Justin Taylor's Blog, page 62

5 Myths about Rosa Parks

 My piece in the online Washington Post begins:

Shortly after 5 p.m., on a cool Alabama evening 60 years ago Tuesday, a 42-year-old woman clocked out from her job as a seamstress at the Montgomery Fair Department Store. Rosa Parks walked westward along Montgomery Street to Court Square to board the Cleveland Avenue bus to make the 5-mile, 15-minute trek back to her apartment at Cleveland Courts to cook supper for her husband, Raymond.

Encountering a standing-room-only bus and having been on her feet all day operating a huge steam press, Parks decided to cross the street and do some Christmas shopping at Lee’s Cut Rate Drug while waiting for a less crowded bus. Around 6 p.m., as she boarded bus number 2857 at the corner of Montgomery and Moulton streets, Parks was about to change the course of the 20th century.

Here are five myths about what happened that first evening of December in 1955.

Here is an outline of what I cover:

Rosa Parks sat in the whites-only section of the bus.
If Rosa Parks had not moved, a white passenger would not have had a place to sit.
This was Rosa Parks’s first conflict with that bus driver.
Rosa Parks refused to stand up because she was tired.
Parks was the first black woman to exercise civil disobedience on a Montgomery bus.

You can read the whole thing here.

For further reading, I recommend:

Douglas Brinkley,  Rosa Parks: A Life
Jeanne Theoharis, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (see also her Washington Post piece on how history got her wrong)

Tony Reinke’s Top 15 Non-Fiction Christian Books of 2015

One of my favorite readers, Tony Reinke, writes:

2015 marks my tenth year choosing the best books of the year, and it was the most difficult of them all. Non-fiction Christian book publishing churned out a daunting amount of very good new titles, more than I’ve ever seen.

Overall, 2015 produced several strong Bible commentaries, but with a remarkably new interest in integrating biblical theology into those commentaries (as you will see). Bible production was strong again. From our Reformed circles, I’ve never seen more books on engaging political issues or speaking grace into our secularizing western culture. Books by female authors seemed to slow a little from 2014, while offerings for children seemed stronger.

What follows are all my favorite books from the year, lumped together in one list and ordered by my scientifically subjective algorithm of intuition about what books I think (1) are most unique, (2) most succeed at their aim, and (3) are most likely to endure in service to the church in the years ahead.

You can see his favorites, along with rationale here. Also see his honorable mentions and other 15 books not to miss.

ESV Reader’s Bible: 67% Off (for 48 Hours)

For the next 48 hours (offer ends December 1, 2015), Westminster Bookstore has the best price available on the ESV Reader’s Bible: 67% off the cloth over board with slipcase.

Here is a description:

The ESV Reader’s Bible was created for those who want to read Scripture precisely as it was originally written—namely, as an unbroken narrative. Verse numbers, chapter and section headings, and translation footnotes are helpful navigational and interpretive tools, but they are also relatively recent conventions. In the ESV Reader’s Bible they have been removed from the Bible text. The result is a new kind of Bible-reading experience in a volume that presents Scripture as one extended story line.

On the top of each page a verse range is included for orientation. Other features include a single-column text setting, readable type, and a book-like format. The Reader’s Bible is a simple but elegant edition, and is perfect for devotional reading, for extended Bible reading, or for focusing on the overarching narrative of the Bible.

Here are some details:

Black letter text, with no verse numbers or footnotes
Single-column, paragraph format
Introduction
Two ribbon markers
Sewn Binding
Maps

You can watch a little video preview below:

Note that through all of December, WTS Books has all of the ESV Bibles for 50% off.

The Christian Century No One Predicted

“The twentieth century,” according to Scott Sunquist, “surprised the religionists, the historians, and the politicians.”

He explains:

No scholar—or as far as that goes, not even a madman—predicted that at the end of the twentieth century Christianity would not be recognized even as a cultural factor in Europe by the nations that today compose the European Union.

No prognosticator predicted that more Christians would be worshiping each Sunday in China than in Europe or North America.

And, what might be surprising to us today, even the greatest mission leaders at the Edinburgh Missionary Conference in 1910 had pretty much given up on Christianity in Africa. Most of the missionary leaders, even in their most optimistic moments, thought Islam had the upper hand and believed Africa would become a Muslim continent. Fast-forward and we find that the opposite is true, for there are more Christians than Muslims in Africa today.

