Intruding Upon the Timeless: Meditations on Art, Faith, and Mystery is a collection of essays, written over nearly three decades, by the founder and editor of Image journal, Gregory Wolfe.

For over thirty years, the Oxford C. S. Lewis Society has met weekly in the medieval colleges of the University of Oxford. During that time, it has hosted as speakers nearly all those still living who were associated with the Inklings-the Oxford literary circle led by C. S. Lewis--as well as authors and thinkers of a prominence that nears Lewis's own. C. S. Lewis and His Circle offers the reader a chance to join this unique group. Roger White has worked with Society past presidents Brendan and Judith Wolfe to select the most important talks, which are here made available to the wider public for the first time. They exemplify the best of traditional academic essays, thoughtful memoirs, and informal reminiscences about C. S. Lewis and his circle. The reader will reimagine Lewis's Cosmic Trilogy with former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, read philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe's final word on Lewis's arguments for Christianity, hear the Reverend Peter Bide's memories of marrying Lewis and Joy Davidman in an Oxford hospital, and learn about Lewis's Narnia Chronicles from his former secretary. Representing the finest of both personal and scholarly engagement with C. S. Lewis and the Inklings, the talks collected here set a new tone for engagement with this iconic Oxford literary circle--a tone close to Lewis's own Oxford--bred sharpness and wryness, seasoned with good humor and genuine affection for C. S. Lewis and his circle.

To a church that increasingly addresses itself to biblically illiterate people, to people who may have little or no church experience, and to those who simply call themselves spiritual-but-not-religious, Don Collett’s look at the Christian year inspired by the work of the great Canadian scholar Northrop Frye offers a priceless gift. “Frye conceived of a world beyond the normal confines of Christian doctrine and theology,” writes Collett, “and then found a place for Christian doctrine and theology to provide the hope this world needs.” This movement, says Collett, allows us to “begin conversations that seem wholly secular” – conversation that happen in “language” most familiar to people today, both inside and outside the church – “and arrive at the vocabulary of the spiritual life.” While the seasons of the Christian year – Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost – may seem arcane to many, Collett uses this method of structuring the year as a way to draw forth insights into what he calls the Universal Spirit, spiritual truths which may be applied in the course of a person’s everyday life. Says Collett, “These pieces will appeal to the person who desires to make sense of spiritual concepts and topics, and to the way both intersect with the challenging events of our times.”

In the style of a cinematic travel journal, film columnist and critic Jeffrey Overstreet of Christianity Today and lookingcloser.org leads readers down paths less traveled to explore some of the best films you've never seen. Examining a feast of movies, from blockbusters to buried treasure, Overstreet peels back the layers of work by popular entertainers and underappreciated masters. He shares excerpts from conversations with filmmakers like Peter Jackson, Wim Wenders, Kevin Smith, and Scott Derrickson, producer Ralph Winter, and stars like Elijah Wood, Ian McKellan, Keanu Reeves, and the cast of Serenity, drawing "war-stories" from his encounters with movie stars, moviemakers, moviegoers, and other critics in both mainstream and religious circles. He argues that what makes some films timeless rather than merely popular has everything to do with the way these artists--whether they know it or not--have captured reflections of God in their work. Through a Screen Darkly also includes a collection of reviews, humorous anecdotes, and on-the-scene film festival reports, as well as recommendations for movie discussion groups and meditations on how different films echo the myriad ways in which Christ captured the attention and imagination of culture.

The Operation of Grace collects a decade's worth of essays by Gregory Wolfe taken from the pages of Image, the literary journal he founded more than a quarter century ago. As he notes in the preface, his Image editorials, while they cover a wide range of topics, focus on the intersection of art, faith, and mystery. Wolfe believes that art and religion, while hardly identical, offer illuminating analogies to one another - art deepening faith through the empathetic reach of the imagination and faith anchoring art in a vision beyond the artist's ego. Several essays dwell on how aesthetic values like ambiguity, tragedy, and beauty enlarge our understanding of the spiritual life. There are also a series of reflections that extend Wolfe's campaign to renew the neglected and often misunderstood tradition of Christian humanism. Finally, there are sections that contain more personal meditations arising from Wolfe's involvement in nurturing and promoting the work of emerging writers and artists. The Operation of Grace demonstrates once again why novelist Ron Hansen has spoken of Wolfe as one of the most incisive and persuasive voices of our generation.

"Come, my soul, sit at Jesus's feet and learn of him all this day." Our hearts long for true connection with God—to know Him, to be known by Him, and to be transformed by this knowing. Whether we recognize it or not, we are forever searching for moments of intimacy, of communion with Jesus.In our busy, cluttered world, it’s far too easy to...

The Operation of Grace collects a decade's worth of essays by Gregory Wolfe taken from the pages of Image, the literary journal he founded more than a quarter century ago. As he notes in the preface, his Image editorials, while they cover a wide range of topics, focus on the intersection of "art, faith, and mystery." Wolfe believes that art and religion, while hardly identical, offer illuminating analogies to one another--art deepening faith through the empathetic reach of the imagination and faith anchoring art in a vision beyond the artist's ego. Several essays dwell on how aesthetic values like ambiguity, tragedy, and beauty enlarge our understanding of the spiritual life. There are also a series of reflections that extend Wolfe's campaign to renew the neglected and often misunderstood tradition of Christian humanism. Finally, there are sections that contain more personal meditations arising from Wolfe's involvement in nurturing and promoting the work of emerging writers and artists. The Operation of Grace demonstrates once again why novelist Ron Hansen has spoken of Wolfe as "one of the most incisive and persuasive voices of our generation." .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }