[Mark Delepine]

I was a huge fan of James Hillman. Healing fiction as well as the conceptual power of “it is as if ..” to avoid getting bogged down in the purely theoretical and objectivity obsessed modernity. That is what I fall back on as a handle on the supernatural aspects of Christian belief. Maybe it is like the cosmic counterpart of how one thinks of their own inner complexity. Anyone involved in a creative endeavor knows the importance of flow. Waiting for the muse or opening to God, does it really matter? Some activities require subtlety, not carefully moderated control. Maybe it takes a creative approach to access the sacred just as it does to access our talents?

But I did hear McG mention Hillman on a video I think, perhaps in an interview. I think they both channel a muse and are very agile about crediting sources, but I’d give the edge to McG for the breadth of his sources and the depth to which he has pursued the many threads he draws together.

By the way I had to abandon the thread I opened at BioLogos on David Hart’s Experience of God book. I became uncomfortable sharing so many passages and I’m currently joining three friends there in reading Soren Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling in a private thread. I’m absolutely repulsed by that biblical story but find SK’s approach pretty interesting. I’d never read anything by him before this. It is only the opportunity to discuss it as we go with this crew that draws me in. Otherwise I still have loads of fresh ground to cover in TMWT and would rather have a good novel going on the side if anything. I’m not a fast reader never like to rush it.

PPS I’m curious what you thought of that Wendell Berry description of “soul” if you have seen it. I certainly do hope more McG readers will join in here. I find it very challenging to share anything from his books with anyone not already interested. It requires so much filling in and sometimes the tiresome task of differentiating his hemisphere theory from the dated pop culture trope.