The Magnificent Defeat

by Frederick Buechner

As a novelist and memoirist, Frederick Buechner brings to these meditations on biblical passages a keen eye for narrative and detail. He brings as well an artist's love for language. As he says of James Weldon Johnson's poetic rendering of the creation story, this "is the language that man always uses when he tries to talk about the real mysteries of existence." So too is it the language Buechner brings to these reflections, which similarly explore the real mysteries. Written simply and directly (their original audience was a group of students at the private school where the author was a minister), Buechner delves into topics ranging from Jacob's wrestling with the angel (this is the "magnificent defeat" of the title) to the annunciation and birth of Jesus and beyond. Whatever the topic, Buechner writes with clarity and honesty. He does not present himself as among the saints so much as among the seekers. He doubts and questions but always comes back to the central place of beauty and of joy: here, he suggests, is where we must place our faith. Here is the true miracle of life, inviting us to "open our arms, our lives, to the deepest miracle of reality itself and call it by its proper name, which is King of kings and Lord of lords, or call it by any name we want, or call it nothing, but live our lives open to the fierce and transforming joy of it." --Doug Thorpe.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Theology, Spirituality, Christianity, Religion, Faith

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Frederick Buechner is a highly influential writer and theologian who has won awards for his poetry, short stories, novels and theological writings. His work pioneered the genre of spiritual memoir, laying the groundwork for writers such as Anne Lamott, Rob Bell and Lauren Winner.

His first book, A Long Day's Dying, was published to acclaim just two years after he graduated from Princeton. He entered Union Theological Seminary in 1954 where he studied under renowned theologians that included Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, and James Muilenberg. In 1955, his short story "The Tiger" which had been published in the New Yorker won the O. Henry Prize.

After seminary he spent nine years at Phillips Exeter Academy, establishing a religion department and teaching courses in both religion and English. Among his students was the future author, John Irving. In 1969 he gave the Noble Lectures at Harvard. He presented a theological autobiography on a day in his life, which was published as The Alphabet of Grace.

In the years that followed he began publishing more novels, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist Godric. At the same time, he was also writing a series of spiritual autobiographies. A central theme in his theological writing is looking for God in the everyday, listening and paying attention, to hear God speak to people through their personal lives.

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started exploring Christianity a few months ago, and have come to this book still very much a newbie. The writing is incredible - Buechner writes with a wonderful fire and passion, which can be hugely inspiring, but sometimes had me hitting back "No, no, no!" He starts each of these sermons with an extract from the Bible, and then follows this up with an intense and spirited analysis/interpretation of what has been described.

I will just describe what I thought of the first few chapters... Each chapter can be read alone - in many ways this is probably the best way to read them. There is so much to think about and digest.

I found the first chapter - about Jacob's deceit towards his brother and father, and his fight with God at the ford of Jabbok, incredibly difficult to understand. I had to read it three times! I went to the Bible to look up the wider story, then I went to Wikipedia to get a different perspective on what was going on. Finally I was able to come back and read the story again, and this time really get into drama that Buechner so brilliantly describes. It is a wonderful piece, well worth three readings. However I found some of his ideas very disconcerting.

Unlike Buechner, I really don't don't think that Jacob's behaviour towards his family was acceptable, or that it can be excused as regular human weakness. I think he behaved pretty appallingly.

And when Buechner writes "And God is the enemy whom Jacob fought there by the river, of course, and whom in one way or another we all of us fight - God, the beloved enemy. Our enemy because, before giving us everything, he demands of us everything; before giving us life, he demands our lives - ourselves, our wills, our treasure....Remember Jesus of Nazareth, staggering on broken feet out of the tomb towards the Resurrection, bearing on his body the proud insignia of the defeat which is victory, the magnificent defeat of the human soul at the hands of God." I find this stuff quite terrifying. I'm a rather doddery, weak and sometimes depressive sixty-seven year old. This is just plain scary.

Even so I'm very glad I read this. It certainly made me think about my expectations in terms of having a relationship with God.

The second chapter was about Genesis and the beginning of the world. I didn't understand that at all. I suspect that is because I am not even vaguely familiar with the arguments Buechner used here - they were just outside my comprehension.

I enjoyed the third chapter a lot. "The Power of God and the Power of Man"... It was about God's love, and the healing power of prayer. It also contained a wonderful brief prayer which I have relished for some time -
"Lord, I believe; help my unbelief."

