On Christians who write
Friday, 06 August, 2004
I want to blog something about the Christian as writer but, as always, time is not on my side and life bubbles over with things that must be attended to or it will overflow and leave yucky messes all over the stove which I won't be happy about cleaning up. I also wanted your opinion on the matter since so many of you write—in blog form if nothing else. And so, because it's nearly midnight and I haven't the luxury of putting my thoughts in some sort of coherent order, bullet points are below (NB some of these have been borrowed from Greg):
- Being writer is not an identity, it is an activity that one tries to engage in from time to time. I am not “Karen the writer”, I am “Karen who writes”.
- Writing is a word ministry and therefore can contain the power of the gospel of God for it is his word that created the world and effected a host of other things. Jesus is described as the word made flesh. God is a God who writes—not just the Bible through human agents but the very finger of God etches out his commands on stone tablets in Exodus. There are therefore two dangers: adding to the word of God and subtracting from the word of God. Writers must take great care not to do either.
- If the purpose of a Christian is to glorify God and to edify fellow believers, these should be the primary tasks of Christians who write. It's not that I don't believe in self-expression—it's just that I think that writing's primary purpose should not be self-expression. (In my more critical moments, I call this self-indulgence.)
- An amendment of the above: a Christian has a place in the Great Plan of God (to put all things under Jesus' feet: see Ephesians 1:3-10) and therefore the primary purpose of his/her writing should be attuned to this. This task of world domination will, of course, involve evangelism.
- “Writing ... [is] words that stay.” (The Dark Crystal)
- Writing can reach an audience that an oral/aural ministry cannot. Consider where Christianity would be without writing (ie. no Bible).
- All of the above does NOT mean that writing fiction has no value. It's just that few Christians who write have employed the medium of fiction to bring about world domination in Jesus. Yet. (I could go on and on about this point and bring up Adrian Plass and talk about the deception of making “reality” seem to rosy and Christian characters seem too “good” but the clock is ticking.)
- The Christian who writes cannot and must not write without proper consideration being given towards his/her audience. This goes entirely against the postmodern ethic but is Biblical because God is love and we have been commanded to “Love your neighbour as yourselves”. Other-person-centredness should be a characteristic of one's writing, not something it is utterly devoid of. Consideration of one's audience may then dictate what one writes, not just how one writes it.
I am spent. If I have any further brainwaves, I shall add them later.
Blinks:
A way of funding writing in the future: pitch and idea and get people to support it.
Place where you can hire play equipment for parties, etc.
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
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Karen, I like it the list you’ve collated ... I think you’ve got the main ones covered. For me the biggest challenge is in point two. Being faithful to God in what and how I represent Him as I write.
Being a writer is not an identity, but for some it can be a calling/vocation. Still I think you are right. If I were called to be a pastor I shouldn’t be “irene the pastor” because I still oughtn’t to let my calling define me, if you know what I mean.
To me, in writing one has to be careful coz the written word lasts longer than the spoken and is kind of emblazoned there for all to see and to go over again & again. So point #2 and your last point go together, sort of. I am responsible for what I write, therefore I have to consider my audience. I’ve never subscribed to the idea of “it’s your blog, you pay for it and you can write whatever you want”. I think that is a cop-out.
On the other hand, I am not sure about every piece of writing having to have the purpose of bringing world domination in Jesus. Wouldn’t that make all writing rather preachy? As a Christian writer I would hope that Christian principles & themes are threaded through my writing even when I’m not writing anything overtly “Christian”. I just want to write well… as per Col 3:23 (a verse my mom drummed into my head when I was young).
Hi Irene! I don’t think that world domination in Jesus would necessarily make all writing preachy. There are ways to spread the kingdom of God without taking the didactic line. It’s hard to imagine because not many writers have done it but I do think it’s possible. In fact, especially in the realm of fiction, I think that the didactic line is probably the worst line to take.
What about Christians who are in the publishing end of things? I don’t think you’d approve of some of the books that my publishing house publishes here in Britain, Karen (see http://www.elwinstreet.com) and I’m not sure that I approve of them either, but at the same time I’m living as a Christian in this workplace and totally confusing my boss and co-workers with my choices and decisions…even if I’m not actively speaking to them about Christ yet…
Erin, I think that’s a bit different—more a case of working for non-Christians and how to do that in a godly manner. I haven’t thought that through properly, aside from “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men… ” (Col. 3:23)