In his new book, The Unexpected Christian Century: The Reversal and Transformation of Global Christianity, 1900-2000, foreword by Mark Noll (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2015), xvi-xvii, Sunquist identifies the 20th century as one of the three great transformations in Christianity in its two thousand years.

1. The 4th Century

The first took place early in the fourth century, when Christianity began to get imperial recognition in three small nations and one empire: Osrhoene, Armenia, Ethiopia, and the Roman Empire. Royal conversions not only ensured that the religion would not be wiped out by belligerent rulers spreading other religions but also that Christianity would begin to develop differently with the support of kings and queens. Christian buildings began to look very nice. Christian life was no longer threatened. It was possible to fit into the larger culture very comfortably with little need for sacrifice or compromise. Christianity in these kingdoms and empires had moved from being a persecuted minority to being a favored faith. This changed everything.

2. The 15th and 16th Centuries

The second great transformation occurred in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This was the period of the European Reformation, but that was not the supremely important transformation that I am thinking of. From about the 1450s to the 1550s Christianity broke out of its small enclaves of Western Europe, South India, and Ethiopia and became a truly worldwide religion. It didn’t have to happen that way, but it did. Muslim rulers, or certainly the Chinese, could have dominated the world. Instead, and very much for theological reasons, it was the Christians from Iberia who spread the Christian faith to places as far away as the Moluccas, the Kongo (Congo), Peru, and even Japan and China. As late as 1492 it was still not clear whether Christianity would devolve into a tribal faith of Western Europe.

3. The 20th Century

The third great transformation took place in the twentieth century, a great reversal . . . .

It was certainly a reversal in that the majority of Christians—or the global center—moved from the North Atlantic to the Southern Hemisphere and Asia.

But it was also a reversal in that Christianity moved from being centered in Christian nations to being centered in non-Christian nations. Christendom, that remarkable condition of churches supporting states and states supporting Christianity, died. The idea of Christian privilege in society was all but killed. And yet the religion seemed stronger than ever at the end of the twentieth century.

Sunquist cites the following the following global statistics—which I’ve put into a little chart—to show the dramatic change that took place in Christianity over the past 100 years:

You can read Noll’s foreword, along with Sunquist’s preface and introduction, online for free.

6 Quotes from G. K. Chesterton on Gratitude and Thanksgiving

“The worst moment for an atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank.”

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”

“The aim of life is appreciation; there is no sense in not appreciating things; and there is no sense in having more of them if you have less appreciation of them.”

“When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.”

“You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.”

“When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?”

A Groundbreaking Book Revealing the True Star of Bethlehem

Readers should be appropriately skeptical any time they hear about a new theory revealing the true star of Bethlehem.

But reading the comments below from various experts—in biblical studies and apologetics and science and cometography—should encourage readers to give Colin Nicholl’s groundbreaking work, The Great Christ Comet: Revealing the True Start of Bethlehem, serious attention.

Simon Gathercole says it is “the most comprehensive interdisciplinary synthesis of biblical and astronomical data yet produced. . . .  a remarkable feat.”

J. P. Moreland calls it “the definitive treatment of the subject.”

Eric Metaxas says it is ”an historic discovery and nothing less.”

Gary Kronk, author of Cambridge University Press’s multi-volume Cometography series, says this book is “a remarkable achievement . . . the most important book ever published on the Star of Bethlehem.”

John Lennox says it is “quite breathtaking in the range of its scholarship, yet a page-turner in terms of its accessibility.”

Gordon Wenham writes that this “amazing study . . .  reads like an absorbing detective story.”

You can read the full blurbs below. And you can read an excerpt of the book here.

You can also watch this sit-down interview with Eric Metaxas below:

Endorsements

“The Great Christ Comet is a stunning book. Colin R. Nicholl develops a convincing case for what exactly the Star of Bethlehem was. The book reads like a detective novel, and while it is full of evidence, information, and argumentation, it is accessible and enjoyable to read. This work is now the definitive treatment of the subject. I highly recommend it.”

J. P. Moreland, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Biola University; author, The Soul: How We Know It’s Real and Why It Matters

“I am simply in awe of this book. It is a blockbuster. It is an historic discovery and nothing less. The Great Christ Comet is an absolutely astonishing triumph of interdisciplinary scholarship so rarely seen and so tremendously illuminating as to merit bright comparison with the very celestial phenomenon it describes. Both lead us to the manger and to the Great Poet within, whose syllables are the moon and sun and stars.”

