Inklings of Reality [Paperback]

Donald T. Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1998

In Inklings of Reality, poet and theologian Donald T. Williams revisits some of the most interesting and constructive moments in the history of Christian reflection on life's great issues and helps us develop a rich and dynamic Christian philosophy of reading.

Product Details

• Paperback: 279 pages
• Publisher: Toccoa Falls College Press (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885729073
• ISBN-13: 978-1885729071
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 4.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,807,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best thing of its sort, bar none, January 1, 2006

By 

Dr. Michael E. Bauman (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inklings of Reality (Paperback)

Wiiliams' book is an exercise in sanity, clarity, insight and wisdom. Written by a theologian/poet/professor/pastor/literary critic, Inklings of Reality escorts the reader knowingly and affectionately through the history of Christian literature and criticism, better enabling us to understand (and therefore to enjoy) Augustine, Dante, Herbert, Sidney, Spenser, Lewis and others with the same passion and appreciation with which Williams himself understands and enjoys them.

I have assigned this volume multiple times as a textbook in my college literature courses, and students are unfailingly impressed with its humanity. They especially value not only its readable and accessible scholarship, but also its autobiographical flavor and the generous portion of Williams' own excellent poetry interspersed throughout the volume.

Though the chapters are arranged chronologically, they are complete in themselves and can stand alone. Because Williams is himself a Spenserian scholar, his chapters on English Renaissance literature and thought are excellent. As well, his work on Tolkien and Lewis is both readable and reliable.

Unlike too many modern literary critics, Williams concerns himself with the texts and writers at hand, not with the passing fads that too often mar and misdirect contemporary theory. He knows that the great books, and the great ideas that make them great, are the real stuff of literature, and not every idiosyncratic theory that comes down the pike. Turn here for a widely-informed interdisciplinary introduction to the great Christian books and the great Christian authors, not for a survey of quirky interpreters or interpretations.

As an introduction to Christian literature, its meaning, its presuppostions and its content, this modest and self-effacing volume is by far the best thing of its sort, bar none.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A question for your answers., May 16, 2002

By 

Ruby Dunlap (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inklings of Reality (Paperback)

To ask a question, Kuhn and others have told us, requires a paradigm or mental model from which to ask it. Without the model, the honest question will not be generated. Without the question, the answers will seem trite or irrelevant. Inklings of Reality is an apology and plea for reading of a certain type, a purposeful availing oneself of great works of literature. Such reading can build the imaginative framework within which questions and answers of what it means to be fully human are generated and hold fruitful conversation. Implicit (and sometimes explicit) throughout this book is the argument that the authors of literature and poetry intended specific meanings when they wrote through the specific words they chose and that these meanings are reliably accessible to readers today through those same words. We are asked to go beyond the cynical dismissing of the author from his or her writing and to listen with care and respect to what is being said by words which can be trusted.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars stimulating appeal for a literate devotional life, August 23, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inklings of Reality (Paperback)

Christians and Culture, Jerusalem and Anthens, the pursuit of God and the life of this world; do they relate? And how? These questions are answered in a profound view of Christian discipleship in the world of literate creativity. The writer feels inklings of a greater reality can be glimpsed then enjoyed by those who possess a wholeness of vision. Donald Williams points the serious minded Christian reader towards such an encompasing vision. By reviewing the accomplishments of the greatest creators of Christian edification and cultural excellence Williams shows us a "wholeness of vision".