On the Death of Reynolds Price

Reynolds Price died yesterday. He will certainly be remembered more for his contributions to American literature than for his contributions to American theology. However, I found his theological writings much more interesting than his novels. His book Letter To A Man In The Fire: Does God Exist And Does He Care was an elegant meditation on the subject. I haven't read his re-interpretations of parts of the Bible, but they sound like they're on par with Eugene Peterson (The Message).

I like his views on prayer, which he talks about in an interview in Parting the Curtains: Interviews With Southern Writers: "And throughout my life, . . . , certainly very intensely during the time I was going through sort of desperate health problems six or seven years ago, prayer has always been a very important part of my daily life. It's so much a part of my daily life that I don't even think of it as prayer. It just seems like the same thing as making the coffee and answering the phone and doing the work. I don't have elaborate, ceremonial ways that I do it. I am not a churchgoing person. But I think I'm an intensely religious person."

To pray as regularly as we make the coffee or talk (or text) on the phone: now there's a goal for all of us.