The Bible is a narrative--the story of God's creation, humankind's fall, and God's plan of redemption. And it is filled with countless smaller stories that teach us about people, history, and the nature of God. It's no surprise that God would choose to reveal himself to us in story--after all, he hardwired us for story. Despite this, we so often attempt to share our faith with others not through story but through systems, arguments, and talking points--methods that appeal only to our mind and neglect our imagination and our emotions. In this groundbreaking book, scholar and author Alister McGrath lays a foundation for narrative apologetics. Exploring four major biblical narratives, enduring stories from our culture such as Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, and personal narratives from people such as Augustine of Hippo and Chuck Colson, McGrath shows how we can both understand and share our faith in terms of story.
★★★☆☆
Alister McGrath is an Irish priest, historian, and professor of theology and science. In this new work, he delves into the relevance, joy, and comfort that can be found within the Christian faith through the exploration and use of stories from classic literature. McGrath's theories not only lean on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis --- the standards when you want to talk biblically inspired analogies --- but also the works female writers such as Dorothy L. Sayers and Marilynne Robinson. Occasionally there is also a nod to the writings of St. Augustine.
Previously an atheist, McGrath now identifies as a natural scientist and Christian apologist. What is an apologist, you ask? Well, in the plainest terms the idea of an apologist dates back to the Greek word "apologia", meaning "in defense of"... so Christian apologists are those who work to address objections against their faith through an academic style of debate / discussion. Within the textual notes at the back of Narrative Apologetics, McGrath uses the example of the story of Paul sharing an apologia, his tale of an encounter he had with Christ, as a means to explain his dedication to the faith. Also, within the main text, McGrath surprisingly --- or perhaps not, depending on who picks up this book --- occasionally references the philosophical works of outspoken atheist or agnostic authors such as Christopher Hitchens and Bertrand Russell, but in that notes:
"Writers such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens judge others by standards that they refuse to acknowledge as normative for assessing their own beliefs. As Dawkins conceded in an Oxford University debate with Rowan Williams, he could not verify his own atheism on scientific or rational grounds and was therefore an epistemological agnostic.
Other New Atheist writers are equally prone to overstatement at this point, presenting their atheism as intellectually monistic, possessed of views that are so self-evidently correct that they are exempt from any requirements of proof placed upon lesser schools of thought. Hitchens, for example, boldly and inaccurately declares that New Atheists such as himself do not hold any "beliefs", in that they only accept what can be proved to be right. "Our belief is not a belief." Yet Hitchens's atheism actually rests on a set of assumed moral values (such as "religion is evil" or "God is not good") that he is simply unable to demonstrate by rational argument. Hitchens appears merely to assume that his moral values are shared by his sympathetic readers, who are unlikely to ask awkward critical questions about their origins, foundations, or reliability. The proponents of the New Atheism seem unable or unwilling to apply the criteria by which they evaluate the beliefs of others to their own ideas."
In that excerpt alone, you can certainly see McGrath's apologist side stand up and shout! So what is he getting at with this particular book? Well, it boils down to the idea of sharing the gospel and the choice of delivery for your audience. One of the challenges of sharing your story of faith with someone is that you can have all the facts ready to go, the highlights reel cued up, maybe even a list of compelling positive attributes illustrating the benefit of being a follower of the faith.... but even with all this, one isn't guaranteed a captive audience. Even with the most enthusiastic delivery, it may just not be enough for a current non-follower to see the relevance or beauty of a lifelong commitment to a walk of faith.
