6 minute read
Cultural Engagement through
INTERDISCIPLINARY ESSAYS
Cara Murphy, Instructional Mentor, John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Jamaica Conner, Online Department Chair of Interdisciplinary Studies and Assistant Professor of English, College of Arts & Sciences
The pen of humanity has ever been poised to write the stories of God. These stories, told through the song of the Spirit and the eyewitness of man, have placed in the hands of Christendom an invitation to engage the culture du jour. This engagement must welcome and acknowledge the deep hunger of mankind for a creative God; spiritual creative nonfiction, inherent in New Testament writing, accomplishes this type of engagement. Literary scholars with Purdue University define the genre of creative nonfiction as “focused on story, meaning it has a narrative plot with an inciting moment, rising action, climax and denouement, just like fiction. However, nonfiction only works if the story is based in truth, an accurate retelling of the author’s life experiences.”1 Surely we see creativity in the Scriptures through the use of genre and the varied use rhetorical nuance. Additionally, we have a robust commitment to the historicity and theological revelation of Scripture, thus squarely locating it as nonfiction. Therefore, we can rightly apply this definition to the New Testament scriptures. The New Testament Gospel narratives — so much more than human-driven historical record or speculative philosophy — indicate a literary style which engages the imaginative mind and its Maker, lending to itself the genre of spiritual creative nonfiction. With the narrative writings of the New Testament as a prime example, spiritual creative nonfiction remains an effective tool to advance Gospel-based cultural engagement.
Led by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, the authors of New Testament narrative specifically employed the use of the literary form creative nonfiction. American author and founder of the literary magazine, Creative Nonfiction, Lee Gutkind explains
The word “creative” refers to the use of literary craft, the techniques fiction writers, playwrights, and poets employ to present nonfiction — factually accurate prose about real people and events — in a compelling, vivid, dramatic manner. The goal is to make nonfiction stories read like fiction so that your readers are as enthralled by fact as they are by fantasy. The word “creative” has been criticized in this context because some people have maintained that being creative means that you pretend or exaggerate or make up facts and embellish details. This is completely incorrect. It is possible to be honest and straightforward and brilliant and creative at the same time.2
As Gutkind describes, creative nonfiction requires accuracy, and the rules of this genre are relatively simple: a) write what you know, b) know your audience, and c) tell the truth. The Gospel writers followed these rules; essentially, they established them by documenting the life, miracles, and ministry of Jesus as seen by witnesses or as they witnessed themselves. Even though they were written over 2,000 years ago, each narrative of the New Testament encapsulates truth and provides principles just as relevant to our lives today as they were for the early church culture. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John creatively depicted each mesmerizing moment in an engaging, narrative style that still captures the imagination, brings readers into the scene, and pierces the soul.
With careful study, we see that the Incarnate Word not only allowed but also invited a collaborative effort between divine and human creativity. Thus, New Testament literature represents an accurate record of dialogue, rhetoric, narrative, and theological treatise, but it is also a creatively accurate re-telling of the Gospel story that both considers and emphasizes the space where mind and heart conjoin: the imagination. “The Bible is in large part a work of imagination,” writes English professor, Leland Ryken. He continues, “It’s most customary way of expressing truth is not the sermon or the theological outline, but the story, the poem, and the vision — all of them literary forms and products of the imagination… Literary conventions are present in the Bible from start to finish, even in the most historically factual parts.”3
Spiritual creative nonfiction is distinct from the creative nonfiction genre because the inspiration of the Spirit is the power behind the New Testament’s effectiveness in cultural engagement. The New Testament has been viewed as such since its entry into the Greco-Roman world. Kevin DeYoung writes,
Clement of Rome (30-100) described “the Sacred Scriptures” as “the true utterance of the Holy Spirit.” Polycarp (65-155) called them “the oracles of the Lord.” Irenaeus (120-202) claimed that the biblical writers “were incapable of a false statement.” Origen (185- 254) stated, “The sacred volumes are fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, and there is no passage either in the Law or the Gospel, or the writings of an Apostle, which does not proceed from the inspired source of Divine Truth.”4
As Matthew, John, Paul, and others sought to compose their best work, their ears remained open, receiving the mystery of the Holy Spirit’s inspirational ruach, or “breath” (2 Tim 3:16, NIV). The role of the Spirit was crucial to their effort, without which we would have only the temporal words of men.
The New Testament authors relied on the Spirit for the creative flow of words, creating a unique type of creative nonfiction that can, with confidence, be called spiritual. However, today, we are not excluded from the practice of reliance upon the Spirit of God in the crafting of creative writing, both fiction and nonfiction, in pursuit of our culture. Even temporal words penned by modern writers can offer the transformation of culture by Spirit-empowered support from the scriptures. While we certainly never add to the canon of Scripture, we can draw forth the particular invitation inherent in them with our own interactive dependence on God in creative writing.
To engage with our culture, modern authors may model the same device as the Gospel writers did, writing works that fulfil what Jesus commanded in the Great Commission. Sometimes obedience to the Great Commission manifests as teaching or preaching, but other times, it seizes the form of spiritual creative nonfiction — a chance for us to tell our own stories of salvation and freedom through Jesus. This can be achieved through modern-day letters via social media, blogs, contemporary articles and books, etc. The possibilities for engaging our culture through creative nonfiction are seemingly endless in a time when the capability for connectivity reigns. Using these contemporary tools to make a personal connection by spreading the message of God’s love, carving out time to connect with the people we love by sharing our own life-altering encounter with Christ’s redemption, and stealing a few precious moments to read to the next generation the narratives of the New Testament writers — these are all avenues for engaging our culture through spiritual creative nonfiction.
As an intentional medium, spiritual creative nonfiction engages culture by inviting each reader deeper into the Gospel's relevance for every age. While the messaging of our age can be confusing, our Lord is unchanging. Jesus, the spiritual and creative Word-Made-Flesh, is available for every culture. He still provides inspiration; He still redeems broken lives. As we connect with society within our sphere of influence, we do well to offer the cultural engagement of the New Testament with winsome creativity, directed by the Spirit of God. In this, we offer something beyond ourselves, a true story with the capacity of capturing the heart of the world.
1 “Creative Nonfiction: An Overview,” The Online Writing Lab of Purdue University, https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/creative_ writing/creative_nonfiction/index.html.
2 Lee Gutkind, “What Is Creative Nonfiction?” Creative Nonfiction, https://www.creativenonfiction.org/online-reading/what-creativenonfiction (November 19, 2019).
3 Leland Ryken, The Christian Imagination: The Practice of Faith in Literature and Writing (New York: WaterBrook Multnomah, 2002), 25.
4 Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck, Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys who Should Be (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2008), 76-77.
