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Searching for the Self: Classic Stories, Christian Scripture, and the Quest for Personal Identity
"Who am I?" If you are unsure of your personal identity, you are not alone. Our postmodern culture multiplies identity-crisis. Identity comes from story--the better our story, the healthier our identity and our behavior. Searching for the Self helps you discover your own story, and discern how cultural narratives shape your behavior. Channeling the ancient wisdom of classic stories--including Christian Scripture viewed as true story--this book offers hope to anyone searching for a better story to live by. Searching for the Self provides a groundbreaking synthesis of narrative psychology, cultural analysis, biblical studies, and English Literature 101--all written in an engaging style and interwoven with revealing personal anecdotes.
"We all want to live a meaningful life, but it is hard to make sense out of our lives particularly since our culture wants to rob us of the grand narrative that imbues our life with significance. Adrian Smith masterfully guides us as he helps us understand the story of our lives in the light of the greatest story of all. He importantly and insightfully introduces us to the life-transforming power of story. Searching for the Self is an intelligent book that gets us thinking deeply about our lives in a way that draws us closer to God. No one will read this book and not be changed for the better."
--Tremper Longman III, Distinguished Scholar of Biblical Studies, Westmont College
"Making sense of life is hard. This deeply informed but highly accessible book will help. Here is a gateway to a narrative journey, the quest for wisdom, the discovery of meaning through story, showing us patterns and pathways to begin to understand our own stories in the light of God's story."
--Dan G. McCartney, Professor of New Testament Interpretation, Redeemer Seminary
Adrian T. Smith has taught biblical studies for twenty years at numerous seminaries, including Westminster (Philadelphia and Dallas), Erskine (Due West, South Carolina), and Redeemer (Dallas). He is Visiting Professor of New Testament at Missional Training Center (Phoenix). Adrian is ordained as a Minister of the Gospel (Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church). He is the author of The Representation of Speech Events (2014). Adrian is married with two children and lives in Texas where he teaches humanities at Covenant Academy in Cypress.
"We all want to live a meaningful life, but it is hard to make sense out of our lives particularly since our culture wants to rob us of the grand narrative that imbues our life with significance. Adrian Smith masterfully guides us as he helps us understand the story of our lives in the light of the greatest story of all. He importantly and insightfully introduces us to the life-transforming power of story. Searching for the Self is an intelligent book that gets us thinking deeply about our lives in a way that draws us closer to God. No one will read this book and not be changed for the better."
--Tremper Longman III, Distinguished Scholar of Biblical Studies, Westmont College
"Making sense of life is hard. This deeply informed but highly accessible book will help. Here is a gateway to a narrative journey, the quest for wisdom, the discovery of meaning through story, showing us patterns and pathways to begin to understand our own stories in the light of God's story."
--Dan G. McCartney, Professor of New Testament Interpretation, Redeemer Seminary
Adrian T. Smith has taught biblical studies for twenty years at numerous seminaries, including Westminster (Philadelphia and Dallas), Erskine (Due West, South Carolina), and Redeemer (Dallas). He is Visiting Professor of New Testament at Missional Training Center (Phoenix). Adrian is ordained as a Minister of the Gospel (Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church). He is the author of The Representation of Speech Events (2014). Adrian is married with two children and lives in Texas where he teaches humanities at Covenant Academy in Cypress.
412 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 28, 2018
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 20, 2018
One of the best books I have ever read
Disclaimer. I have known the author for almost 40 years. However with my games move to Cyprus and the author's "voluntary exile" in the US compounded by the male inability to stay in touch I had only occasional but intensely enjoyable reconnects and visits over the years. This book fills some of the gaps. I am stunned that as an utterly amateur Christian thinker I have reached almost identical, albeit much more nebula, conclusions as my extremely erudite friend.
The thrust of the book is that our lives are stories. Our stories of course intersect with other stories and are part of a much bigger story. We need to be conscious of these stories and the scripts we are writing or assuming for our lives. Smith leaves Egypt with tools to begin to analyse our narratives as we enter that wilderness that is often the Christian life. But he places in front of us a hope as yet largely unseen and encourages the Christian reader to experience heavenly purpose breaking into the mundane as head toward the promised land.
As the author puts it, the Sunday school teachers were right, the Bible is best understood as story.
Disclaimer. I have known the author for almost 40 years. However with my games move to Cyprus and the author's "voluntary exile" in the US compounded by the male inability to stay in touch I had only occasional but intensely enjoyable reconnects and visits over the years. This book fills some of the gaps. I am stunned that as an utterly amateur Christian thinker I have reached almost identical, albeit much more nebula, conclusions as my extremely erudite friend.
The thrust of the book is that our lives are stories. Our stories of course intersect with other stories and are part of a much bigger story. We need to be conscious of these stories and the scripts we are writing or assuming for our lives. Smith leaves Egypt with tools to begin to analyse our narratives as we enter that wilderness that is often the Christian life. But he places in front of us a hope as yet largely unseen and encourages the Christian reader to experience heavenly purpose breaking into the mundane as head toward the promised land.
As the author puts it, the Sunday school teachers were right, the Bible is best understood as story.
Displaying 1 of 1 review