Where We Start From: Hope from the Narthex of the Apocalypse

One way to cultivate and enrich the moral imagination is the reading of good stories. On Hallowe'en, we regularly gather at the house of some friends of ours after tricks and treats. For the last two years, we've read ghostly tales aloud. It started the first year with a story I had written. Last year, three of us read original tales, and I read some short ghostly fiction for the little people. This year, I don't think anyone has any original tales to offer, but I've selected a few stories to read, and may add a few more before the witching hour. I hope to read one of my favorites, appropriate for all ages, Walter R. Brooks's tale, "Jimmy Takes Vanishing Lessons," which I read and loved as a boy. I highly recommend reading sound ghostly tales aloud with family and friends as a way to help renew and enrich relationships, and grow your moral imagination. Happy Hallowe'en!

Jackson the Cat with some pumpkins grown by my uncle and aunt All Hallows' Eve approaches...the perfect season for ghostly reading to stimulate the moral imagination...and to scare yourself. Here are some literary recommendations: 1. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving The atmosphere of this tale is perfect. I've read it many times, and no longer feel very sorry for the vain Ichabod Crane. 2. The ghostly tales of Russell Kirk These are my favorite ghostly tales. After reading them, you will never look at life, or death, or the afterlife, in quite the same way again. Audio links here and here . 3. The ghostly tales of M.R. James The greatest English writer of ghostly tales. You will be scared out of your wits. Happy Hallowe'en!

"...that country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and midnights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain..." From The October Country (1955) by Ray Bradbury   According to Mr. Bradbury, there is a country called "October." I am sure Mr. Bradbury has visited it many times. I've never been there, but I've seen glimpses of it, and have read much of its literature. Some of the best literature of the October Country ever written are ghostly tales. I'm not talking about horror tales, with blood and axes and maniacs. I'm talking about suspenseful tales told in whispers about things behind doors, ...

Where Love Is, There God Is Also (Leo Tolstoy, compiled by Lawrence Jordan, Fleming H. Revell, 2001, 93 pages, cloth), serves as a powerful introduction to Leo Tolstoy’s (1828-1910) gospel-based short stories for those familiar with his earlier works, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, and his wider array of short stories with a secular focus, as well as for those whose literary wanderings exclude the great Russian. The book contains three short stories, “Where Love Is, There God Is Also,” “The Three Hermits,” and “What Men Live By,” each written by Tolstoy after he had renounced his earlier works as “products of an idle brain.” These stories give us an understanding of the practicality of Christ’s teachings for daily living. They remind us, through direct confrontation with Tolstoy’s brutally honest prose, that to be faithful to Jesus Christ we must move beyond mere mental and verbal assent to His teachings into the realm of assent and practice, of faith and works. This key but oft-negl...