Book Review: The Stories We Tell {Beyond the Page}

The Stories We Tell: How TV and Movies Long for and Echo the Truth by Mike Cosper
ISBN: 9781433537103 (mobi ebook)
Publisher: Crossway
Retail: $12.99

About the book:
The average American watches 5 hours of TV every day.
Collectively, we spend roughly $30 billion on movies each year.

Simply put, we’re entertainment junkies. But can we learn something from our insatiable addiction to stories? Mike Cosper thinks so.

From horror flicks to rom-coms, the tales we tell and the myths we weave inevitably echo the narrative underlying all of history: the story of humanity’s tragic sin and God’s triumphant salvation. This entertaining book connects the dots between the stories we tell and the one great Story—helping us better understand the longings of the human heart and thoughtfully engage with the movies and TV shows that capture our imaginations.

About the author:
Mike Cosper is one of the founding pastors of Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, Kentucky, where he serves as the pastor of worship and arts. He is also founder of Sojourn Music and contributes regularly to the Gospel Coalition blog.

My thoughts:

To start, I am very glad that I have not watched half of the movies/tv shows that are used as reference in this book. A lot of them I hadn't ever even heard of. Some sound down-right terrible. Depressing, disgusting, or just not like what I would find to be good entertainment. But there are some that I have heard of, have watched and have enjoyed. After reading the book by Jerram Barrs about literature echoing Eden (truth, beauty, goodness), I thought this might be an interesting read.

The writing is interesting. Cosper is witty but straight forward. He doesn't paint the ugly pictures in the television shows and movies near as bad as I am sure they are, but the reader can still get the 'picture'. There are only 10 chapters so it really isn't a very long book but as I said, I haven't heard of/see many of the shows he's talking about. Those portions were a little bit tougher for me to slog through, especially when it wasn't a particularly flattering show. 

I believe we are watching because TV and movies are both echoing and forming our desires, and I want to delve into what those desires really are. loc 271
After chapter 2, I won't focus much on the moral aspects of watching TV and movies...Here, I'm less interested in debating the merits of watching content than I am in understanding what drives it. I want to get to the heart of these stories. Why do we tell them? What motivates us? I believe that the motivation for our stories is deeply connected with the gospel, and by thinking about that connection, we can more deeply appreciate both. loc 289

Jeremiah 17:9 tells us plainly that the desires come from our heart, which is deceitful. By saying that stories that are told are connected to the gospel, I think, is taking it too far. Especially when the writer of the story is truly against God (which I don't really recall if any of the shows mentioned in the book are expressly stated as being such). I have a difficult time agreeing that we can 'appreciate' the gospel more fully through watching these kinds of shows. But I do think the shows can be appreciated more (or completely avoided) by reading the gospels.

Stories help give us a sense of place. They stir our imaginations and help us experience love, betrayal, hatred, and compassion that might otherwise be foreign. They prepare us for experiences like love, or help us process things like sorrow and suffering. loc 302

Overall, it was an okay book. As everyone has personal liberty- we make the choices we make without God twisting our arm- I cannot say that Cosper is wrong or right. He makes good points, but as Charlotte Mason says: "It is a great safeguard to know that your 'reason' is capable of proving any theory you allow yourself to entertain." (Vol. 2, p. 46)

***Disclaimer: I received the above ebook as part of Crossway's Beyond the Page reviewer program, free for the purpose of this review. All opinions stated are my own. See Disclosure/Policies.***

Book Review: Lit! {Crossway- Beyond the Page}

Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books by Tony Reinke

PDF ISBN: 9781433522277/Mobipocket ISBN: 9781433522284

ebook, 208 pages

Publisher: Crossway

Retail: $12.99

About the book {from Crossway}:

I love to read. 

I hate to read.

I don’t have time to read.

I only read Christian books.

I’m not good at reading.

There’s too much to read.