The forth chapter is "The Two Battles", about the drive for success in the world versus the drive for spiritual growth. "The decisive war is the other one - to become fully human, which means to become compassionate, honest, brave. And this is a war against the darkness which no man fights alone." Compassionate, honest, brave.... Such small words, such a huge challenge. This sermon made a lot of sense to me.

All in all I found this book a great read....particularly as I have in recent months been reading the Bible. To read Buechner's sermons here on various Biblical passages has been an incredible eye opener, I have never seen this sort of analysing, exploring and elaborating before . They were stunning.

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by my dear brother. My brother who has been deceased for three years and had written some letters nearly 20 years ago to my husband's sister (they were kindred souls) about his spiritual struggles. She had shared this title with him and he was enthralled and encouraged by Buechner's writings. Just recently I was given the opportunity to read those letters and realized I needed to read this book and reconnect with my brother.

I recommend using it as a devotional, reading one meditation each day. Although written in the 60's, the thoughts are timeless and made me think outside the box. In his meditation entitled "Become Like Children" he writes: "We are children, perhaps, at the very moment when we know that it is as children that God loves us--not because we have deserved his love and not in spite of our undeserving; not because we try and not because we recognize the futility of our trying but simply because he has chosen to love us." Highly recommended.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is amazing to me to be able to read a book of reflections/essays first published in 1966 and find so many thoughts current and relevant to today's concerns. These 144 pages containing 18 "meditations" by Buechner - a Presbyterian minister and writer - to mainly young people at various congregations is a bonus in that it can be read one reflection at a time, each providing plenty of both comfort, challenge, and clarity.

A variety of thoughts from this book that have challenged me:
From a well known passage in Ephesians where believers are exhorted to "put on the whole armor of God", Buechner writes, "Above all, we must take the shield of faith, and faith here is not so much believing this thing or that thing about God as it is hearing a voice that says, 'Come unto me.' We hear the voice, and then we start to go without really knowing what to believe either about that voice or about ourselves; and yet we go. Faith is standing in the darkness, and a hand is there, and we take it." (pg 42)

Reflecting on God breathing life into humans and what is that spirit we all have ... Buechner writes, "Most of the time we tend to think of life as a neutral kind of thing, I suppose. We are born into it one fine day, given life, and in itself, life is neither good nor bad except that we make it so by the way we live it. We may make a full life for ourselves or an empty life, but no matter what we make of it, the common view is that life itself, whatever life is, does not care one way or another any more than the ocean cares whether we swim in it or drown in it. ... But rightly or wrongly, the Christian faith flatly contradicts [this view]. ... whether you call this life-giving power the spirit of God or Reality or the Life Force or anything else, its most basic characteristic is that it wishes us well and is at work toward that end.

Heaven knows terrible things happen to people in this world. The good die young, and the wicked prosper, and in any one town, anywhere, there is grief enough to freeze the blood. But from deep within whatever the hidden spring is that life wells up from, there wells up into our lives, even at their darkest and maybe especially then, a power to heal, to breathe new life into us." (pg 115)

Finally, reflecting on the story of the Good Samaritan, compassion, and loving our neighbor, Buechner writes, "Your life and my life flow into each other as wave flows into wave, and unless there is peace and joy and freedom for you, there can be no real peace or joy or freedom for me. To see reality - not as we expect it to be but as it is - is to see that unless we live for each other and in and through each other, we do not really live very satisfactorily ..." (pg 143).

Thoughts and challenges like these are "five star" worthy in the ratings framework - as in any collection, there are those that were less meaningful to me, but overall, this little book is worth anyone's time.

[Michael Poteet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that made me want to be a preacher. Beautiful insights into Scripture and the realities, both harsh and sublime, of real human life, beautifully expressed. Especially recommend "The End is Life" and "The Road to Emmaus," as well as the title sermon. Just cannot stress enough how incredible his ministry of the Word truly is.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't even know where to start when writing about Frederick Buechner. His works seem effortless, they are so well written. This book has been recommended to me several times and I finally got around to reading it this year.

Every sermon in this book challenges my thinking. Buechner's words about prayer, death, joy and children all link to things I have been contemplating. But then he takes me in directions that I could not have imagined.

I know I will be reading this book again. I wish I had someone to discuss it with. That would be most helpful.