So what is the answer? That's where this book steps in. Sometimes the overly rational, factual approach to sharing your faith can be a turn off for your audience. Maybe it's then that you realize your style needs a little boost, a little pizzazz in your pitch! McGrath recommends turning to relevant pieces of classic literature to really cultivate a sense of beauty and wonder around your testimony. Going this route may lead to a more successful outcome towards inspiring / breeding receptiveness when sharing your faith. To back up this idea, McGrath points out that C.S. Lewis, during his own writing career, came to realize that the narrative of the Bible frequently followed the basic construct of traditional myths and fables. McGrath explains:
"For Lewis, a myth is a story that evokes awe, enchantment, and inspiration and conveys or embodies an imaginative expression of the deepest meanings of life. Lewis argued that the Christian narrative thus gives rise to a clearer and fuller vision of things, which allows shadows, dreams, and rumors to be seen as premonitions and hints of a greater truth --- but a truth they were unable to formulate, disclose, or embody. 'It is like watching something come gradually into focus.' Seeing the full picture helps us make sense of what might otherwise seem hazy, fuzzy, confused, and fragmentary. It allows these fragments to be integrated within a larger vision of things, so that the fragments are joined together in a greater whole. What seemed to be disconnected, random, or even meaningless is shown to fit into a bigger picture --- a picture disclosed by God, not invented by human beings."
Put simply, this book is an invitation to rediscover something that ought never to have been forgotten --- the power of narratives to capture the imagination, and thus to render the mind receptive to the truths that they enfold and express. If C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien are right in their belief that God has shaped the human mind and imagination to be receptive to stories, and that these stories are echoes or fragments of the Christian "grand story", a significant theological case can be made for affirming and deploying such an approach to apologetics.
A narrative approach to Christian apologetics does not displace other approaches, such as those based on reasoned argumentation...Narrative apologetics is best seen as supplemental to other approaches, reflecting the rich and deeply satisfying nature of the gospel itself. It is one resource among others. Yet it is an approach that some will find particularly winsome and welcome, including those who find more clinically rational approaches to apologetics to lack imaginative depth and emotional intelligence....
We seem to be meant to tell stories. Human beings have a built-in narrative instinct, as if we have been designed to use stories to remember our past, make sense of our present, and shape our future. Humans have been telling stories for thousands of years, committing them to memory and sharing them orally long before the invention of writing. Empirical studies have helped us to appreciate that we human beings are creatures who try to understand who we are, what our world is all about, and how we ought to live by locating and positioning ourselves within a framework of narratives. To be human is to to ask questions about who we are, why we are here, and what life is all about. And most often, we answer those questions using stories.
Just some of the points of debate McGrath covers (and ways apologists can respond):
* How to handle the topic of sin
* How to address the idea of God being "merely a projection of the human mind" as German philosopher Ludwig Feuerback first posed as a theory
* How to "construct a bridge from the narrative to its audience" and how to make the story individualized in a way that makes the listener feel personally "addressed and engaged". As theologian H. Richard Niebuhr put it, "We need a larger pattern, a more inclusive hypothesis through which to understand each other's and our own memories."
Narratives serve an important role in that they can connect otherwise disconnected events and show how they belong together in a larger vision of things. ~ Alister McGrath
McGrath speaks well on the topic of grief. One of the most common questions posed to followers of the Christian faith is "How can God allow so much suffering in the world? Explain that!" To that, McGrath's answer, in part, falls back to the stories. Stories, he writes, help us sort out our emotions regarding tragedy, bereavement, moments that are just challenging in general, etc... but here he also notes the importance of learning the distinction between trying to understand suffering versus simply focusing on learning to cope and grow from the experience. We don't always find the answers to the big questions. Sometimes we find we don't actually need them. But through just the right story at just the right time, we can be assured that, in time, we're going to be okay.
During the Middle Ages, there was a widespread acceptance that suffering was simply a fact of life that did not require explanation; it did, however, need to be engaged. Many writers of the age explored the question of how someone can grow in wisdom and maturity through suffering...
In the closing chapter, this book is described as "a manifesto for joyful, creative, and faithful use of stories to communicate and command the central truths of the gospel". Though there are references to books and authors aplenty, the overall tone of Narrative Apologetics didn't quite give me the feel of a text seeped in literary joyfulness. In the end, for something written with the intent to inspire a more artistic, creative approach to sharing one's faith with others, McGrath came at this with a rather strong academic hand. Understandable, given that he himself is a college professor, but in that, at least to this reader, it felt like he missed his goal a bit. While he makes some strong and interesting points, the delivery doesn't make for the most easily readable thing to settle in with.... it had too much the feel of a PhD thesis transferred into book form.
FTC DISCLAIMER: Baker Books kindly provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions above are entirely my own.
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