Eric Metaxas, New York Times best-selling author, Miracles and Bonhoeffer

“In every respect this volume is a remarkable achievement. I regard it as the most important book ever published on the Star of Bethlehem and enthusiastically commend it.”

Gary Kronk, author, Cometography; Consultant, American Meteor Society

“The most comprehensive interdisciplinary synthesis of biblical and astronomical data yet produced. It is a remarkable feat that a biblical scholar has been able to master the scientific data at such a level of erudition. No discussion of the historicity of the Star of Bethlehem can afford to ignore this book.”

Simon Gathercole, Senior Lecturer in New Testament, University of Cambridge; author,Where Is Boasting? and The Preexistent Son

“In this erudite, engrossing, and compelling book, Colin R. Nicholl painstakingly develops a new solution for the enduring mystery of the Star of Bethlehem, bringing together the biblical story and ancient descriptions of the sky with modern understandings of astronomy. Nicholl’s argument—that the celestial visitor was actually a phenomenal comet that passed perilously close by Earth in 6 BC—is certain to be discussed and debated for years to come.”

Duncan Steel, Visiting Astronomer, Armagh Observatory; Visiting Professor, University of Buckingham; author, Eclipse and Marking Time

“This is an amazing study. It reads like an absorbing detective story. Nicholl starts with a detailed reading of Matthew’s account of the visit of the Magi. He makes the case, based on ancient and modern astronomy, that the star of Bethlehem was a great comet whose behavior in the sky would have been interpreted by ancient astrologers as announcing the birth of a Jewish Messiah. The depth and breadth of learning that Nicholl displays is prodigious and persuasive, and all future studies will have to take its proposals most seriously.”

Gordon Wenham, Adjunct Professor of Old Testament, Trinity College, Bristol

“This is an outstanding book, quite breathtaking in the range of its scholarship, yet a page-turner in terms of its accessibility. Colin R. Nicholl is eminently followable, using detective skills to assess the biblical, historical, and astronomical evidence that lead him to conclude that the ‘star’ of Bethlehem was a comet. A real tour de force that I recommend unreservedly to a broad readership.”

John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics, University of Oxford

“Colin R. Nicholl brilliantly tackles a subject that has been debated for centuries. The Great Christ Comet is a captivating book on the Star of Bethlehem. You will not be able to put this book down!”

Louie Giglio, Pastor, Passion City Church, Atlanta; Founder, Passion Conferences

“Readers of this book will learn a lot of astronomy, history, and theology. Nicholl has produced a remarkable and fascinating book that combines the best of recent scientific scholarship with the best biblical scholarship. The Great Christ Comet is a model of the integration of science and Scripture, and presents a tightly reasoned and highly plausible argument that the Star was a comet. A terrific read!”

Donald A. Hagner, George Eldon Ladd Professor of New Testament, Fuller Theological Seminary; author, Matthew (Word Biblical Commentary)

“Nicholl breaks important new ground in the quest for the historical Star of Bethlehem. Not only does he develop a formidable case for identifying the Star as a great comet; he also proposes a fresh explanation as to what it may have done to so impress the Magi. Nicholl has a clear understanding of the relevant areas of modern astronomy, and especially of the nature, evolution, and orbital dynamics of comets as currently understood. This work will be of great interest to astronomers, theologians, historians of science, and the general public, and will hopefully stimulate important new lines of scientific enquiry.”

Mark Bailey, Director, Armagh Observatory; coauthor, The Origin of Comets

“Colin R. Nicholl’s magnum opus, which interprets Matthew’s Nativity ‘star’ as a spectacular comet, is fascinating and illuminating. He supports his thesis by appealing to Babylonian, classical, and patristic texts as well as modern astronomical data on comets. His comprehensive mastery of the data enables him to present a detailed scenario of the Magi’s initial sighting, subsequent observations, journey, and visit to the house in Bethlehem to view the newborn Christ child.”

Edwin M. Yamauchi, Professor Emeritus of History, Miami University

“This is the only book I know of by a biblical scholar on the Star of Bethlehem. It is rooted in a detailed analysis of the biblical text and offers a comprehensive scientific explanation for the Star of Bethlehem. Nicholl makes a compelling case that the Star was a comet, supporting this conclusion with a mass of evidence from a variety of sources. I strongly recommend his work on one of the most fascinating biblical mysteries.”