[Gogapa · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars based on this quote alone: "And God is the enemy whom Jacob fought there by the river, of course, and whom in one way or another we all of us fight - God, the beloved enemy. Our enemy because, before giving us everything, he demands of us everything; before giving us life, he demands our lives - ourselves, our wills, our treasure... Remember Jesus of Nazareth, staggering on broken feet out of the tomb towards the Resurrection, bearing on his body the proud insignia of the defeat which is victory, the magnificent defeat of the human soul at the hands of God."

[Anne White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buechner at his most brilliant. The only irritation was not the writing but the brittle 1985 binding that was crumbling in my hands as I read. I hope I can find another copy.

[Emily Magnus · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS 👏🏻 BOOK👏🏻 it was a short read but one I extended because I didn’t want it to end. I found myself in the mornings wanting to keep turning the pages instead of logging into work. Buechner has a beautiful was of capturing and telling stories of who Jesus is without making it feel like cheesy Christian language. My journal is now marked with pages of his words that I hope to mule over forever and ever amen.

QOTB: “All the stories about how Jesus appeared to people after his death are strange, and the strangest thing about this is how unglamorous they are, how little fanfare there is about them. All we have are two men walking along a dusty road to a town that nobody has heard of much, suddenly aware of foot steps approaching them from behind, being joined then by a stranger who was Jesus but whom they did not even recognize, perhaps because even when he was alive they had never really recognized him, had seen him not as he actually was but on as they had wanted him to be: a hero who would give them a lot of easy answers to all of life’s hardest questions about love and pain and goodness and death.

If someone wants proof that he is alive and that this is so, all I can say in honesty is that I have none to give, no preacher can provide it, no teacher, no book, not even the Bible. It defies logic and reason, and it breaks the laws of nature as we understand them. If we are to believe he is really alive with all that that implies, then we have to believe without proof. And of course that is the only way it could be. If it could be some how proved, then we would have no choice but to believe. And in that very moment that we lost that freedom we would cease to be human beings. Our love of God would have been forced upon us, and love that is forced is of course not love at all. Love must be freely given. Love must love in the freedom not to love; it must take risks.”

LONG BUT RETWEET HONEY

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Magnificent Defeat" is a series of essays originally presented as meditations to congregations consisting mostly of young people in the 1960s.
I like the plain, straight-forward, conversational style and the refreshing refusal to accept pat answers.
But to me, the meditations seemed to be lacking in depth. They seemed to be more milk than meat. Perhaps that's not so bad; we need milk to live, too.
I wanted to like this book more than I did. I read it because Philip Yancey mentioned in one of his books that Buechner was one of his favorite authors, and Philip Yancey is one of my favorite authors.
And perhaps I just read it too hurriedly. Buechner wrote quite a few books, and I'll probably try another one eventually.
Among contemporary authors, if you like Max Lucado (and I do, occasionally), you might very well like Buechner.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read Buechner before, but it's been a long time. I've had an interest in his writings for a couple of reasons. One, he is a great inspiration to my favorite Christian singer/songwriter, Terry Scott Taylor. Two, I follow his page on Facebook, and there frequent nuggets of wisdom that come from his writings.

The Magnificent Defeat, published in 1966, is a series of messages/meditations that were "presented to congregations composed largely of young people." There are three parts: Part I, The Challenge to Surrender; Part II, The Triumph of Love; and Part III, The Mystery and Miracle of Grace.

The titular message, "The Magnificent Defeat," focuses on Jacob as he wrestled with God at Peniel. And I love the opening paragraph. "When a minster reads out of the Bible, I am sure that at least nine times out of ten the people who happen to be listening at all hear not what is really being read, but only what they expect to hear read. And I think that what most people expect to hear read from the Bible is an edifying story, an uplifting thought, a moral lesson--something elevating, obvious, and boring. Only that is too bad because if you really listen--and maybe you have to forget that it is the Bible being read and a minister who is reading it--there is no telling what you might hear."

The point of the "magnificent defeat" is this. Anyone who fights hard enough in this life will get power, success, and "happiness." But peace, love, and joy, are things that we can only truly get from God. The problem is, before God will give us those things, before he will give us everything, he demands everything from us; before he will give us life, he demands our lives.

