Meet the Editors
Darryl Tippens, Jeanne Murray Walker, and Stephen Weathers each have considerable experience as professors of English. Currently, Tippens is Provost and Professor of English at Pepperdine University, Walker is Professor of English at the University of Delaware, and Weathers is Associate Professor of English at Abilene Christian University. Individually their contributions to their respective specialties within the discipline are significant; together they have crafted and updated three editions of Shadow & Light: Literature and the Life of Faith.
Book Basics
The soon to be released third edition of Shadow & Light: Literature and the Life of Faith offers a rich blend of nonfiction, fiction and poetry focused on literature relating to the spiritual quest. Updates in this edition include more contemporary voices and enhanced attention to writings on nature and the environment. Well suited for use in higher education as a textbook, for personal enrichment and spiritual formation, or as a part of a group study experience (small group, book club, religious studies community, etc.), readers will benefit from both the selections as well as the notes in the margin, which offer insight into context or provide definitions of words no longer in common usage.
Insofar as my own edification is concerned, I found the nonfiction section of greatest interest (likely no surprise to those familiar with the books I regularly review). While I had previously read most of the included selections (Authors featured in this section include John Donne, Henry David Thoreau, Langston Hughes, Thomas Merton, Frederick Buechner, Henri Nouwen, Wendell Barry, and Annie Dillard), I had never considered so many in a single sitting. By dedicating a significant portion of a day to this pursuit, I found myself appreciative of the collective wisdom and hungry for conversation about both the words and the wisdom they reflect.
So What?
There are not many anthologies of literature in print today that consider a variety of perspectives covering more than a millennium. For those who seek to connect (and/or reconnect) with a breadth of spiritual literature, Shadow & Light offers a volume that primarily pursues such from a Christian perspective.
- What literature, apart from your tradition’s sacred texts, has been most influential in your own journey of faith?
- What practices have you found helpful for seeking to intentionally engage the spiritual wisdom of prior generations?
Darryl Tippens, Jeanne Murray Walker, and Stephen Weathers. Shadow & Light: Literature and the Life of Faith (Abilene Christian University Press, 2013). ISBN: 9780891120704.