Reading with Joy — Chapter Seven

“Why should you wish to fight someone who is here only to save you pain and trouble? For you, as well as for the rest of all the happy, useful people on this planet, I, in my own strength, am willing to assume all the pain, all the responsibility, all the burdens of thought and decision.”

— The Man with the Red Eyes (A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle)

Friends, welcome to Chapter Seven of a Wrinkle in Time! I’m delighted to share my conversation with L’Engle biographer and kindred spirit Sarah Arthur, where we wondered at the legacy Madeleine left for everyone longing to seek after truth and beauty with an open heart, and the way our individuality echoes down from nuclear physics all the way to the theology of the Incarnation.

Truth and beauty might seem insignificant next to the monstrous conformity of CENTRAL (and the long days of our present Ordeal). But perhaps, where Charles Wallace’s vigilante cleverness falls short, loving each other as individuals will lend us great strength in our fight against the dark.

It’s not too late to join in!

This is how the book club works: I’ll post an episode per chapter each week on Monday, which you can listen to in preparation for discussion. Then, I’ll post discussion questions on this website, my instagram, my twitter, and my Facebook. (full disclosure: I think discussion tends to go best on Instagram and Facebook). Post your thoughts, comments, questions on these threads as a way to engage the text. I also encourage you to discuss the book in real life (or over Facetime, given our weird times!) with a real friend… it’s so much more fun! In that spirit, each week I’ll have a different guest discussing each chapter with me.

A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet)

By Madeleine L'Engle



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Today’s Guest: Sarah Arthur

Sarah Arthur is a fun-loving speaker & author of a dozen books ranging from popular devotionals (Walking With Frodo, The One Year Coffee With God, Mommy Time) to serious engagement with literature--including the literary guides to prayer with Paraclete Press and "A Light So Lovely: The Spiritual Legacy of Madeleine L'Engle, author of A Wrinkle in Time.”

A graduate of Wheaton College & Duke University Divinity School, Sarah serves as preliminary fiction judge for the Christianity Today Book Awards & teaches about the writing life at conferences around the country. She's also deeply invested in conversations around social justice and New Monasticism through her book "The Year of Small Things: Radical Faith for the Rest of Us" (Brazos Press, coauthored with Erin Wasinger). Sarah lives in Lansing, Michigan, with her two little boys and her husband, Tom, pastor of Sycamore Creek Church. You can keep up with her on Facebook, on Twitter @HolyDreaming, or at www.saraharthur.com

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:Why does Charles Wallace give into the man with the red eyes? Where does he go wrong? Nobody on Camazotz seems to have a name. How does this relate to the overall creepiness of CENTRAL? What might this reveal to us about the Camazotz way of life?
















A Light So Lovely: The Spiritual Legacy of Madeleine L'Engle, Author of A Wrinkle in Time

By Arthur, Sarah



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Walking With Frodo: A Devotional Journey Through the Lord of the Rings

By Sarah Arthur



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P.S. Patreon book club…

We’ll be reading and discussion Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love on my Patreon. It is the first book written in english by a woman, and describes her visions of Christ after a near death experience. It is a classic in the Christian mystical tradition, and has encouraged me very much. I'll do the podcast book club for the $10 tier (podcasts belonging in that tier originally). So if you want to join the book club, make sure you're in that tier by June 15th (but wait till after June 1st, if you want to avoid getting charged for May). 

Find out more here.