I love Katherine Paterson's writing because her books speak to all faiths, resonate with those who profess no faith at all, and are infused with her own Christian identity. She says this about the relationship between faith and art:
We live in a Post-Christian society. Therefore, not many of those writers will be Christians or adherents of any of the traditional faiths. Self-consciously Christian (or Jewish or Muslim) writing will be sectarian and tend to propaganda and therefore have very little to say to persons outside that particular faith community. The challenge for those of us who care about our faith and about a hurting world is to tell stories which will carry the words of grace and hope in their bones and sinews and not wear them like fancy dress.
--Newbery medal winning author, Katherine Paterson
As someone who struggles to reconcile a Christian identity with a world view that occasionally contradicts, I find comfort in these words as I string together my own. Even more importantly, they provide sound guidance for how a person of any faith ought to live life.
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