98 pages
Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy & Fairy Tale, by Frederick Buechner was an interesting foray into the different worlds and categories that the gospel inhabits. From my perspective there was a great deal of metaphoric overload that often times left me feeling confused and wondering what story we were working with ranging from King Lear to The Wizard of Oz to The Tempest to The Seventh Seal with references to Charlie Chaplin and Donald Duck falling into the mix. It was a lot to digest and keep track of!
I found the most helpful part of the book to be the title. The categorization and the flow of thought in thinking of the gospel as a tragedy, a comedy and a fairy tale certainly brought about a deeper and richer sense of meaning… one that will certainly propel me to think in broader terms in my preaching. However, my biggest beef with Buechner is that he starts with the thought that the gospel is a tragedy. I wish that he would’ve started the gospel with the notion that everything started out in perfect harmony in the garden before the fall. To miss this point misses the full scope of the tragedy of the gospel… as well as the comedy and fairy tale of it all. We certainly cannot feel the tragedy without knowing why it is a tragedy—that at one point everything was in perfect harmony (Genesis 1 & 2). We certainly cannot feel the comedy (or shear senselessness) of it all without knowing that at one point God walked among us and wants to do that again! We certainly cannot feel the fairy tale aspect, the shear dream of it, without knowing that God plans to bring it all back together through the gospel.
I appreciated the passion of Buechner’s writing and this book has certainly given me a deeper sense of calling as it relates to preaching. I truly wish this was something that I would’ve read in Bible college, although at the same time I’m not sure I would’ve truly appreciated it.
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I have still yet to be blown away by a Buechner book. I think he’s clever, but I still haven’t really connected with his writing. I keep giving more of his books a chance and I keep coming out a little disappointed. Not sure why. There are quotes here and there that are fantastic and profound, but as a whole they leave me wanting.
i wasn’t blown away by telling the truth either and i’m a huge buechner fan. i really enjoyed his little autobiographical books, especially now and then, and i love godric and the bebb series as well.
i’d encourage you to give now and then a shot and read a few of the sermons that are compiled in secrets in the dark. as for the latter collection, the sign by the highway is my favorite.
I read the Sacred Journey last month and I started to enjoy it more towards the end. I would like to give the Bebb series a shot though.