I read with interest a post in Relevant magazine that made the rounds yesterday. What Not to Say to Someone Who Has Been Hurt By the Church covers what the author suggests are “6 misguided responses to spiritual abuse.” Jonathan Hollingsworth admits to having suffered spiritual abuse. As a result, he’s seen victims addressed in [...]
Things have been busy on the writing front. Glynn Young reviewed my short story anthology Subterranea at his Faith, Fiction, Friends blog saying, “What Duran plumbs here is the ‘subterranea’ of the human mind and heart. ” Reviews are slowly coming in for The Ghost Box. Austin Gunderson wrote a nice piece over at the [...]
Perhaps the hardest thing about raising children is letting them go. I don’t mean this to sound ominous or indifferent. Regarding marriage, Scripture says in several places that “a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Eph. 5:31). This idea of an [...]
Former Chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Michael Hyatt, recently wrote a popular article that made the social media rounds. In How Much Business is Your Profanity Costing You, Hyatt argues that though profanity has become trendy in some circles, it can ultimately cost content providers a wider audience. You should have an exit [...]
Theology is a defining characteristic of much Christian fiction. Which is why the proliferation of Amish fiction has always puzzled me. In The Thrill of the Chaste: The Allure of Amish Romance Novels, Valerie Weaver-Zercher notes that “The triumvirate of top Amish romance novelists–Beverly Lewis, Wanda Brunstetter, and Cindy Woodsmall–have sold a combined total of [...]
Many Christians object to the horror genre on religious grounds. Horror is incompatible with faith, hope, and love, they say. Why focus on hell, the devilish, and the unredeemed when the Bible tells us to think about the good, true, pure, and noble (Phil. 4:8)? In his essay An Apologetic of Horror , novelist and [...]
Finding and connecting with your audience is a theme that’s hammered into writers from the get-go. Discovering the right audience and delivering the goods is up there with “show don’t tell” and “write what you know” in the canon of writerly rules. Which makes Flannery O’Connor such an anomaly. O’Connor is routinely considered as one [...]
Yesterday popular Christian writer Tim Challies made A Plea for Innocence: I want to be good at good. In fact, I want to be an expert in good. At least, I do when I’m at my best. But in moments of introspection I see a real interest in evil as well. These desires battle within [...]
Stories about Christian musicians defecting and losing their faith have become all too common. Jason Wisdom can testify. Not that Jason has gone MIA, but having been in the belly of the beast, recording albums and touring with a popular Christian death metal band, Jason has firsthand experience of the toll that touring and celebrity [...]
I didn’t expect to be talking about ghosts as much as I have lately. But thanks to the release of The Ghost Box, that’s exactly what has happened. One reader was surprised to learn that ghost boxes are real things. At least, they purport to be real things. In fact, you can even purchase ghost [...]