"Will we give them, you and I? I do not know. Only remember the last glimpse that we have of Jacob, limping home against the great conflagration of the dawn. Remember Jesus of Nazareth, staggering on broken feet, out of the tomb toward the Resurrection, bearing on his body the proud insignia of the defeat which is victory, the magnificent defeat of the human soul at the hands of God."

And that's just the first chapter. There are seventeen more, each as eloquent and insightful as the first. Part II, The Triumph Love, progresses from the birth of Christ through the Resurrection, and in one chapter, gives the author's version of the birth of Christ through the eyes of the innkeeper, the wise men, and the shepherds.

A couple more lines that I underlined: "To be a saint is to be a little out of one's mind, which is a very good thing to be a little out of from time to time. It is to live a life that is always giving itself away and yet is always full."

"Prayer is the sound made by our deepest aloneness."

"The face that a child wears is his own face, whereas ours are the faces that we have spent years arranging and rearranging." (Ouch.)

Wonderful book. I highly recommend it, and it can be easily read as part of a morning (or whenever) devotional, as the chapters are usually no more than three to four pages.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, back to my dear old friend Buechner. It's a been a while.

There's something about him, that I've not quite been able to put my finger on. He writes beautifully of course, often with a surprising, insightful, hopeful and/or delightful turn in trajectory. But there's something else - a depth; you might even say, a melancholy; an awareness.

I've recently been working though Ecclesiastes with the aid of a very good commentary by John Goldingay and the audio version of Robert Alter's literary translation, and it struck me - Buechner is 'Ecclesiastes-aware'.

I've been framing Ecclesiastes as a work of existentialism - and sitting there in the midst of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, pointing out difficult realities about the human condition, from a certain way of seeing things.

Before he committed to Christianity and became a Presbyterian minister, Buechner received some acclaim for a modernist novel he published in 1950 called 'A Long Day's Dying', with (as one critic put it) "an emphasis on interior consciousness, a recognition of the alienation of human beings from one another, and the positioning of incompleteness as the common lot of humanity". All this was woven into his biography through the loss as a young lad of his father to suicide.

I suppose that's something of the existential space - the gap - the hunger - out of which he made his turn to Christianity. He certainly found something in this new place of warmth and acceptance, grace and love - something that he wanted to share - even when the hope was little more than a glimmer. It became intrinsic to his life, and his art - his beautiful writing - became infused with passing on the gifts he discovered about a different way of being in the world - meaning, contra meaninglessness, and more than a mere chasing after the wind.

But that other awareness of life stayed with him - this melancholy truth - and it too is woven into his writing. You could even say he 'played' in that space - the title of this book is evidence of that: The Magnificent Defeat - the melancholy, the tragedy, is there - but you can sense the unexpected turn - a turn towards magnificence.

The book is fairly early in his oeuvre - first published in 1966 - an era of significant angst in the cultural and political history of the West. The book comprises a number of short pieces, at least some of which were delivered as finely-crafted talks to teenage boys at the school where he worked for a few years. All the time he's aware of the world these young people have found themselves in - the realities of it and what it might mean for their lives. He doesn't talk down to them. And again and again, he communicates deeper and beautiful possibilities into the core of existential reality.

It's wonderful work, as ever. And every time I finish reading yet another Buechner, I'm always thankful I haven't reached the end of his extensive output. I suppose one day I will - I suppose then I'll read them again.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some absolute gems in Frederick Buechner’s The Magnificent Defeat: a compilation of sermons. The sermon that the book was named after is powerful: the story of the transformation of Jacob through his defeat at Jabbok. Buechner reflects, “And God is the enemy whom Jacob fought by the river, of course, and whom in one way or another we all of us fight—God, the beloved enemy. Our enemy because, before giving us everything, he demands of us everything; before giving us life, he demands our lives ourselves, our wills, our treasure.” The book is not an extended meditation on this text or even this theme. Rather, it is a “best of” trove of Buechner’s sermons.

Other sermons that stand out are “The Power of God and the Power of Man” where Buechner cuts through our religious pretense: “If this is indeed all the power that God has—the power of an idea—then who in Hell is interested in him?” Stop messing around the edges of your prayer life, Buechner demands, and “Ask for it.”

In “The End Is Life” Buechner considers the power of resurrection: “If I thought that when you strip it right down to the bone, this whole religion business is really just an affirmation of the human spirit, an affirmation of moral values, and affirmation of Jesus of Nazareth as the Great Exemplar of all time and no more, then like Pilate I would wash my hands of it. The human spirit just does not impress me that much, I am afraid. And I have never been able to get very excited one way or the other about moral values. And when I have the feeling that someone is trying to set me a good example, I start edging toward the door.”

