Excerpt - Interview with Author Michael O’Brien
K. V. Turley: What do you understand as a writer’s vocation?
Michael O’Brien: As with all Christian art, the writer’s
calling is to make visible what is invisible, but in such a way that the reader
experiences wonder and reverence for Being itself. This means telling a story
in which the mysterious movements of divine providence in human life become
more comprehensible, and that the great drama of existence in which we are all
immersed is seen with new eyes—fraught with dangers and with sublime beauty.
Whether one’s work is explicitly or implicitly Christian in themes, the
writer’s fidelity to ultimate reality—to Truth—enlarges the reader’s universe.
K. V. Turley: What has writing and being a novelist taught
you?
Michael O’Brien: The long discipline of being an artist in
Christ throughout more than forty-five years has taught me to see that
creativity is not my possession. It’s a co-creative grace—grace and human nature
working together to create “words” that give life to others. And, that in order
for one’s art to be living words, prayer is absolutely fundamental.
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