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Introduction: Frederick Buechner's Son of Laughter
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10079 |
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BOOK WORLD
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4 / 1993 |
240 Words |
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How can a thief and liar be the man God chooses to sire a race that will transform the world? This is the sort of biblical mystery that causes modernity to shrug its shoulders and discredit a god of purpose. In his new book, Son of Laughter, the eminent novelist Frederick Buechner tells the story of Jacob in a way that makes such characters more believable. Buechner makes plausible Jacob's apparent ethical violations, demonstrating Jacob's superior motivation: to take responsibility by acting on revelation from God.
Jacob's remarkable determination to follow a difficult course has intrigued scholars. Wresting birthright and blessing from his brother Esau, Jacob escaped Esau's vengeance to labor for twenty-one years under extreme circumstances, all the while clinging to a vision from God. Then he offered the entire fruit of his suffering to his brother, putting restoration of their relationship above his own life.
Excerpts from Son of Laughter accompany two commentaries. Author and literary critic George Garret reprises Buechner's career and shows how his work evolved into an attempt to understand saints with feet of clay. Religious scholar Michael Aeschliman delves into the meaning of Jacob's remark at the close of the expert "The Red Beans," an account of Jacob's successful bartering with Esau for the rights of the first-born son. Jacob asks who was the lucky one, himself or Esau, prompting a discussion of the suffering lives of God's chosen people.
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