Colin Humphreys, Professor and Director of Research, Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge; author, The Miracles of Exodus

“This rigorous and compelling book sets a new standard for the study of the Star of Bethlehem. No prior investigation of this mystery has brought the disciplines of biblical studies and astronomy together in such a clear, thoroughly researched, and decisive way. Nicholl lets us observe the skies with the Magi and walk with them all the way to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. This richly illustrated and pleasantly accessible work is a must-read for everyone even vaguely interested in the Magi’s Star. I enthusiastically recommend this eye-opening book!”

John Hartmann, former Assistant Lecturer of Greek, University of Cambridge; Pastor, New Reformation Church, St. Louis, Missouri

“Colin R. Nicholl offers an impressive case for understanding the Magi’s star as a comet. He has produced a readable and beautifully illustrated introduction to relevant fields of astronomy, and has laid out pertinent historical data with proportion, care, and integrity. Based on detailed biblical study and current astronomical knowledge, Nicholl develops a fascinating reconstruction of the unprecedented events relating to the Star and the Magi.”

John Nolland, Tutor in New Testament, Trinity College, Bristol; Visiting Professor, University of Bristol; author, The Gospel of Matthew (The New International Greek Testament Commentary)

“The Great Christ Comet is a significant new contribution to the long-running debate over the nature of the Star of Bethlehem. One of the book’s many strengths is its critique of earlier, widely discussed hypotheses proposed to explain the Star. The book also explains the relevant astronomy very clearly at a level the general reader should have no trouble following. The case Nicholl makes for the Star being a great comet is certainly worthy of serious consideration.”

Martin Gaskell, Department of Astronomy, University of California at Santa Cruz

“Fascinating reading. Clearly the author has not only done his homework but has meticulously mined both quarries, theological and astronomical.”

Paul Maier, Professor of Ancient History, Western Michigan University; author, In the Fullness of Time

“It is a real pleasure to commend The Great Christ Comet to everyone who has ever wondered what could possibly account for the appearance of the Star of Bethlehem. Few have expended as much earnest research, or written as clearly, on the astronomical basis for this special event as has Colin R. Nicholl. When you’re reading this book, the pages turn rapidly—similar to the way the pages fly when you’re engrossed in a mystery novel. All readers will be richly rewarded!”

Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Colman M. Mockler Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Old Testament and President Emeritus, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

Table of Contents


“Star of Wonder”: Introducing the Bethlehem Star
“We Beheld (It Is No Fable)”: The Testimony of Matthew’s Gospel
“They Looked Up and Saw a Star”: The Story of the Star
“What Star Is This?”: Evaluating the Major Hypotheses
“What Sudden Radiance from Afar?”: Introducing Comets
“A Stranger midst the Orbs of Light”: The Star as a Comet
“Yon Virgin Mother and Child”: The Celestial Wonder
 ”With Royal Beauty Bright”: Messiah’s Star
 ”Lo, the Star Appeareth”: Profiling the Comet
“Following Yonder Star”: Tracking the Comet
“Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning”: The Greatest Comet in History
“The Light Everlasting That Fades Not Away”: The Ongoing Story

Appendix 1: The Chinese Comet Records

Appendix 2: The Meteor Storm of 6 BC

Marco Rubio on Faith, Anxiety, Peace, and Prayer—and Where God Was on 9/11

An encouraging answer from presidential candidate Marco Rubio:

4 Ways to Become a Better Writer

1. Read a Lot

Stephen King:

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut. . . .

It’s hard for me to believe that people who read very little (or not at all in some cases) should presume to write and expect people to like what they have written, but I know it’s true. If I had a nickel for every person who ever told me he/she wanted to become a writer but didn’t have time to read, I could buy myself a pretty good steak dinner. Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.

2. Slow Down and Ask Questions When You Read

Joseph Epstein:

Most people ask three questions of what they read:

(1) What is being said?

(2) Does it interest me?

(3) Is it well constructed?

Writers also ask these questions, but two others along with them:

(4) How did the author achieve the effects he has? And

(5) What can I steal, properly camouflaged of course, from the best of what I am reading for my own writing?

This can slow things down a good bit.

3. Recognize that You Probably Don’t Know What You Think Until You Write It Out

Some people won’t write until they first know what they think about a subject. But good writers write in order to find out what they think. Here are a few examples:

Calvin, citing Augustine: “I count myself one of the number of those who write as they learn and learn as they write.”