In “To Be a Saint,” Buechner suggests that, “Maybe more than anything else, to be a saint is to know joy.” And in “The Breaking of Silence,” one of the best sermons in the book, he suggests that “Prayer is the sound made by our deepest aloneness.” He continues, “People pray because they cannot help it. In one way or another, I think, all people pray.” And later, “It is only when you ask a question out of your very bowels that the answer is really an answer. It is only when you stretch out your hands for it until your arms ache that a gift is really a gift.”

Buechner is a brilliant writer and The Magnificent Defeat has some wonderful jewels, but the disparate collection left me wanting a volume that had a stronger thematic thread through it. This volume is probably only for the hard core fan of Buechner.

[Joe Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the promo blurb from the NYT Book Review: "Combines high writing skill with a profound understanding of Christian essentials." I "inherited" this book and my appreciation for Frederick Buechner from my friend, Rex. In fact, following Rex's passing, I wound up with his entire collection of FB works, and I am slowly working my way through them. This book of thoughtful, thought provoking sermons, published in 1966, was a gift to Rex from his wife, Nan, in 1986.

Buechner had a gift for fleshing out a story with untold unwritten details that one knows are "true"...or at least have the ring of truth...could easily be true.

One quote for our day, from "The Miracles at Hand," page 143:

"Your life and my life flow into each other as wave flows into wave, and unless there's peace and joy and freedom for you, there can be no real peace or joy or freedom for me. To see reality—not as we expect it to be but as it is—is to see that unless we live for each other and in and through each other, we do not really live very satisfactorily: that there can really be life only where there really is, in just this sense, love. This not just the way things ought to be. Most of the time it is not the way we want things to be. It is the way things are. And not for one instant do I believe that it is by accident that it is the way things are. That would be quite an accident."

Now on to the next one. How about anther novel, perhaps to provide some distraction from the current events here now in the fall of 2025.

[Caroline Fontenot · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Anxiety and fear are what we know best in this fantastic century of ours. Wars and rumors of wars. From civilization itself to what seemed the most unalterable values of the past, everything is threatened or already in ruins. We have heard so much tragic news that when the news is good we cannot hear it.

But the proclamation of Easter Day is that all is well. And as a Christian, I say this not with the easy optimism of one who has never known a time when all was not well but as one who has faced the Cross in all its obscenity as well as in all its glory, who has known one way or another what it is like to live separate from God. In the end, his will, not ours, is done. Love is the victor. Death is not the end. The end is life. His life and our lives through him, in him. Existence has greater depths of beauty, mystery, and benediction than the wildest visionary has ever dared to dream. Christ our Lord has risen."

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buechner is a theologian who writes like a poet. He's at his best drawing from the secular to explain the sacred or re-casting the sacred into the mold of the secular to make it fresh and real. This is a book of sermons so there's necessarily a bit of jumping around, and I can't say that every one grabbed me as a reader... but there were three or four that resonated deeply with me. Buechner's Peculiar Treasures is one of my favorite books ever. I've read several of his other books that ranged from the merely okay to the transcendent. There's some elements of both categories in The Magnificent Defeat, which is to say, if you're new to Buechner, I'd start at Peculiar Treasures. If his work is familiar to you, then you'll likely enjoy and appreciate The Magnificent Defeat.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

That this collection of sermons would be considered progressive today, in 2020, hints at how near the line of heresy Buechner must have seemed in the eyes of his audience when these words were first preached fifty-four years ago. There are arguments for universal salvation, commonality among various faith traditions, equality of the races and genders, and an approach to Scripture that is far from the literal interpretations demanded by today's fundamentalist evangelicals. Buechner uses the English language to paint beautiful pictures of hope, peace, calling and sanctification. His tender heart, sharp mind, and determined will come together magnificently and boldly in this anthology that continues to welcome and refresh our thirsty souls.

