{"id":1185,"date":"2017-01-19T14:42:09","date_gmt":"2017-01-19T14:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nickduffel.com\/?p=1185"},"modified":"2017-01-19T14:42:09","modified_gmt":"2017-01-19T14:42:09","slug":"book-review-walking-on-water-reflections-on-faith-art-by-madeleine-lengle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nickduffel.com\/?p=1185","title":{"rendered":"BOOK REVIEW: &#8220;Walking On Water: Reflections on Faith &#038; Art&#8221; by Madeleine L&#8217;Engle"},"content":{"rendered":"<body><p><\/p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-1186\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nickduffel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/51817536.jpg?resize=274%2C274\" alt=\"51817536.jpg\" width=\"274\" height=\"274\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nickduffel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/51817536.jpg?w=450&amp;ssl=1 450w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nickduffel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/51817536.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nickduffel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/51817536.jpg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nickduffel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/51817536.jpg?resize=400%2C400&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nickduffel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/51817536.jpg?resize=430%2C430&amp;ssl=1 430w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nickduffel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/51817536.jpg?resize=100%2C100&amp;ssl=1 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 274px) 100vw, 274px\" \/>What comes to mind when you hear the expressions \u201cChristian art,\u201d or \u201cChristian artist\u201d?\u00a0 For many, the connotation is negative, conjuring images of subpar work with some Jesus messages tacked on.\u00a0 In <em>Walking On Water<\/em>, fiction writer Madeleine L\u2019Engle reflects on the intersection of faith and art in a series of connected essays.\u00a0 This book has become a classic since its publication in the early 80s, and rightfully so.\u00a0 L\u2019Engle not only redeems the idea of Christian art (a term she avoids), but she elevates it as well.\n<p>L\u2019Engle undoubtedly values words.\u00a0 Not just because words are her livelihood, but because she knows the damage that can be done when words are misused.\u00a0 Words like \u201cstory,\u201d \u201ctrue,\u201d \u201czeal,\u201d \u201cgrace,\u201d \u201chuman,\u201d and \u201cinspiration\u201d are no longer allowed to lie lifelessly and uselessly on the page.\u00a0 L\u2019Engle coaxes the artistic and existential meaning from each one.\u00a0 Along the way we get gems such as, \u201cThe minute we begin to think we know all the answers, we forget the questions,\u201d and \u201cStory was in no way an evasion of life, but a way of living life creatively instead of fearfully.\u201d\u00a0 Perhaps the best blow she lands in the struggle for the validation of \u201cChristian art\u201d is, \u201cIf it\u2019s bad art, it\u2019s bad religion, no matter how pious the subject.\u201d\u00a0 In this statement she indicts both the world that would marginalize, and the artistic Christian\u2014\u201cChristian\u201d is a better noun than an adjective\u2014who would shrink back in fear.<\/p>\n<p>I highly recommend this book, which left me both shattered and reflective multiple times, putting words to things I\u2019ve felt, but never been able to speak.\u00a0 L\u2019Engle speaks for the artist that lives in all of us; calling it out like Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb.<\/p>\n<p>Please Note: This book was gifted as a part of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloggingforbooks.com\/\">Blogging for Books<\/a>\u00a0Reviewers Program in exchange for my unbiased review of this work. This has in no way influenced my opinion or review of this work.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What comes to mind when you hear the expressions \u201cChristian art,\u201d or \u201cChristian artist\u201d?\u00a0 For many, the connotation is negative, conjuring images of subpar work with some Jesus messages tacked on.\u00a0 In Walking On Water, fiction writer Madeleine L\u2019Engle reflects on the intersection of faith and art in a series of connected essays.\u00a0 This book&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nickduffel.com\/?p=1185\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">BOOK REVIEW: &#8220;Walking On Water: Reflections on Faith &#038; Art&#8221; by Madeleine L&#8217;Engle<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,4,12],"tags":[15,210,32,75,84,111,127,150,157],"class_list":["post-1185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogging-for-books","category-books-2","category-reviews","tag-52-books","tag-artists","tag-books","tag-fear","tag-god","tag-jesus","tag-music","tag-reading","tag-reviews-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7EHHr-j7","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nickduffel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nickduffel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nickduffel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickduffel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickduffel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1185"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickduffel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1190,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickduffel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions\/1190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nickduffel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickduffel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nickduffel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}