Video from Frederick Buechner
"Check out all of the Frederick Buechner videos at http://vid.io/xoK In this video renowned Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann interviews Frederick Buechner as part of the inauguration of the Buechner Institute. Our thanks to Walter Brueggemann and the Buechner Institute. For additional videos please visit www.frederickbuechner.com." from video introduction
Frederick Buechner like many of us caught a glimpse of the Kingdom of God. And his pursuit of it and Our Lord Christ Jesus lead him to become a Pastor and a writer among other things. If you have never read any of Buechner's works I urge you to do so. - Andy
Frederick Buechner’s Many Benedictions
"Frederick Buechner was arguably the foremost spiritual writer of his generation. His writing career spanned six decades, during which he wrote more than 30 books. His work has been translated into 27 languages. One of his books (Lion Country) was nominated for the National Book Award and another (Godric) was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. During the 1980s and 1990s, he was quoted from American pulpits more often than anyone alive at the time. He was the rare author who appealed to both mainline Protestants and evangelicals."
Martin Copenhaver Martin B. Copenhaver is former president of Andover Newton Theological School and author of Room to Grow.
What is even more remarkable is that he was a master of four distinct genres: novel, sermon, popular theology, and memoir. He might have won the literary equivalent of a pentathlon if he had pursued a fifth genre—short stories. The only one he ever published, early in his career, won the O. Henry Award.
Buechner’s literary career began in spectacular fashion with the publication of his first novel, A Long Day’s Dying, in 1950, when Buechner was 23 years old. Today, the novel seems rather labored and stylized, with only hints of the artistry of his works that followed. At the time it was published, however, it was a literary sensation. The book inspired rapturous reviews in all the major publications. Buechner was compared to Henry James and Marcel Proust. Leonard Bernstein declared the novel “a literary triumph” and expressed interest in collaborating with Buechner on an opera libretto. The book became a bestseller.." from the article: Frederick Buechner’s many benedictions
Issues with Modern Churches and Modern Preaching
Video from Frederick Buechner
Why You Should Read Frederick Buechner
"Becoming a Christian is, generally speaking, bad for a novelist’s career. With some exceptions to this this rule (Marilynne Robinson, for one), a committed Christian in the world of letters faces bewildered misunderstanding from the literary community and, often, a Christian community expecting every story to follow the plotline of “Amazing Grace.” Someone compelled by both a gospel faith and a literary vision will sometimes end up forgotten by both communities. That is, I suppose, how Frederick Buechner ended up in exile here among the born again.
Despite the fact that Buechner was a groundbreaking and award-winning novelist even in his early 20s, he’s not remembered in the world of The New York Review of Books alongside, say, a John Updike or a John Cheever. And despite being drawn back to the church and ordained to ministry after listening to a George Buttrick sermon, Buechner is hardly as celebrated as one would expect among his Union Seminary mainline Protestant ecosystem. Much of that sector of American religion has moved on to forms of theology that would see Buechner as hopelessly retrograde compared to various liberation theologies and deconstruction philosophies now in fashion. Instead, when one finds a person whose life is changed and shaped by reading Frederick Buechner, more often than not, that person is an evangelical like you and me.." from the article: Why You Should Read Frederick Buechner
Visit his website: frederickbuechner.com