A Kind of a 'Novel'

Is It Possible to Live This Way? An Unusual Approach to Christian Existence.

The general introduction to this series makes the claim that "it is a kind of 'novel.'" I would note that this book is similar to a novel that is made entirely of dialogue, maybe something by Bernanos. By way of contrast, this is not a book of analytical theology or a classic of Western spirituality like The Cloud of Unknowing. It is not a book that lays out a AAA TripTik for the perfect life. It presents no schema of rungs on Jacob's ladder or rooms in a castle or petals on the Mystical Rose. Instead, it's like a mystery novel that begins with a certain corpus delecti. The initial transgression in this case is an exceptional man who made a provovative claim. Like some stories of Sherlock Holmes, this series opens with a discussion of reason and method.

How does one read a novel: skipping ahead to the resolution? No, but by savoring the words and the discoveries as they unfold. By risking one's own humanity in the narrative and identifying with the human problems of the protagonists.