Friday, August 27, 2010

Complex Redemption

I’ve enjoyed the discussion on redemption this week. I nearly ran out and bought a bean pot after Debbie’s post. She reminded us that redemption is, in part, a question of value – and her bean pot is a wonderful example of the simple and plain being privileged to a place of monetary value. It’s worth something, despite its humble appearance (cute as it is). Thanks to Debbie, I have added to my stock of great stories to tell “The wisdom of the bean pot”.

I also enjoyed the comments and recommendations people made. Many of the novels mentioned are ones I’ve read and enjoyed – and as always is the case on this blog, new-to-me novels made my TBR pile grow. Love this group of well-read folks! And my humble thanks to Latayne and Koala Bear for the shout out love.

One thing I’ve noticed, not just on our blog, but in general, is that we tend to equate redemption stories with personal redemption only. Of course this makes sense – Christianity understands redemption as a personal experience one that cannot be prescribed or legislated, rather it is experienced (or not) on a person-by-person basis. All well and good, but I’ve been thinking lately, wondering if we can take this notion of redemption further in our fiction.

I’m working on a new novel, A Girl Named Fish, a story about community, and it’s gotten me to thinking about how the concepts of redemption can be presented on a broader canvas than the individual. Let me give you a for instance: A story about a woman who overcomes a difficulty in her life (a terrible past, a loss, an addiction, etc), is in itself a satisfying story. But I’m increasingly sure there could and should be more, that the story of the individual coming to wholeness is only the beginning. If a woman is raised up on to her own two feet, it is for a purpose, right? Something bigger than herself calls to her to move on with her life, accomplish things, and embrace life fully. Doesn’t it make sense that God restores people in order to restore entire societies and cultures? That the people who experience grace and wholeness can in turn be agents of grace and wholeness in the larger society? Of course it does, we holler in unison!

Yet it seems to me there is a distinct lack of these “change the world” stories on our shelves. There are, however, shelves of novels that point to society’s decline. Where are the stories that point to society’s potential? The stories that teach us how to break cycles of hate or abuse. The stories that show us how a group of like-minded individuals can turn the world around them to spin in a different direction – a better direction.

It’s freedom Friday, today, and I’d love for you to share those novels you’ve read that point to the value of our potential. That point out routes to peace among enemies, that highlight our ability to allow love to overrule our prejudices, not only as individuals, but as entire communities, towns, societies, and cultures.

10 comments:

Wendy Paine Miller said...

This is one of the first times I've mentioned my own work on here.

I know I begin something with just two individuals in Noble. Hope that comes from risking trust. A grown woman hiding out in her cottage and her young neighbor. It starts with them. But I love how the story unravels.

Child teaches woman. Woman teaches child. Child teaches woman. A cyclical and beautiful relationship ripples out to the lives they encounter.

I had to write it b/c I think it touches upon what you are getting at here.

I haven't started it yet, but I'm also going on a limb, guessing Let the Great World Spin does this.

And of course, To Kill A Mockingbird did it.
~ Wendy

Sara said...

This is one of the reasons I love so much in the fantasy/sci-fi genres. The "save-the-world" stories echo the promise of Revelation that our whole world is going to be redeemed and remade and made right. And we will get to see our own personal redemptions as part of the integral work of the redemption of the whole. The archetype of the broken hero who is healed in order to bring salvation to his/her community and then finds that their being broken was in fact integral to being able to play savior is, I believe, a profoundly Christian, whether or not the characters that play it out are necessarily Christian.

Latayne C Scott said...

You have a good point here. The reason that early Christianity grew exponentially was that individuals who had undergone transformation were seen in the aggregate: an unmistakeable witness of numbers who were willing to die based on their individual redemption which was based on the ultimate redemption -- God raising His Son from the dead.

And that is mirrored in the act of writing for publication. If each of us believed that the redemption of individuals was all that mattered we would be holding one-on-one Bible studies only. (Which I greatly applaud and do, myself.) Instead, we hold to the great hope that our writing gifts allow us the privilege of reaching many people we will never meet in the flesh.

Bonnie Grove said...

Wendy: This is a great point - a novel can depict personal redemption, and then foreshadow how that change will ripple wider after the story is finished. That is truly a hopeful ending! Thanks for that.

Sara: I was thinking the same thing about fantasy/sci-fi. It gives us permission to actually save the world in a way realistic fiction doesn't. Unless it's Star Wars and the darn universe just won't stay saved! :) The Matrix is a great example of how one man's redemption results in freedom for many. Great stuff.

Latayne: Great point about the desire to reach out to others through writing for publication. Truly it is an example of this topic in motion. We all reach out to others with our stories (our lives) in the hopes of building a strong community of people who will gain the strength to reach out to those around them. Thanks so much for your wisdom!

Steve G said...

I think you are on to something - for much of the Bible God worked through a nation to reveal Himself to the world!

And for most of the New Testament the church is described as a body having many members and a building having many stones in its walls.

If we are not contributing significantly and positively in the body of Christ, the community, we are missing much of our purpose in the Kingdom of God.

Sometimes this larger redemption comes as a result of a personal redemption story.

Word verification - Canne: Buzz' argument to Woody, of which Buzz was right.

Sharon said...

I really resonate with your comments about redemption Bonnie. We really ought to live in such a way that God can instigate the world around us to "spin in a different direction" as you put it. That's beautiful, and it's right.

The heroes and heroines of old got beyond themselves and gave themselves for something "bigger than themselves" as you said. Love, family, community, truth _ to name a few.

We admire 'coming into our own,' which I'm not putting down. It changes and improves the world too, but it's different. It really depends what a person who 'comes into his own' does with him or her self whether that life is available to change the world's spin or not. Perhaps we don't often make it all the way to heroism in these times.

Sharon said...

Hold that thought Bonnie! I really like your this post.

Lynn Dean said...

Jumping in very late here, but I believe Francine Rivers told a wide redemption story through her character, Hadassah, in her series A Voice in the Wind (beginning with The Mark of the Lion). Sharon Hinck, in a fantasy setting, did much the same thing in her Sword of Lyric series (beginning with The Restorer).

Karen Foster said...

I just finished reading Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It's a great classic work written from a Biblical Christian viewpoint.

In an era when African Americans were considered property, the author challenged her readers to see that God loves people of all color, and that Jesus died for their sins and offers them eternal salvation because they were humans with souls.

Through the use of her fictitious characters, the author shows the horror and injustice of slavery.

Her novel inspired the Christian community to organize the abolition movement. Even President Lincoln spoke with her and said, "So you're the little woman that started the war."

Harriet Beecher Stowe is definitely an example of an author making a positive difference in redeeming our country while pointing others to our Redeemer.

Karen Foster said...

I just finished reading Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It's a great classic work written from a Biblical Christian viewpoint.

In an era when African Americans were considered property, the author challenged her readers to see that God loves people of all color, and that Jesus died for their sins and offers them eternal salvation because they were humans with souls.

Through the use of her fictitious characters, the author shows the horror and injustice of slavery.

Her novel inspired the Christian community to organize the abolition movement. Even President Lincoln spoke with her and said, "So you're the little woman that started the war."

Harriet Beecher Stowe is definitely an example of an author making a positive difference in redeeming our country while pointing others to our Redeemer.