"Becoming by Beholding: The Power of the Imagination in Spiritual Formation," by Lanta Davis

Mark Judge reviews Becoming by Beholding at https://chroniclesmagazine.org/web/becoming-by-beholding/…"

I need to get this book. Davis writes:

"To become Christian—to become Christlike—is a question not just of belief but of identity and, consequently, a matter not just of the mind but of the imagination. Forming the soul means forming the imagination."

"Before the canonical books of Scripture were set, before the first ecclesial creeds were formalized, the first generations of Christians began creating a distinctively Christian imagination. ... The essential truths of Christianity were communicated by intertwining symbols, stories, and beliefs."

In the post-Christian, postmodern world the human person is truly up for grabs. Christianity can and must speak to the *whole* person – body and soul, intellect and emotion, hopes and fears, all of it.

Judge nails the dismount:

"Indeed, as Lanta Davis has shown, to ignore the imagination is to turn our backs on the thing that can make Christianity most real to people. Neglecting to do this in favor of pushing a bland and boring faith risks causing too many to lose it."