Chances are, you’ve thought or said one of these exact phrases before because reading is important and in many ways unavoidable. Learn how to better read, what to read, when to read, and why you should read with this helpful guide from accomplished reader Tony Reinke. Offered here is a theology for reading and practical suggestions for reading widely, reading well, and for making it all worthwhile.

About the author:

Tony Reinke is a former journalist now serving as a theological researcher, writer, and blogger. He works for Desiring God in Minneapolis where he lives with his wife and three children.

In your light do we see light.- Psalm 36:9

My thoughts:

I definitely could not relate to the person who wrote the foreword for this book because he said he hated to read. Gasp! But I do understand that there are some who aren't that thrilled with reading. I read a lot. And for the most part I enjoy reading. I requested this book to review because I struggle with what to read and why to read. 

In chapter 1, Reinke attempts to give a fast breakdown of the good of books and reading, from a Christian perspective. The title of the book is a play on words; it stands for literature but also enlightenment. 

"Lit is short for literature, which is long for books, which is the topic of this book. Lit reminds us that the glow of God's creative power is all around us...Most importantly, lit represents a conviction underlying this entire book: Christian readers are illuminated by "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4). "In him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4)" (loc 210).

Chapter 2 is a rundown of the author's personal journey I suppose from reading to really reading and seeing a connection to God in that. I thought this chapter so long and drawn-out. I appreciate Christian books where the gospel is there (that as humans we are sinners and in need of a savior, that without that savior we will be on our way to eternal damnation, that we need to see our need and then repent of our sins, and finally accept Christ as our savior) but...I had a difficult time not just skimming this entire chapter. 

"Fundamentally, literacy is a spiritual discipline that must overcome the spiritual darkness that veils us" (loc 571).

Chapter 3 discusses the way reading is ultimately superior to watching television {smile}. He didn't really say that but... it's true! He even quotes from Amusing Ourselves to Death. 

"What will we lose if we ignore books? And what will we lose if we fill our lives for the next twenty years with sitcoms, movies, ESPN, video games, and the Internet? What will we gain if we fill our lives for the next twenty years with disciplined reading" (loc 605)? 

I do have a lot of highlights from this chapter on my Kindle but I won't barrage this post with them all. Suffice it to say that Reinke is much more in favor of cultivating a love for literacy than television and the image driven society. 

I'll move along to chapter 6 where Reinke talks about imagination. What a wondrous thing is the imagination!

"God has given us the ability to "see" in our minds things that we have never experienced...secondary imagination [imagination that doesn't arise from our personal experiences] is essential for our pursuit of godliness, and that it's a skill we can sharpen by reading" (loc 1303). 

The rest of the chapter talks about instances in the Bible where that secondary imagination is required because really, who has seen the things portrayed in the books of prophecy in the Bible as they are written? They are symbolic and that requires our imagination.

"Christians can read a broad array of books for our personal benefit, but only if we read with discernment. And we will only read with discernment if the biblical convictions are firmly settled in our minds and hearts. Once they are, we have a touchstone to determine what is pure gold and what is worthless" (loc 940).

As it gets into the second part of the book, Reinke gives advice on what to read, what to avoid, and why he suggests what he does. One thing that I have a very difficult time with is that with the exception of some things, I felt Reinke was saying [although he does not really say this; it's just a personal hang up perhaps] we should read books by non-Christians because we would see God through them because whatever is light is from God. But... Satan is the angel of light... And here is a quote from Martin Luther that Reinke uses: 

"For no heresy has ever sprung from pagan belief, from Aristotle, and from the books of other heathen. No, these necessarily emerge from the church...heresy and false doctrine are taken and adduced from no other source than Scripture" (loc 951).

Overall, I found it to be a thought provoking book that may be of benefit to those who are on the fence about reading only "Christian" books as opposed to "non-Christian" books. My {oh-so-informed} advice: first and foremost, go to God's Word; next go to God in prayer. He will tell you if it is a good book or not to be reading. 

I received this book free from Crossway- Beyond the Page blogger review program for the purpose of this review. See Disclosure/Policies.