A review of The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images & Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis.
“God’s foundation is true, the walls of the house he has built are strong, the steeple is upright, and all the windows will allow the light to stream in, now and for all generations to come”
Karen Swallow Prior (p.6)
Link to Publisher Page
http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/the-evangelical-imagination/412270
Written Review
I learned lots from reading this book, and you will too (if you read it, you open your ears, and you will learn even if you don’t agree with the author’s warnings or conclusions).
It was Socrates who famously said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” That phrase came up in my mind again and again as I read this book because, what Karen Swallow Prior is doing through this book is twofold. (1) She is giving a literary history and development of the evangelical imagination (our shared social imaginary) and asking us to parse what is of God and of man. And (2) she is pointing out that many evangelicals (Born Again Christians) have discovered in the midst of recent church problems (division, lower church membership, abuse & cover ups, and racism) that the evangelical house we have inherited (to use a metaphor) has been largely unexamined, and is in desperate need of reform.
And frankly, she is not alone in this observation or concern. Many have said this and have been calling for various changes. So what does this book bring to the conversation? What Prior does in a unique way through this book is take its readers on a history journey of stories, images, and metaphors that have shaped your Christian life so much that you may not even perceive them, she exposes them, she examines them, and encourages you to separate what is biblical from that which is not. And then towards the end of most chapters Prior challenges you to keep examining (both God’s word and your life), and to keep following Jesus as the “way” because “God’s foundation is true, the walls of the house he has built are strong, the steeple is upright, and all the windows will allow the light to stream in, now and for all generations to come” (p.6).
Note: This product was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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