Story telling

The Enduring Power of 'A Christmas Carol': Hope, Redemption, Story

by Eric Metaxas and Anne Morse in Breakpoint, December 21, 2017

One hundred and seventy-four years ago, a British writer was horrified at the conditions under which children were made to labor in tin mines. He decided to write a pamphlet exposing these conditions. His intended title: “An Appeal to the People of England on Behalf of the Poor Man’s Child.”

Thank heavens the writer changed his mind. Instead of a pamphlet, he decided to write a novel making the same points. It’s filled with colorful characters—including an old man who goes about snarling “Bah, Humbug!”

Those two little words instantly reveal what book I’m talking about: “A Christmas Carol,” by the immortal Charles Dickens. The book has never been out of print—and it illustrates why telling a good story is often the best way to communicate our beliefs.
3 ways movies are searching for the Gospel

By Gavin Ortlund, January 4, 2016 in The Gospel Coalition

I love movies. I always have, but for some reason I’ve grown more and more fascinated with movies in the last three or four years—the massive industry that stands behind them, the intricacies and subtleties that make for good acting and good narration, and most of all, the power of stories to communicate at such a deep, complex, emotional level. I loved the new Star Wars.
GK Chesterton - Life as story

"I had always felt life first as a story: and if there is a story there is a story-teller.”

G.K. Chesterton
Tolkien, Eliot, and the power of the story: Don't lecture, inspire

by John Stonestreet. Originally published at BreakPoint.org, January 3, 2017. Copyright 2017 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted with permission.

Gather a group of 12-year-old boys, and begin to lecture them about the importance of duty, honor, perseverance, and friendship, and it probably won’t be long before their eyes glaze over.

However, what if instead of lecturing you begin your lesson this way: “There once was a tiny creature called a Hobbit, whose name was Frodo. He had hairy feet and a magic ring, and whenever he put that ring on his finger, he’d disappear. But each time he put the ring on, the Ring exercised a dark power over him . . .”