Articles for tag: Christian Fiction

October 11, 2012

By Mark A. Taylor Buying books is cheaper than changing ministries. So goes the advice often attributed to Russ Blowers when he was minister of East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis. But are young leaders today heeding the advice? All of us following a leader hope so! We want our leaders to know more than what they find on Facebook or ESPN. We need to hear more from our preachers than their own experiences. We expect our teachers to challenge us with ideas loftier than their own. We need those helping us live the Christian life to examine the

October 6, 2012

Christian Standard

Book Reviews Reviews

Truth in Fiction

Whether you want to solve a crime with a gritty street detective, laugh your way to redemption, walk in the shoes of the suffering, or reflect on the beauty of God”s created order, you will be able to find a Christian novelist who is happy to be your companion on the journey. By Pat Magness I am not sure why, of all the hundreds of books in the bookstore that day, this particular book, Blue Shoe by Anne Lamott, reached out to me. I hadn”t heard of the book or the author before, but somehow I already felt part of

October 30, 2011

Christian Standard

Discipleship & Spiritual Formation

Good Writers, Universal Truth

By Mark A. TaylorÂ What makes a good writer? American novelist William Faulkner in 1950 gave his answer to the question. Faulkner accepted the Nobel Prize in literature in 1950, a time when the world lived with a growing fear of nuclear holocaust. “There are no longer problems of the spirit,” he said then. “There is only the question: When will I be blown up?” He encouraged the young writers of his day to forget “anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed””love and honor and

September 3, 2008

Christian Standard

Book Reviews Reviews

Our Online Review of a Best-seller

By Mark A. Taylor I”ve said more than once that some of the best writing sponsored by CHRISTIAN STANDARD doesn”t appear in the magazine! Our two bloggers, Arron Chambers and Jennifer Taylor, post thought-provoking commentary every week at our Web site. The following, posted by Jennifer July 26, is a good example. Â Â I”m a literary snob. It can”t be blamed entirely on my private school English lit degree; even as a child I eschewed Nancy Drew for Agatha Christie (thus learning words like eschew), and the passing years have only made me more selective. Life is too short