Ed Welch: “I find that there are three levels of clarity. When I only think about something, my thoughts are embryonic and muddled. When I speak about it, my thoughts become clearer, though not always. When I write about it, I jump to a new level of clarity.”

John Piper: “Writing became the lever of my thinking and the outlet of my feelings. If I didn’t pull the lever, the wheel of thinking did not turn. It jerked and squeaked and halted. But once a pen was in hand, or a keyboard, the fog began to clear and the wheel of thought began to spin with clarity and insight.”

Arthur Krystal: “Like most writers, I seem to be smarter in print than in person. In fact, I am smarter when I’m writing. I don’t claim this merely because there is usually no one around to observe the false starts and groan-inducing sentences that make a mockery of my presumed intelligence, but because when the work is going well, I’m expressing opinions that I’ve never uttered in conversation and that otherwise might never occur to me. Nor am I the first to have this thought, which, naturally, occurred to me while composing. According to Edgar Allan Poe, writing in Graham’s Magazine, ‘Some Frenchman—possibly Montaigne—says: ‘People talk about thinking, but for my part I never think except when I sit down to write.’ I can’t find these words in my copy of Montaigne, but I agree with the thought, whoever might have formed it. And it’s not because writing helps me to organize my ideas or reveals how I feel about something, but because it actually creates thought or, at least supplies a Petri dish for its genesis.”

4. Reread and Rewrite.

Justice Brandeis: “There is no great writing, only great rewriting.”

James A Michener: “I have never thought of myself as a good writer. Anyone who wants reassurance of that should read one of my first drafts. But I’m one of the world’s great rewriters.”

Michael Crichton: Books aren’t written—they’re rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it.”

Roald Dahl: “Good writing is essentially rewriting. I am positive of this.”

Elmore Leonard: “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”

Vladimir Nabokov: “I have rewritten — often several times — every word I have ever published. My pencils outlast their erasers.”

Helen Dunmore: “Reread, rewrite, reread, rewrite. If it still doesn’t work, throw it away. It’s a nice feeling, and you don’t want to be cluttered with the corpses of poems and stories which have everything in them except the life they need.”

Raymond Chandler: “Throw up into your typewriter every morning. Clean up every noon.”

Will Self: “Don’t look back until you’ve written an entire draft, just begin each day from the last sentence you wrote the preceding day. This prevents those cringing feelings, and means that you have a substantial body of work before you get down to the real work which is all in the edit.”

What the Bible Really Says about Singleness

John Piper wrote of Barry Danylak and his work on Redeeming Singleness: How the Storyline of Scripture Affirms the Single Life (Crossway, 2010):

I don’t know of anyone else who has ever provided the extent of biblical reflection on singleness that Barry has provided for us here. . . .

My guess is that virtually every single who reads this book will finish with a sense of wonder at who they are, and how little they knew about this gift and calling.

Here is an hour-long talk from Dr. Danylak where he lays out the biblical teaching on singleness:

What to Do If You Are Offended or Confused by Flannery O’Connor’s Stories

Novelist and O’Connor scholar Jonathan Rogers writes:

Readers are often offended by Flannery O’Connor’s stories.

They ought to be; the stories are offensive.

Jesus’s parables would offend us, too, if we hadn’t heard them so many times—or if we were paying better attention.

In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, we can all understand why the older brother, the one who has kept his nose clean, is offended by his father’s eager welcoming of the wayward brother. It’s a little shocking to realize that Jesus presents the older brother as just as big a jerk as the younger brother. Consider how much more shocking it would have been for Jesus’s original audience, who hadn’t already been told what they were supposed to think about the story.

The parables are driven by that dissonance between the truth and the way we feel about the truth. Jesus shows us what the kingdom of God looks like; if we allow ourselves to be offended by that vision, we begin to see what needs to happen in our hearts.

I say I love grace, but I’m bothered by the fact that the vineyard workers who showed up an hour before dark get paid the same amount as the workers who started at daybreak. I can either reject that parable altogether, or I can think about why my heart doesn’t line up with the things I say I believe. But it would be a big mistake to explain away the offense—to say it’s not really that offensive.

O’Connor was working from Jesus’s playbook. She used shock and offense to show us something about our hearts. “To the hard of hearing you shout,” she wrote, “and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures.”

