One Day I Wrote Back: Interacting with Scripture Through Creative Writing

by Jane Herring

Throughout her life, Jane Herring struggled to hear what scripture had to say to her. She began wondering if the Bible was either too complicated a book to read in a meaningful way or too puzzling to actually mean anything at all. It was only when she started speaking back to scripture putting pen to paper to write poetry, lists, stories, and letters that Herring s relationship with the Bible began to unfold. Filled with down-to-earth stories, One Day I Wrote Back offers insight and perspective on scripture passages. Herring invites readers to use faith, reason, and imagination as they write in response to each week s scripture.

98 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2015

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

We read this book in my bible study group, and it was fantastic! Jane Herring has a fresh, new look on the bible. I absolutely loved this book. It really helped me understand it more than I originally did. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who would like to further their reglious education or starting to read and understand the bible a little better :)

[Terri Milstead]

2024: didn’t grab me as a morning devotion tool

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite books because it set me on a course for discovering more about scripture.

[Emmie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not what I was expected, as I expected the whole book to flesh out the introduction instead of giving samples of her writing and questions, but it was still an OK read. Because of her affiliation I wasn't sure what to expect once I got into the writing portion and questions.

On the whole I thought it was interesting, but since the point is to help others interact with the text of Scripture, having samples could be confusing or leading for others, especially those who are new to writing. I'm assuming the point is to show the possibilities of what you could write, but the questions should be sufficient for helping others stir their imaginations with the Scriptures. As someone who has been responding to Scripture for many years, I did find it a bit confusing, however others might find it helpful. I did appreciate some of the perspectives she gave on the Scriptures that she was referencing, yet others made no sense at all.

This is meant to be a book to help others interact with Scripture. I think it has the potential to help with that. I may use the questions at some point for writing myself or maybe with my children. If using with others or leading a group in this I would only focus on the Scripture and questions and not encourage the reading of what she wrote, at least not until praying and writing for themselves first.

[Cara Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prose, reflection, and writing prompts to help folks write back to God. Herring is inclusive, gentle, and wise in her approach.