Walking on Water

In Walking On Water, Madeleine L'Engle addresses the questions: What makes art Christian? What does it mean to be a Christian artist? What is the relationship between faith and art? Throughout L'Engle's beautiful, insightful book—at once a meditation, memoir, and manifesto—readers will find themselves called to what the author views as the prime tasks of an artist: to listen, to remain aware, and to respond to all Creation through one's own art.

As the author writes: "And as I listen to the silence, I learn that my feelings about art and my feelings about the Creator of the Universe are inseparable. To try to talk about art and about Christianity is for me one and the same thing, and it means attempting to share the meaning of my life, what gives it, for me, its tragedy and its glory. It is what makes me respond to the death of an apple tree, the death of a puppy, northern lights shaking the sky, by writing stories . . . Unless we are creators, we are not fully alive."

Praise

"When I discovered Walking on Water years ago, my creative self underwent a sort of liberation. I had always sensed that there was a wonderful connection between spirituality and creativity, but Madeleine’s insights about both of those worlds helped me claim with more confidence my own creative gifts. This is a wise and inspiring book that should be in every artist’s library."—Vinita Hampton Wright, author of Grace at Bender Springs and Velma Still Cooks in Leeway

"Once again, L’Engle touches the deepest parts of our psyche and heart with her artist’s wand. She writes with an earthy rhythm that not only reveals the mysteries of our artistic natures, but also qualifies all along the way her inimitable wise-woman philosophies. L’Engle’s writing is God’s gift to a generation who needs to sit on a stump and lend an ear to what the right brain is saying to the left and to what the soul is saying to the heart. Walking on Water guides the wandering artist back to the Savior and says, ‘There, you’ve come home again where you belong!’"—Patricia Hickman, award-winning author of Katrina’s Wings

About the Author(s)

Madeleine L'Engle

Madeleine L'Engle's many books include A Wrinkle in Time, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and Certain Women. She lives in New York City, where she is writer-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. In November of 2004, L'Engle was awarded the prestigious National Humanities Medal.

photo: Photo by Sigrid Estrada

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