On the Bookshelf by Nancee Cline
When I lived in Santa Barbara I sometimes visited the local Christian College for chapel services when a special guest came to speak. I went to hear famous authors, theologians, missionaries, and musicians. One was Madeleine L’Engle, best known as the author of the children’s book A Wrinkle in Time. When this elderly lady entered the auditorium, a thousand young, wildly enthusiastic college kids gave her a standing ovation. I was amazed. To these mostly well educated, well off, well churched kids, she was a hero who significantly hanged their faith. Raised within a very rational Christianity, too often dedicated to the memorization of scripture and to the conformity of behavior and opinion, L’Engle had set their childhood spirits free.
Madeleine L’Engle, a cradle Episcopalian, died at 88 last fall.
Born in New York City to a pianist mother and writer father, L’Engle grew up surrounded by books, music, theater, artists. After attending Smith College, Madeleine married Hugh Franklin and together they raised a family and spent their years together in their creative pursuits. According to her memoirs, Madeleine read scripture and swam every morning before breakfast; she played piano for an hour before dinner, and read scripture when she went to bed. The rest of her day might be chaotic, but she liked to start and finish with discipline.
One of her closest friends was a quantum physicist, and their dinner conversations became part of A Wrinkle in Time, a story about the struggle between good and evil the struggle between good and evil throughout the universe. This wonderful story is a mix of new science (quantum physics of the early 1960’s), childhood innocence, beautiful fantasy, and junior high issues. These preadolescent issues are significant: the problems of conformity, how appearances can be deceiving, and how God uses our weaknesses to do surprising things. But the climax of this fantastic adventure story is that only love (only love!) is stronger than evil. It is an absolutely clear Christian message without ever, for one second, being preachy or exclusive.
This book won the Newbery Medal for 1963, a very distinguished award. L’Engle published sequels to Wrinkle, as well as 60 other books, memoirs, commentaries on marriage, art and faith. She served as librarian for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and maintained an office there for 30 plus years.
Madeleine L’Engle is a literary hero to a whole generation of readers, and though I only read her work as an adult, she is a hero to me as well. Both her faith and her vocation were intricately connected to creativity and imagination. I heard Madeleine once say,“I’m often asked if my Christianity affects my writing. I say no, my writing affects my Christianity. When I stray, my writing pulls me back.”
This is Madeleine’s first Easter in heaven. I think back to the standing ovation she got at Westmont Christian College. In my imagination, I can see it happen all over again when she walked through the Pearly Gates.
CLICK HERE FOR FEBRUARY 2008 BOOK REVIEW: The Desire of the Everlasting Hills: by Thomas Cahil
CLICK HERE FOR AUGUST 2007 BOOK REVIEW: Christ the Lord, Out of Egypt, by Anne Rice
CLICK HERE FOR JULY 2007 BOOK REVIEW: The Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc, by Mark Twain
CLICK HERE FOR JUNE 2007 BOOK REVIEW: Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace by Maxine Hong Kingston
CLICK HERE FOR MAY 2007 BOOK REVIEW: WHY I AM A missional + evangelical + post/protestant + liberal/conservative + mystical/poetic + biblical + charismatic/contemplative + fundamentalist/calvinist + anabaptist/anglican + methodist + catholic + green + incarnational + depressedyet-hopeful + emergent + unfinished CHRISTIAN by Brian McLaren
CLICK HERE FOR APRIL 2007 BOOK REVIEW: The Colonyesus by John Tayman
CLICK HERE FOR MARCH 2007 BOOK REVIEW: Christianity for the Rest of Us by Diana Bass
CLICK HERE FOR FEBRUARY 2007 BOOK REVIEW:Dreams from My Father, A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama
CLICK HERE FOR JANUARY 2007 BOOK REVIEW: Summary for 2007
CLICK HERE FOR DECEMBER 2006 BOOK REVIEW: The Dream of God by Verna J. Dozier
CLICK HERE FOR NOVEMBER 2006 BOOK REVIEW: Pastwatch, the Redemtion of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scoot Card
CLICK HERE FOR OCTOBER 2006 BOOK REVIEW: Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver
CLICK HERE FOR SEPTEMBER 2006 BOOK REVIEW:The Chosen by Chaim Potok
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