I’m very pleased to be guest posting at literary agent Chip MacGregor’s blog today.
The title of the post is “How to Be a Christian Author without Embarrassing God.”
Here’s how it starts:
Tony Campolo wrote a book a while back titled Following Jesus without Embarrassing God. In it Campolo challenged Christians to let go of practices and attitudes that had very little to do with Jesus. Campolo’s goal was for more of Jesus to come through.
As an editorial director for Baker Publishing Group I work almost exclusively with Christian authors, which is both my joy and my passion. Every day I get to help authors write about the most sublime and sacred truths the world has ever known.
That’s why I want to write this post. . . . continue reading.
Great post on Chip’s blog. I am so often embarrassed by my fellow Christians because I know their word wouldn’t make sense to my secular friends. I also shy away from Christian books and am delighted whenever I stumble onto a very good book such as THE BAREFOOT EXECUTIVE, which turns out to have been written by a Christian.
In addition, I vividly remember a “discussion” I had with my publisher because I didn’t want to place prayers after each reading in my book MOVING ON: QUIET MOMENTS FOR THE DIVORCED. I chose a short Scripture organic to each reading, just as one might start a chapter with a relevant quote from Einstein or Shakespeare. However, prayers seemed too forced and uninviting to a larger audience.
I won my case, and I think the book is better for my alternative. At the end of each reading I wrote two open-ended questions to prompt further reflection. When the book came out, I received some great feedback, even from secular readers.
Keep up the good work of insisting Christian writers be real and relevant.
Dolly, I applaud your effort here! And it’s interesting to me how so much of this is a gut thing. There’s no rule book. We have to use our intuition and listen, I daresay, to the Spirit. Thanks for dropping in, Dolly. Come again!
Chad, you make some excellent points! I do believe Christian authors have to be real in living out their spiritual convictions in the secular world without resorting to traditional Christian jargon. That’s the trick! To make it relevant to our 21st Century world. The age-old questions of “Who am I?” and “What’s the purpose to life?” still need to be answered. Yet, now another big question seems to be, “If there is even a possibility for extraterrestrials visiting our planet someday, who or what is God then?” If we can address these issues, I think our readers will be engaged.
I rather like the possibility of other forms of life and have no problem believing God could have made such. You’re right. With recent discoveries on Mars as well as others, this does seem to be of interest in our culture at the moment. Thanks for writing in!