Little Redemptions: A Conversation with Daniel Nayeri
The role of authentic stories, believes award-winning author Daniel Nayeri, is to bear witness to the everyday redemptions that point toward the fullness of the coming Kingdom. In this conversation, join Daniel as he shares the integration of his faith with his creative practice, his belief in the ultimate redemption of every story, and the startling invitation of Christianity to approach God—and the searching world around us—in the role of a narrator.
Top Quotes:
“If I don’t want to believe the bad reviews, I can’t believe the good ones, but at least I can keep working.”
“Falling in love with being bad at things is one of the best things you could ever teach yourself.”
“Your first practice is the most gain you’ll ever get in any craft.”
“What I thought of as boredom, a good masterful artist would think of as rest.”
“We experience these little redemptions that speak to the larger concept that I think is almost ineffably large for us to understand.”
“That is metonymy, right? Which is to say, a piece of a much larger thing, for the much greater sort of redemption that we’ll see. That doesn’t grow out of my faith; that’s part and parcel of it.”
“We’re hungry for authentic stories for the exact reason that we’re spiritually adrift.”
“To see a character struggle to order their love properly is the work of a story.”
“Storytelling is the only place where people can simulate a moral compass over and over and over again.”
“Out of that metaphor [of the narrator] is built this idea of, ‘Wait a minute; why do we think God should ever listen to us?’ And yet the Christian faith discusses that, in prayer, we speak. I think that is just a mind-bogglingly amazing thing that God offers.”
This was encouraging as a fellow writer to listen to, and I came away with ideas to ponder! I love how Mr. Nayeri explains openly and clearly how the Gospel transforms his life and his writing; that's amazing! Thanks for sharing. 😊
I agree with your thoughts on humanity's ability to course correct in some ways. :) None of my kids build relationships online. None of them rely on social media. And they are far more skeptical of its worth than older generations--especially my teen news and philosophy junkie who consumes media like food. Of course, that means that right now he believes absolutely nothing he reads! They all also have a different feeling about relationships generally. They want to find common ground, build bridges, etc. I see that with many of their friends, as well. I hope that their generation is sincere in that. Or maybe I raised a pack of storytellers who collect other storytellers...