FORMING THOUGHTS, REFLECTING LIFE

Of all the books that I have read (and that is many!), four in particular have had a significant affect on me:

Mimetic Reflections:

A Study in Hermeneutics, Theology and Ethics,

by William Schweiker;

Role Playing and Identity:

The Limits of Theatre as Metaphor,

by Bruce Wilshire;

Improvisation:

Drama of Christian Ethics,

by Samuel Wells;

and

The Drama of Doctrine:

A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology,

by Kevin VanHoozer.

The first book introduced me to the notion of mimesis

through a theological discussion of Derrida, Girard, Gadamer, Ricoeur, and Kierkegaard;

the second book introduced me to phenomenological philosophy

through theoretical discussion of theatre, my life-long passion;

the third book confirmed my intuitions

regarding the application of Keith Johnstone's ideas on improvisation to Christian life;

and the fourth book authenticated that confirmation

by radically applying the theatre metaphor to Christian doctrine.

Now I hope to bring it all full circle

by drawing on all four books to express my own thinking

regarding the actual practice of "putting on Christ."