Leland Ryken beat me to the punch. He’s edited an anthology of short selections from devotional writings through the centuries, the very thing I had hoped to do someday. He even stole his title (as I would have done) from a George Herbert poem: The Heart in Pilgrimage. Well, good for him.
Here’s how he defines devotional writing:
A devotional is definable by its subject matter first of all. It takes specifically religious and spiritual experience for its subject. Examples are the person and works of God, personal salvation and sanctification, trust in God, relating to God day by day, meditations on specific Christian doctrines, and godly living.
A second avenue toward defining the devotional genre is by its effect on a reader. A devotional is not primarily an exposition of doctrine, and it does not appeal to our intellect the way a theology book or sermon does. Instead it is affective in its operation, appealing to our emotions and heart more than our minds. The purpose of a devotional is not to inform or educate but to bend the soul toward God and persuade a reader to embrace godliness in daily life. A devotional also provides paths by which to attain such godliness.
I happen to be writing a book that aspires to that genre, especially his “second avenue.” However, I take exception to what I think is his false dilemma. Why can’t devotional literature both challenge the mind and bend the soul toward God? I’ve even titled mine The Devoted Mind. Perhaps you could ask our God to grant such grace that what I write would (thoughtfully) bend the souls of its readers toward God and embrace godliness? (Is it presumptions of me to write “its readers”? I haven’t even finished it yet!)
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Keeping in mind the above definition, I’d like to know what devotional literature (poetry or prose) you recommend, based on (at least) these criteria:
You read it for the first time more than 20 years ago (sorry, kids)
You have read it at least three times
It shaped your life
You plan to read it again
If you would be so kind, please also tell me the year you first read it, how many times you have read it, how it shaped (shapes) your life, and why you recommend it to others. Here are the life-shaping books that I have reread most often:
C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (1976, read > 10 times)
C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves (1978, read > 10 times)
C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (~1980, read > 10 times)
Augustine, Confessions (1983, read > three times)
George Herbert, The Temple (early 1990s, > five times)
I am challenged by Lewis’s insight into what I would call the everyday darkness of our hearts—the pettiness and small-mindedness and self-absorption that destroy more souls than the headline-grabbing wickedness that shocks us. And his writing delights—his humor in Screwtape is real humor, but it doesn’t undermine the force of his warnings the way gratuitous humor does. The Four Loves (which should be read with its companion novel Till We Have Faces) explores the underbelly of things we call love but really are (in his words) “a complicated form of hatred.” The thing about The Great Divorce that always moves me is the absolute lack of vanity of the redeemed souls in heaven—even the vanity that wants to talk about how terrible a sinner the soul was. All self-interest is dissolved into interest in the Holy One.
Augustine displays a great intellect bowing humbly and thinking deeply in the presence of God. And Herbert expresses all the struggles of a soul with God and gives me new ways to think about and express the hardships and joys of life before God.
Your recommendations, please?
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Thanksgiving is a truly Christian feast. God’s generosity with me makes my head spin. I’ve recently been retracing our 14 years in Slovakia during my morning constitutionals, and I think that my wonder at God’s gifts to us there is even deeper 18 months after our departure. I’m grateful for the pastors I worked closely with; the Slovak who lived with us for years; the congregations we served in Trnava, Žilina, Nitra, Košice, and Bratislava; our immersion in Slovak culture in Strečno; Paula’s singing with a Renaissance choir; English students; the Slovaks who delighted to show me their country and customs, from mushrooming and picking blueberries and cooking to music to hiking through their majestic mountains; the orchestras in Košice and Bratislava; the architecture of the old city centers and the mountain villages; the gardens; the trains; the cool August evenings under our friends’ Walnut tree with wine and olives and cheese and lingering talks in two languages; the ice cream; the Vah and the Danube; the proximity to the great cities of Vienna, Budapest, Prague, and Krakow; the young mothers that Paula and Rebecca befriended; “my” barista Iris in Bratislava; the scores of unforgettable friendships all over the country that left their mark on us; the swans; the countless people I made coffee for, the countless people Paula made cookies and pies and meals for; our MTW team and the interns who came and served and left too soon; the Christmas markets; the family road trips to Krakow and Budapest with Kristian and Ethan; the MTW retreats and meetings in Islantilla, Crete, Munich, Barcelona, and Athens; watching our boys navigate a tough adolescence with courage and faith; opportunities to lead Bible studies, preach, teach, give seminars at conferences, and disciple younger believers; the interns in Bratislava; the supernatural healing of broken relationships; the births of friends’ babies; the weddings, the opportunity to speak at the wedding feast of Tomáš and Katka, and to preach at the weddings of Marek and Maťa, Kristian and Ivi; cottages in the mountains; Slovak lessons with Pani Repčíková; Slovak Paradise; our apartment in the middle of downtown Košice; hot medovina (honey wine, mead) on cold nights in winter; my view of Nitra Castle from my study window; the vigorous mutual love of the believers at Paradox in Bratislava; the faithful support from donors and praying friends. For all this and more, I am grateful—but above all I am grateful for God’s inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. Amen.
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I am also authorized to announce that Marek (the boy on our roof the first day we arrived in Slovakia, now the pastor of the church in Trnava) and his wife Maťa expect their first child in April. Rejoice with them and pray for them.
Now to find some way to get to Slovakia next spring...
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Last month’s book contest was indecisive. Several of you replied with your recommendations, but no book received more than one vote, so I chose Willa Cather’s The Professor’s House, since I had been leaning toward it before I asked for your help. For the curious, these are the books that people urged me to read:
Middlemarch
The Brothers Karamazov
The Virginian
Hannah Coulter
The Professor’s House
East of Eden
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Live Not By Lies
I hope to get to all of them, Deo volente.
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Now may the Great Giver, the One who has given you everything you have, even life itself and all its blessings, along with the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, give you one thing more: a grateful heart.
