Word Pictures;
Knowing God Through Story and Imagination
by Brian Godawa
IVP Books

~ Book Review by Travis Stewart

~ Brian Godawa writes in the first chapter of Word Pictures that he was a “mind-oriented” Christian and that he “thought mere theologically correct belief about reality was the same things as inhabiting that reality. Emotions were irrational and thus irrelevant…” He then goes on to write a book extolling the values of story and imagination and exploring how God uses both word and image in nourishing our faith, and he does so in such a way that uses both word and image to get his point across.

With each chapter printed in a different font (which you would think would be distracting but isn’t) Godawa begins to demonstrate how visuals affect your learning and emotional experience. And by including a wide array of photos and illustrations the book engages you on many levels.

But this is no simple picture book; it is a well written, intelligent, confrontational work that is both accessible to the layperson and thought-provoking for those in the academic world.

Chapter titles include: Confessions of a Modern, Literal Versus Literary, Word Versus Image, Iconoclasm, Incarnation, Cultural Captivity and What Art Would Jesus Do? and my favorite: Subversion. In this chapter Godawa examines a number of ways in which God uses subversion which he defines as the “radical reinterpretation or undermining of commonly understood images, words, concepts or narratives.” In particular he gives particular attention to the apostle Paul’s speech in Athens recorded in Acts 17. He writes, “Paul the storyteller got his pagan audience to nod their heads in agreement, only to be thrown for a loop at the end. Repentance, judgment and the resurrection, all antithetical to Stoic beliefs, form the conclusion of Paul’s narrative.” He then conlcudes the chapter with,

We need to be actively, sacredly subverting the secular stories of the culture, and restoring their fragmented narratives for Christ. If it was good enough for the apostle Paul on the top of Mars Hill, then it’s certainly good enough for those of us in the shade of the Hollywood hills now.

Godawa brings both an articulate, rationale argument and an appreciation of image and art (he was the screen writer for To End All Wars), and if you are interested in engaging the hearts of people in the church with transformative truth and reaching those in our culture outside with a language they understand then you will benefit from this book.

Download the first chapter of the book here.

Listen World Magazine’s interview with Brian Godawa at King’s College in New York City:

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Brian Godawa is an award-winning screenwriter. He has also taught and written on film and philosophy, screenwriting, and the art of watching movies. Four of his screenplays have won multiple awards in such competitions as the Nicholl Fellowship, Austin Heart of Film, Fade-In, Worldfest, Writer’s Network, Chesterfield Writer’s Film Project, Columbus Discovery Award and Reader’s Digest Screenplay Competition. See more at his website www.godawa.com.