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The Emmaus Readers: Listening for God in Contemporary Fiction
Stories matter. Sometimes it’s a story that can best tell the truth.
When an eclectic group of nine friends—fiction-readers and professors at Calvin College in Michigan—came together weekly to wrestle with great contemporary novels, they were surprised to discover how much spiritual meat they found. Together, the self-described Emmaus Readers read P.D. James, Ron Hansen, Ian McEwan, Yann Martel, Oscar Hijuelos, Frederick Buechner, and several others, across a variety of historical fiction, fantasy, graphic novels, science fiction, and mystery. Each novel is given a thorough synopsis, biographical information about the author, a substantive overview of the issues to be discussed and discovered, detailed discussion questions, and recommendations of other great novels of similar importance. Designed for reading groups, book clubs, librarians, and any individual reader who simply loves novels that explore spiritual issues relevant to daily life, The Emmaus Readers offers to help you listen for God in contemporary fiction. The Emmaus Readers includes experts from the English, Spanish, French, Sociology and Library Science departments at Calvin College. Editors Susan M. Felch and Gary D. Schmidt and are both professors of English. Schmidt is the author of critical books such as A Passionate The Life and Literary Labors of Hannah Adams, and novels for middle grade readers such as Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, a Newbery Honor Book. Felch has written on sixteenth-century women authors including Elizabeth I and Anne Lock, and is co-editor, with Schmidt, of a series of “spiritual biographies” of the seasons of the year. They both live near Grand Rapids, MI.
When an eclectic group of nine friends—fiction-readers and professors at Calvin College in Michigan—came together weekly to wrestle with great contemporary novels, they were surprised to discover how much spiritual meat they found. Together, the self-described Emmaus Readers read P.D. James, Ron Hansen, Ian McEwan, Yann Martel, Oscar Hijuelos, Frederick Buechner, and several others, across a variety of historical fiction, fantasy, graphic novels, science fiction, and mystery. Each novel is given a thorough synopsis, biographical information about the author, a substantive overview of the issues to be discussed and discovered, detailed discussion questions, and recommendations of other great novels of similar importance. Designed for reading groups, book clubs, librarians, and any individual reader who simply loves novels that explore spiritual issues relevant to daily life, The Emmaus Readers offers to help you listen for God in contemporary fiction. The Emmaus Readers includes experts from the English, Spanish, French, Sociology and Library Science departments at Calvin College. Editors Susan M. Felch and Gary D. Schmidt and are both professors of English. Schmidt is the author of critical books such as A Passionate The Life and Literary Labors of Hannah Adams, and novels for middle grade readers such as Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, a Newbery Honor Book. Felch has written on sixteenth-century women authors including Elizabeth I and Anne Lock, and is co-editor, with Schmidt, of a series of “spiritual biographies” of the seasons of the year. They both live near Grand Rapids, MI.
- GenresNonfiction
208 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2008
About the author
Gary D. Schmidt
84 books2,277 followersGary D. Schmidt is an American children's writer of nonfiction books and young adult novels, including two Newbery Honor books. He lives on a farm in Alto, Michigan,with his wife and six children, where he splits wood, plants gardens, writes, feeds the wild cats that drop by and wishes that sometimes the sea breeze came that far inland. He is a Professor of English at Calvin College.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 28, 2023
I was disappointed that so many of the books they read and discussed seemed, not just unappealing, but rather disturbing. I had been hoping for good suggestions and questions to use in our Christian couples’ book group.
March 14, 2013
This was mainly a good book to get ideas of other books to read. Whether or not I will enjoy those books, I don't know. We'll see.
October 30, 2026
Gary D. Schmidt captures the quiet tragedy in The Emmaus Readers: Listening for God in Contemporary Fiction of how easily people sell out their core principles just for a seat at the bureaucratic table.
February 5, 2009
The Emmaus Readers is a new book from Paraclete Press that I highly recommend, edited by Susan M. Felch and Gary D. Schmidt.