Rogers explores these ideas in the introduction to his book, The Terrible Speed of Mercy:

If [O’Connor’s] stories offend conventional morality, it is because the gospel itself is an offense to conventional morality. Grace is a scandal; it always has been. Jesus put out the glad hand to lepers and cripples and prostitutes and losers of every stripe even as he called the self-righteous a brood of vipers.

In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” it is painful to see a mostly harmless old grandmother come to terms with God and herself only at gunpoint.

It is even more painful to see her get shot anyway.

In a more properly moral story, she would be rewarded for her late-breaking insight and her life would be spared. But the story only enacts what Christians say they believe already: that to lose one’s body for the sake of one’s soul is a good trade indeed. It’s a mystery, and no small part of the mystery is the reader’s visceral reaction to truths he claims to believe already. O’Connor invites us to step into such mysteries, but she never resolves them. She never reduces them to something manageable.

O’Connor speaks with the ardor of an Old Testament prophet in her stories. She’s like an Isaiah who never quite gets around to “Comfort ye my people.” Except for this: there is a kind of comfort in finally facing the truth about oneself. That’s what happens in every one of Flannery O’Connor’s stories: in a moment of extremity, a character—usually a self-satisfied, self-sufficient character—finally comes to see the truth of his situation. He is accountable to a great God who is the source of all. He inhabits mysteries that are too great for him. And for the first time there is hope, even if he doesn’t understand it yet . . .

In O’Connor’s unique vision, the physical world, even at its seediest and ugliest, is a place where grace still does its work. In fact, it is exactly the place where grace does its work. Truth tells itself here, no matter how loud it has to shout.

You can read “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” online, written in 1953, when Flannery O’Connor was 28 years old.

On April 22, 1959, the 34-year-old O’Connor visited Vanderbilt University and read “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” You can listen to the audio below:

When she gave a reading of this story at Hollins College in Virginia on October 14, 1963—just 9 months before she died from complications of lupus—she prefaced it with some remarks.

Among other things, she addressed “what makes a story work, and what makes it hold up as a story”:

I have decided that it is probably some action, some gesture of a character that is unlike any other in the story, one which indicates where the real heart of the story lies.  This would have to be an action or a gesture which was both totally right and totally unexpected; it would have to be one that was both in character and beyond character; it would have to suggest both the world and eternity.  The action or gesture I’m talking about would have to be on the anagogical level, that is, the level which has to do with the Divine life and our participation in it.  It would be a gesture that transcended any neat allegory that might have been intended or any pat moral categories a reader could make.  It would be a gesture which somehow made contact with mystery.

She identifies the place of such a “gesture” in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”:

The Grandmother is at last alone, facing the Misfit. Her head clears for an instant and she realizes, even in her limited way, that she is responsible for the man before her and joined to him by ties of kinship which have their roots deep in the mystery she has been merely prattling about so far. And at this point, she does the right thing, she makes the right gesture.

I find that students are often puzzled by what she says and does here, but I think myself that if I took out this gesture and what she says with it, I would have no story. What was left would not be worth your attention. Our age not only does not have a very sharp eye for the almost imperceptible intrusions of grace, it no longer has much feeling for the nature of the violence which precede and follow them.  The devil’s greatest wile, Baudelaire has said, is to convince us that he does not exist.

On the violence in her stories, O’Connor comments:

In my own stories I have found that violence is strangely capable of returning my characters to reality and preparing them to accept their moment of grace. Their heads are so hard that almost nothing else will do the work. This idea, that reality is something to which we must be returned at considerable cost, is one which is seldom understood by the casual reader, but it is one which is implicit in the Christian view of the world.

O’Connor knows that some people label this story “grotesque,” but she prefers to call it “literal”:

A good story is literal in the same sense that a child’s drawing is literal. When a child draws, he doesn’t intend to distort but to set down exactly what he sees, and as his gaze is direct, he sees the lines that create motion. Now the lines of motion that interest the writer are usually invisible. They are lines of spiritual motion. And in this story you should be on the lookout for such things as the action of grace in the Grandmother’s soul, and not for the dead bodies.

O’Conner elsewhere expanded on the comparison of stories and drawings:

When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use more normal means of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock-to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you draw large and startling figures.

You can get Jonathan Rogers’ spiritual biography of Flannery O’Connor (and follow his blog).

You can also get O’Connor’s complete stories for just over $10.