Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art

For years, beloved author Madeline L'Engle has commingled her writing with her faith in such titles as A Wrinkle in Time and A Swiftly Tilting Planet. In Walking on Water, L'Engle takes a fresh look at what it means to be a Christian artist and what separates Christian art from that which is supposedly secular. This first-person account draws the reader into L'Engle's mind frame and sphere of reference--uncloaking her frustrations with bad art (from poetry to painting) that claims to be religious--and explains how the true artist can only serve the world by imitating the ultimate Creator, the Lord Himself. When asked to describe where faith stops and art begins, L'Engle explains that there is no separating the two--"it means attempting to share the meaning of my life, what gives it, for me, its tragedy and its glory." Words of wisdom seep from these pages in a practical, faith-filled manner by encouraging the reader to slow down amidst the business of life, to listen to the spirit, and to be more fully devoted to God by seeking to be more truthfully artistic. "Unless we are creators, we are not fully alive," L'Engle writes, hoping readers are inspired to turn the "chaos of life" into the "cosmos of art." --Jill Heatherly