Wilson's Scandal of Holiness is a breath of fresh air. Each chapter dwells on an aspect of holiness and how that relates to thr chosen novel. Some I had read before, and the others I have placed on my to read list. Her analysis encouraged not only my faith, but also my love of fiction. If I had to describe her book in one sentence I would say that Scandal of Holiness is a literary devotional.

A book about books makes for dangerous reading material if you happen to suffer from a perpetually growing list of books you plan to read. Even so, The Scandal of Holiness by Jessica Hooten Wilson was well worth the risk. Writing on eight themes from the following life, Wilson employs characters from fiction to shed an angle of light on the nature of holiness and a life lived consciously in the presence of God.

Since I have already been catechized by the Reverend John Ames from Marilynne Robinson’s fiction and by various residents of Wendell Berry’s Port William membership, I am eager to have my imagination expanded again in new ways. How wonderful that sanctification can be encouraged by the good, the true, and the beautiful sifted from 20th century novels!

Wilson mingles the more familiar names of Flannery O’Connor, C.S. Lewis, and Walter Wangerin, Jr. with the less familiar work of Eugene Vodolazkin, Sigrid Undset, and George Bernanos (and many more!). Each chapter ends with a brief excerpt, a related scripture verse, a quotation from a saint, and a prayer, underscoring the author’s conviction that our reading choices are life-altering, for “a novel is… a way to travel through the human heart.”

I have been formed by a love for fictional characters who somehow speak more wisdom than they realize and by authors whose view of the world made me want to peer through the same lens they were using. By reading well, we become better equipped to read more skillfully our own narrative arc, to ask ourselves the probing questions that reveal our motives and sift our hypocrisy as we trust for grace to live well.

Many thanks to Brazos Press and Net Galley for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which, of course, is offered freely and with honesty.

The author presents a powerful argument, largely from her own reading experience, of how reading classical fiction (in particular but really a variety of fiction) can improve our minds. She convinced me.

Jessica Hooten Wilson's book takes a journey through several literary works, some of which have long been part of the conversation on Christianity and literature--C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy, Georges Bernanos' The Diary of a Country Priest--and some of which are new to the conversation, such as Eugene Vodalazkin's 2012 novel (2015 in English translation) Laurus. Taking The Scandal of Holiness as an annotated reading list would be just one profitable use of the book.

What sets the book apart is the author's attention to details. These are not sketches of themes that tangentially relate to the stories she treats, but close readings that serve as good introductions and, I would imagine, great conversation partners for rereadings of old favourites. This may prove to be a challenge to some readers, because a desire to go deeply into texts is assumed in The Scandal of Holiness. Although it is geared for a general rather than academic audience, it is something of a hybrid in terms of its tone. It's much more detailed than most "books on books" aimed for general audiences, readers being treated here to the insights of an experienced literary scholar and professor.

The aim of Jessica Hooten Wilson's book is revealed in its title and subtitle: the renewal of readers' imaginations on a journey to holiness. Here is where many Christian readers will find their encouragement to read on. A brief but helpful introduction situates this aim and suggests that this approach to literature is proper and beneficial to us. "We cannot concoct holiness on our own, decide what it looks like without examples, or try to become holy without other people. The goal is to be remade into God's likeness, and we do so by imitating models of holiness. When we read stories of holiness, we live vicariously through these stories, then we body them forth in our reality. The models become part of our imagination, our way of seeing how to live a holy life" (11). Linking various writers to a number of themes--creation care, liberation, the contemplative life--each chapter ends with a devotional for deeper personal engagement, questions for discussion, and a reading list.

The Scandal of Holiness' gives readers treatments of Christian writers like Sigrid Undset (Kristin Lavransdattir) as well as non-Christians like Zora Neale Hurston (Moses, Man of the Mountain), and I finished it eager to engage with more of these works and enter into the stories they show forth, stories of holiness in many different forms.

I love the idea of this book, but in practice found it frequently over my head. If you love thinking deeply about literature and faith, then this book is worth your time. Take my criticism of the book with a heavy grain of salt. It is likely that I simply didn't "get it," or was out of my depth academically.

The primary idea is that we can learn more about holiness by reading about Christians in literature. These depictions of saints can improve our imaginations and give us new ideas and ways of thinking about the Christian life. This description is what drew me to the book.

Each chapter focuses on an idea (Holy Foolishness, death, suffering, liberation, motherhood, etc) and one primary novel. The novels are then summarized in great detail. This was helpful since every story was unfamiliar to me personally, but they seemed to drag on.

The book will certainly stretch your imagination of what holiness can look like. The stories are chosen strategically and all follow rather unconventional saints. I left each chapter behind thinking more deeply about not just the subject, but the books mentioned as well.

The chapters all have a quote, devotional thought, questions, and more suggested reading. I typically skim past these, but these were profound and helpful.

This is a book that demands to be read slowly. It would even be enriched by reading the books mentioned in between each chapter. I found myself reading this book much slower than I would read normally and still struggled to follow along.

I would recommend this book for intermediate/serious readers. I like to think of myself as well-read, but I had never heard of most of the novels mentioned in the book.

If you are not well versed in more "serious" literary fiction, then I might recommend starting with Karen Swallow Prior's "On Reading Well" instead.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

The title is a bit of a misnomer - this book, with amazing breadth, takes us through the stars of holiness and their works and publications. This isn’t a book for the feint hearted and there needs to be a good depth of literature read to feel at ease in the text. Tolkien, Anne Frank, CS Lewis to name just a few. There is also an excellent reference to the old and New Testament jumping between modern fiction, analysis and theology in each chapter. The guided reading at the end of each chapter was not simple nor were the questions and prompts. I love the idea of the book, and it is beautifully written, I just felt inadequate when confronted with the huge number of long references and analogies that were assumed.

I love the premise of this book - that a virtuous life, a holy life depicted in a good novel can teach us how to embody those virtues, how to become holy. I wholeheartedly agree. However, while I enjoyed the first half of the book, I found the second half problematic. While I suspect that it was not Hooten Wilson's intent, she seems to dismiss the reality of mental illness and clinical depression and insist that it can be prayed away. It would be easy to read the chapter on suffering and conclude that suffering is God-ordained rather than the result of living in a fallen world. I wish I could recommend this book without reservations or caveats, but unfortunately, that's not the case.