I've been reading Eugene Peterson's Eat This Book (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006) which is required for incoming Duke divinity school students. It reminds me of a kettle on a stove: it takes awhile to reach a whistling boil, but once it does, it has your attention. I'm finally at the whistling boil part (at least for me): Chapter 4, "Scripture as Form"--which is essentially about scripture as story, "an immense, sprawling, capacious narrative" (page 40).
There are some real gems in this section, including his assertion that "the way the Bible is written is every bit as important as what is wrriten" (p. 48), which is to elaborate on the nature of literature in general: "we cannot change or discard the form without changing and distorting the content" (p 47). This is a huge theme for me in The God-Hungry Imagination, so I'm happy to find myself in good company. He also quotes theologians like Hans Urs von Balthasar and Northrop Fyre, whom I haven't read (but on my list), and Walter Brueggemann, whom I have. Great stuff so far. We'll see where the rest of the book leads.
Meanwhile, Peterson was interviewed in the May/June issue of RELEVANT magazine. Some great God-hungry quotes:
"A good artist doesn't tell you what's there. He shows you all the stuff you've missed all your life." (RELEVANT, page 77)
"Writers are some of our primary witnesses to mystery. They talk about writing the way we talk about prayer--that there's an attentiveness about it. A mystery. Writers never know what they're writing." (77)
"Wallace Stegner says that we live by forms and patterns, and if the patterns are wrong, we live badly. Good stories--good fiction, in particular--provide us with good patterns." (77)
Onward.
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2 comments:
Interesting that you all have to read this for Duke... I am in the midst of it myself, and it was the book that initially put me on the track for my barthian, "world of scripture" dissertation. I am immersed in your manuscript today, as I am FINALLY onto the relevant section of my paper... great thoughts that really resonate with a lot of what has spurred me on in my MA work and my ministry. Looking forward to finishing and getting the book when it comes out!
Hope you are well Sarah!
Grace and Peace,
Sarah Dickinson
(your pal from the Princeton Forum)
Glad to know the manuscript has been helpful -- we certainly seem to be in good company, what with the Eugene Petersons and Calvin Millers, Madeleine L'Engles and Frederick Buechners out there blazing such difficult trails. I wonder if they were influenced by Barth? If so, I don't think they've said it out loud--unlike Duke divinity professors, who quote him constantly. The big question is, why is no one teaching a class on Barth at Duke? He's the elephant NOT in the room. Perhaps I'll have to do an independent study.
Cheers!
SA
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