The Healing Power of Stories [Hardcover]

Daniel Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1996

Stating that the key to psychological healing is in the telling of life stories, a guide to recovery blends the avant-garde therapy of narrative psychology with literature, religion, ethics, and philosophy, citing the lessons that can be learned in classical works.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The stories we tell, Taylor (Letters to My Children) contends, can reshape our characters and add meaning to our lives by reminding us that actions have consequences. Fed up with the relativism that he believes has overtaken the academy and popular culture, Taylor exhorts readers to see that all stories are not equal. Better stories, he says, "should be truthful, freeing, gracious, and hopeful." Using snippets of many unarguably fine stories, especially the liberating tale of Huck and Jim, Taylor demonstrates how narratives can touch us as no mere argument can, because they reach all of us-body, heart and mind. Yet Taylor frequently lapses into moralizing argument, proposing, for example, that our "naive and confused" society has debased itself by replacing a value-laden concept of character with psychology's devalued concept of personality. All this polemic raises the question of why Taylor doesn't seem to practice what he preaches. He finally admits that, raised "among the fundamentalists," he has "an instinctive fondness for the categories of good and evil, right and wrong, that verges at times on the moralistic." Perhaps that is why he too often tells us that this and that are so, instead of showing us through the stories that he praises and that we wish for.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Call it narratology, and we flee, squealing in fear. But call it simply story, and we pull our chairs up to listen. This warm, approachable book examines how our personal narratives color our interpretation of the world and our place within it. Taylor has a spiritual, even religious intent: "To name and embrace your stories is to accept your God-given freedom." Stories, he argues, teach us how to live responsibly and how to understand others. They move us from chronos, clock time, to kairos, "time redeemed." Once he has established the importance of narrative, Taylor moves to the real meat of his book: how to heal stories that are broken, plots that are wounded and wounding. What follows might have been just another serving of self-help advice, but instead, Taylor soars, challenging us to examine our stories not only in terms of their personal utility but for evidence of healthy or diseased community relations. Patricia Monaghan

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 182 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (March 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385480504
• ISBN-13: 978-0385480505
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #401,133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Daniel Taylor (Ph.D., Emory University) is the author of ten books, including The Myth of Certainty, Letters to My Children, Tell Me A Story: The Life-Shaping Power of Our Stories, In Search of Sacred Places, and, most recently, Creating a Spiritual Legacy. He has also worked on a number of Bible translations. He speaks frequently at conferences, colleges, retreats, and churches on a variety of topics. Dr. Taylor is also co-founder of The Legacy Center, an organization devoted to helping individuals and organizations identify and preserve the values and stories that have shaped their lives. He is a contributing editor of Books and Culture. Dr. Taylor is married and the father of four adult children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Too Good To Review; A Wonderful Gem, October 13, 2002

By 

Robert Kall "Rob Kall of Opednews.com" (Newtown, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tell Me a Story: The Life-Shaping Power of Our Stories (Paperback)

This book is so good I kept putting off writing a review on it, afraid my words would not do it justice.

Daniel Taylor explores the ways that STORY has power in our lives. We have our master stories which shape the way we view our world. We have our cultural and community stories. They all are interwoven in the core of our beings.

Somehow, reading this book, I got an image of Daniel Taylor as a gentle little English professor (Me being over 200 pounds, it's not hard for me to picture people diminutively.) I met Dan last month, at my StoryCon meeting and he is a biggg guy. But gentle, very gentle, and soft spoken. Yet his stories and his understanding of story are so powerful. This book should be required reading for anyone who works with story, any psychologist or minister.

I mark up books with wise words. This one must have [drained] the ink out of two or three pens with all the quotable, wise words I triple starred.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dr. Taylor's book hits the mark, July 3, 2001

By 

Patsy Peterson (Salt Lake City, UT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Healing Power of Stories (Hardcover)

Short, insightful, highly readable, and mind-opening, this book sheds light, not heat, on such topics as diversity, individualism, and values. He helped me see the importance of taking personal responsibility for my actions, and the role story can play in helping me live up to my ideals. The idea of seeing myself as a character in a story gives me the perspective to do what I already know is right. Why is this marvelous book out of print?

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Eye Opening Book!, November 19, 1997

By 

Michelle K. Westenbroek "Can't live without b... (Grand Rapids, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Healing Power of Stories (Hardcover)

This is truly a wonderful book, one to be read and savoured for the way that it shows us how important story is to our lives. I especially liked his section on character versus personality. Stories have the power to touch us in a way that nothing else can, and the only way that this book could have been any better was if it were a story.