon the Book of Daniel. But I'm not sure that's a bad thing. To be truly Christian means to see Christ everywhere, to know him as all in all.
-- Michael Joseph Gross
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
beautiful book
Customer Rating:
Glad to get this book.One of my daughter's favorite authors.Got it for her after the author passed away.Meant a lot to my daughter.
Fantastic!
Customer Rating:
Madeline L'Engle is one of my most favorite authors. After reading this book, I wanted to meet her--that's not usual for me.
She deals with the big questions of faith and art and creation beautifully.
If you are an artist of any variety struggling with your art--read this. If you are a Christian struggling with your faith--read this.
Exactly what I was looking for
Customer Rating:
"Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art" by Madeleine L'Engle is exactly what I was hoping for in a book reflecting on the creative process and what it means to be a Christian Artist. She skillfully mixes musings on Christ, art, faith, service, and imagination. She says, "I learn that my feelings about art and my feelings about the Creator of the Universe are inseparable. To try to talk about art and about Christianity is for me one and the same thing, and it means attempting to share the meaning of my life, what gives it, for me, its tragedy and its glory." Ahh. And then she shares Leonard Bernstein's observation that art is "cosmos in chaos." Order in disorder. Isn't that what God is trying to do in our lives all the time? When we make art, we can appreciate what He is trying to do on a beyond-imagining, grander scale. This is just a taste of the wonderful insights from the writer of "The Wrinkle in Time" and "Arm of the Starfish." I strongly recommend it! Enjoy!
redeeming writing, celebrating art
Customer Rating:
"It is not easy for me to be a Christian," writes Madeleine L'Engle in Walking on the Water, "to believe twenty-four hours a day all that I want to believe. I stray, and then my stories pull me back if I listen to them carefully. I have often been asked if my Christianity affects my stories, and surely it is the other around..."
I can identify with her. I too struggle with my beliefs and have to return to the books that I have written, the stories that I have told to remind myself of what I already know. In this way all writers and all artists find the truths that they base their lives on by searching for them, discover their faith by exploring it, and grow closer to God only when they realize that they are straying once again.
Within her heartfelt musings on art, faith, and life, all those who feel that imagination and mystery are just as important as explanations and definitions will find a welcome companion. Christian fiction is not a sermon in disguise, it is truth wrapped in story--story wrapped in truth. I recommend this book to artists, dreamers, writers, readers, and believers. L'Engle claims that when we finish a book we want to be given illumination. And in this book she offers precisely that.
Breathing New Life
Customer Rating:
Only Flannery O'Conner has written a book on writing with this much spiritual insight and creative freedom. I picked up "Walking on Water" after numerous recommendations from fellow writers. Of course, I was already aware of L'Engle through her novels--I think "A Wrinkle in Time" and "A Wind in the Door" are brilliant--but I was less familiar with her nonfiction.
If you're a creative person on any level, and if you wrestle with life's big questions unflinchingly, then you must meet L'Engle in the world of words. This lady is such a unique individual, full of down-to-earth wisdom and to-the-limits-of-the-galaxy philosphical ponderings. With candor and anecdotes, with quotable lines and great grace, this book has the ability to breathe new life into tired, artistic souls. I know. Because it's done so for me.
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