The Scandal of Holiness - Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints

Christianity Today 2023 Award of Merit (Culture & the Arts)Midwest Book Review 2023 Silver Book Award (Nonfiction - Religion/Philosophy)How do we become better people?Initiatives such as New Year's resolutions, vision boards, thirty-day plans, and self-help books often fail to compel us to live differently.We settle for small goals--frugal spending, less yelling at the kids, more time at the gym--but we are called to something far greater.We are created to be holy. Award-winning author Jessica Hooten Wilson explains that learning to hear the call of holiness requires cultivating a new imagination--one rooted in the act of reading.Learning to read with eyes attuned to the saints who populate great works of literature moves us toward holiness, where God opens up a way of living that extends far beyond what we can conjure for ourselves.Literature has the power to show us what a holy life looks like, and these depictions often scandalize even as they shape our imagination.As such, careful reading becomes a sort of countercultural spiritual discipline. The book includes devotionals, prayers, wisdom from the saints, and more to help individuals and groups cultivate a saintly imagination.Foreword by Lauren F. Winner.