[Aaron Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man, this book was beautiful. I went on a prayer retreat and had heard the author's name thrown around on a podcast on the way to the retreat. This book was on the shelf at the retreat center and I spent the week reading it. As books go, for me, it's nearly perfect. The chapters are short and invite reflection, and extremely profound. You think you know where Buechner is going and then he drops an elegantly written statement that makes you rethink you're whole life. Amazing. Exactly what I needed. There is one line that continues to stick with me: "The God who speaks light into my darkness." I wrote it down as daily mantra, 'You are the God who speaks light into my darkness.' I went home from the retreat and immediately ordered more books by Buechner.

[Sarahanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing. Short stories / sermonettes format.

The title story really stuck with me - there is a truth there about limits, failure, rewriting personal history.... Just read it.

And the one about the tiger - it profoundly informed my world view. Not my theology, exactly, but my understanding of who I am, who I can be, & how I allow myself to not become....

Buechner is a Christian. His writing is about humanity less than theology so, if you can consider his framework, there is much to be gained from this book - regardless of your own belief system.

Read it. It's so good.

[Scott Kohler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frederick Buechner's first non-fiction book, a good collection of sermons adapted from his time as chaplain at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. Buechner does a good job wrestling with the Bible from the perspective of modern doubt and uncertainty, not to say skepticism. He comes across as sympathetic to all doubters, and maybe occasionally unorthodox to more conservative biblicists, but when it comes down to it he affirms and emphasizes the things that need to be affirmed (the sermon on the resurrection is marvellous stuff).

Read as part of my effort to read all of his non-fiction in 2022.

[Kay Wyma · Rating 5 out of 5]

So thankful to have been introduced to the deep, thoughtful, penetrating writings of Frederick Beuchner. The Magnificent Defeat is a wonderful compilation of addresses he gave for Chapel — which makes this book easy to pick up and enjoy its offerings independently or together — because, as you can imagine, they are all intertwined as they all are deeply saturated in raw contemplation of eternal truths. Worth lingering and enjoying, even when the concepts richly contemplative and might take a few minutes to digest :)

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this a lot. I also found it interesting that there were some essays that dovetailed quite nicely with a couple of other books I was reading at the same time, particularly my Easter devotional. It's nice to have a pastor who acknowledges and accepts doubt and all the other "troubling" emotions that come with humanity. He doesn't shy away, but points to the mystery of God and his grace. There were quite a few margin notes that I made, he sometimes makes me think of C.S. Lewis, just with a slightly different way of saying things.

[Baylor Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loosely moving through the Church Calendar (aka the life of Christ), Buechner delivers a series of moving essays (homilies?). There’s not much to say without commenting on each essay in particular because they are hardly thematically related, except perhaps that they are all concerned with the move towards the wholly mysterious One we call God. Buechner’s stirring prose is always an invitation to slow down and contemplate.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Frederick's most renowned...I don't think I liked it as much as I was hoping. His tone felt a little different in this one, and he seemed to move into some places that didn't impact me as much. I think most people would enjoy this a good amount, but I could also see a lot of people getting 3-4 chapters in and moving on to another work.

---

Page 87
Page 221

[Ryan Geer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 2nd book I've read by Buechner and i'm starting to get a feel for his writing, I think.

Even as I was reading this book and thinking about what I'd write as a review—I couldn't think of anything, except to say this: what a strange and beautiful bit of writing that reads as much like poetry as anything else.

[Amy Lindberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these sermons are deeply moving. Some are strange and rambling. I've started this book a dozen times over the years and always gave up in the middle because there are a string of entries that just simply bored me. This time I pushed on and finally got to the end, and the last two sermons in this book were quite meaningful for me, so I'm glad I finally finished it.

[Danielle Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beauty that I found in some of these essays was astounding to me. I had to reread a couple of pages right after finishing them because they moved me so deeply. That being said I wasn't sure if I should give it 5 stars because there were a couple I didn't feel were as strong, but the power of a few outweighed that and I had to give it 5 stars.

[Austin Spence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buechner brought his own interpretation and language to 10-15 scriptures and gave them a whole new dynamic. Not all of it was necessarily helpful but fresh perspective nonetheless. Kind of thought it was a book on sermons but they were all pretty short. Interested in his fiction soon.

[Matt Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my all time faves . just really appreciate his writing style and way of thinking of things in general . . wish i had reviewed closer to having finished it and i'd have more specific thoughts .. but i loaned it to someone very close upon reading : )

[Elizabeth Turnage · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first Buechner books I ever read. Loved it, especially the "Message in the Stars" essay.

[Alyson Hinkie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite Buechner books. Now that’s saying something!