The Joys and Dangers of Spiritual Writing

Last updated on: April 15, 2010 at 8:51 am by Amy Julia Becker

The Joys and Dangers of Spiritual Writing 2010-04-15T08:51:00-04:00 Amy Julia Becker

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“Almost any spiritual writer ought to wear thin for you.

It’s like reading criticism of poetry all the time and not reading the poetry.

Spiritual writers have a limited purpose and can be very dangerous, I suppose.”

–Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being

I’m headed off this morning to Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Calvin College’s Festival of Faith and Writing. I’ll get to hear writers such as Sara Miles, Mary Karr, Eugene Peterson, and Stephanie Kallos. I’m sure I’ll be writing more soon about what I hear and learn from them. In the meantime, I’m thankful for O’Connor’s reminder that Scripture and the liturgy are the source, the limitless source, for truth and grace. I’ve spent more hours in my life reading memoirs and novels than I have the Bible, but the Bible contains that words that have transformed, and are transforming, my life. Guess I should make room for it in the suitcase too.

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