Reading Between the Lines: A Christian Guide to Literature (Turning Point Christian Worldview Series)

by Gene Edward Veith Jr.

Ebook, 1990

Status

Available

Call number

809.93382

Series

Turning Point Christian Worldview Series

Genres

All Topics

Nonfiction

Religion & Spirituality

Fiction

Publication

Crossway Books (1990), 256 pages

Description

This is a guidebook for Christians who want to learn how to recognize books that are spiritually and aesthetically good-to cultivate good literary taste. Gene Edward Veith presents basic information to help book lovers understand what they read, from the classics to the bestsellers. He explains how the major genres of literature communicate and explores the ways in which comedy, tragedy, realism, and fantasy can portray the Christian worldview.These discussions lead to a host of related topics: the value of fairy tales for children, the tragic and the comic sense of life, the interplay between Greek and Biblical concepts in the imagination, and the new "post-modernism," a subject of vital importance to Christians.In the pages of this book, readers will meet writers, past and present, who carry on a great literary tradition. By supporting worthy authors, Christians can exert a powerful influence on their culture.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member taterzngravy

I read Reading Between the Lines soon after getting my MA in English from a state university (early nineties). Though my emphasis had more to do with linguistics than literature, I needed to take a substantial amount of literature classes. I was frustrated because college in postmodern America

isn't about opening minds, it is about changing minds. Though I learned valuable concepts, I enjoyed very few of the classes. My first job after receiving my MA took me away from my family for a year, which gave me time to read books, several of which rocked my world, and this book was one of those books. This book is everything that was missing in my literature classes.

What makes writing this comment about the book difficult is that it has been many years since I have read it, and I lost the copy with all my notes in after giving it to someone to read. This last sentence shows two things. I considered the book important enough to risk losing it. (an interesting thought, huh?) And though I can't remember many specifics of the book, I know what the trajectory of my life since that book, and that book is a part of it.

Gene Veith starts out by showing the importance of reading and the importance of the written word, especially to the Christian. Then he deals wth the form of literature, that is, nonfiction, fiction, and poetry, followed by the modes or types of literature, and finally, the traditions of literature in which the author surveys the major phases of Western Literature. The author ends the book by writing about writers and writing, which I found to be encouraging.

I would like to say that the trajectory of my life included becoming a renowned poet, but I can say that the book opened up an area that had been shut off to me.

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LibraryThing member Jemima79

I read this book when I was a student and really enjoyed it. It was well written and full of interesting ideas. It reinforces the importance of reading and its role in developing your minds critical evaluation skills. It gives understanding about how a Christian can reconcile their beliefs with

many types of literature - even when it runs contrary to your beliefs.

It has been a few years since I have read it, but it is one of the books that I have kept even through many moves between states and even international.

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