"In the summer of 2006, nine friends gathered to see what might be gained by purposefully and explicitly reading a set of novels through spiritual eyes. And so the Emmaus Readers were born as a group of fellow Christians, spiritual seekers all of us, teaching and working at Calvin College, who felt drawn to the questions of how faith might affect the ways to read and understand fiction." (p. xi)
Of the twelve works of fiction they discuss, I have only read one, Max Allan Collins' brilliant graphic novel, The Road to Perdition, illustrated by Richard Piers Rayner.
In Perdition a young boy, Michael O'Sullivan Jr., comes of age too quickly when he finds out that his father is a hitman for the mob and witnesses an execution. In an attempt to kill the boy, the mob puts a hit on O'Sullivan's family that results in killing only his wife and his other son. Seeking justice Michael O'Sullivan Sr. begins a road trip across the midwest, assasinating mobsters as an "Archangel" and teaching Michael Jr. how to drive his getaway car, a hard sense of justice and repentence, and even how to handle a weapon. Their trip ends in Perdition, Kansas, symbolic of course of perdition meaning "hell."
The story is rife with spiritual themes. Questions of justice, violence and repentence are raised throughout. And the character's way of dealing with guilt will strike a chord with Christians in particular.
Of the many points discussed by the Emmaus Readers the one I found most interesting was their focus on the art within the novel. As a life-time comic reader I forget how striking graphic story-telling can be untill I hear others talk about it who perhaps have not spent as many hours reading this medium. The discussion in this book caused me to look back at Perdition with a new sense of awe at Rayner's art. Anyone who has read Perdition must read this discussion.
If you have not already read the other works discussed then this book is not for you. It would just be a spoiler of good fiction. As I work my way through reading more of the material I will savor the discussions in this little paperback, and thank the Emmaus Readers for letting us in on the conversation.
"In the summer of 2006, nine friends gathered to see what might be gained by purposefully and explicitly reading a set of novels through spiritual eyes. And so the Emmaus Readers were born as a group of fellow Christians, spiritual seekers all of us, teaching and working at Calvin College, who felt drawn to the questions of how faith might affect the ways to read and understand fiction." (p. xi)
Of the twelve works of fiction they discuss, I have only read one, Max Allan Collins' brilliant graphic novel, The Road to Perdition, illustrated by Richard Piers Rayner.
In Perdition a young boy, Michael O'Sullivan Jr., comes of age too quickly when he finds out that his father is a hitman for the mob and witnesses an execution. In an attempt to kill the boy, the mob puts a hit on O'Sullivan's family that results in killing only his wife and his other son. Seeking justice Michael O'Sullivan Sr. begins a road trip across the midwest, assasinating mobsters as an "Archangel" and teaching Michael Jr. how to drive his getaway car, a hard sense of justice and repentence, and even how to handle a weapon. Their trip ends in Perdition, Kansas, symbolic of course of perdition meaning "hell."
The story is rife with spiritual themes. Questions of justice, violence and repentence are raised throughout. And the character's way of dealing with guilt will strike a chord with Christians in particular.
Of the many points discussed by the Emmaus Readers the one I found most interesting was their focus on the art within the novel. As a life-time comic reader I forget how striking graphic story-telling can be untill I hear others talk about it who perhaps have not spent as many hours reading this medium. The discussion in this book caused me to look back at Perdition with a new sense of awe at Rayner's art. Anyone who has read Perdition must read this discussion.
If you have not already read the other works discussed then this book is not for you. It would just be a spoiler of good fiction. As I work my way through reading more of the material I will savor the discussions in this little paperback, and thank the Emmaus Readers for letting us in on the conversation.
December 23, 2013
The titles suggested in this book will keep me busy for a long time! This book is the result of a group of professors of Calvin college who got together to read fiction and discuss the novels to discuss the spiritual truths and questions revealed through these books. I want to be in that book club! Copying their reading list is as close as I will get...
I liked it because it featured Peace Like a River, Atonement, and The Life of Pi, three books that I've found particularly thought provoking! I loved the chapters on the books I've read, but avoided the spoilers in the chapters about books I haven't read.
I liked it because it featured Peace Like a River, Atonement, and The Life of Pi, three books that I've found particularly thought provoking! I loved the chapters on the books I've read, but avoided the spoilers in the chapters about books I haven't read.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews