My friend Sarah tells me that sometimes she has intellectual crushes. I think I have a literary crush on Frederick Buechner. I have long appreciated his book, Telling the Truth - although it does not unseat Till We Have Faces as my favorite book (besides the Bible of course). For Christmas, my mom gave me Peculiar Treasures: a Biblical Who's Who by dear Frederick. Here are a few excerpts that will hopefully prompt you to read some of his work yourself.
on Lazarus
"Recent interviews with people who have been resuscitated after being pronounced clinically dead reveal that after the glimpse they inevitably all of them get of a figure of light waiting for them on the other side, they are very reluctant to be brought back again to this one. On the other hand, when Lazarus opened his eyes to see the figure of Jesus standing there in the daylight beside him, he couldn't for the life of him tell which side he was on." (p. 102)
on Sarah and laughter
"Nobody claims there's a chuckle on every page, but laughter's what the whole Bible is really about. Nobody who knows his hat from home-plate claims that getting mixed up with God is all sweetness and light, but ultimately it's what that's all about too.
"Sarah and her husband had had plenty of hard knocks in their time, and there were plenty more of them still to come, but at that moment when the angel told them they'd better start dipping into their old age pensions for cash to build a nursery, the reason they laughed was that it suddenly dawned on them that the wildest dreams they'd ever had hadn't been wild enough." (p. 173)
on Gabriel
"She struck the angel Gabriel as hardly old enough to have a child at all, let alone this child, but he'd been entrusted with a message to give her, and he gave it.
"He told her what the child was to be named, and who he was to be, and something about the mystery that was to come upon her. 'You mustn't be afraid, Mary,' he said.
"As he said it, he only hoped she wouldn't notice that beneath the great, golden wings he himself was trembling with fear to think that the whole future of creation hung now on the answer of a girl." (p. 44)
on Hagar
"The story of Hagar is the story of the terrible jealousy of Sarah and the singular ineffectuality of Abraham and the way Hagar, who knew how to roll with the punches, managed to survive them both. Above and beyond that, however, it is the story of how in the midst of the whole unseemly affair the Lord, half tipsy with compassion, went around making marvelous promises, and loving everybody, and creating great nations, like the last of the big-time spenders handing out hundred dollar bills." (p. 52)
Frederick Buechner. Peculiar Treasures: a Biblical Who's Who. HarperSanFrancisco, 1979.
6 comments:
I share your love of Buechner (which would be an odd thing to say if he was standing in front of us, har har). I also have a literary cruch on C.S. and crazy Tolstoy. For fiction I like Ted Dekker and Francine Rivers (remember Redeeming Love's travels through our young impressionable bible school?? Hee hee). Take care!
I smiled at the words of Frederick. Although I hadnt heard of him until now, I'm intrigued by his words. Ya and I've often had crushes on literary people- most recently on DOnald Miller. Sigh. I'll have to check out Buechner. Thanks for the tips!
Hey Jen
I enjoyed those excerpts and I'm definitely going to look out for that book!
Hope the exam results were good.
God Bless...
Laura
I just read the past year of your blog....interesting to see how all of your dreams worked out. I am glad for you and all your adventures. much love the one who still resides in MT. Mandy
哈囉
Hello~
我是Kerry
I am your stugent,Kerry.
我找到妳的網誌耶
I found your blog!!
Hey Jen,
I remember reading that book in Preston's Variety class. I think you were in it too. Have you read Buechner's Sacred Journey. I thinks it's part of a trilogy or something. It's very interesting. Kind of like a spiritual journal.
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