Reality and Other Stories

by Peter Dray & Matt Lillicrap     |     Book Summary


Author: Peter Dray & Matt Lillicrap
Publisher: IVP (UK)
Date: 18th August 2022
Pages: 160

Book Summary of Union With Christ by Rankin Wilbourne


Want to explain happiness? Tell a happy story, and let us feel it with you. Want to know what you should do? Investigate your story: who you are and where you are going. Want to move people to action? Tell a story.

Stories shape us, give us meaning, express our longings, and help us understand the world. Ultimately, "the only way to make sense of our lives is to tell stories" (p. 2). At the same time, stories echo each other. Plotlines appear and reappear, following familiar contours:

  1. Overcoming the Monster contains a man-eating shark, a super-villain, or a ball of seething hatred.
  2. Rags to Riches features a rising hero.
  3. Quest Goes on an epic journey.
  4. Voyage and Return is a story that circles back to where it started.
  5. Tragedy voices our frustration.
  6. Comedy envisions our hopes. 
  7. Rebirth sees villains or anti-heroes begin anew as redeemed people.

These seven plotlines are no coincidence. They reveal the architecture of reality, whose Author weaves our stories into His. Each is found and fulfilled in the Grand Story of Christ, where myth becomes history, giving true meaning to our lives.

"Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin." (p. 17)





Reality and Other Stories

by Peter Dray & Matt Lillicrap

[ Book Summary ]



Book Summary of Union With Christ by Rankin Wilbourne

Author Peter Dray & Matt Lillicrap
Publisher IVP (UK)
Date 18th August 2022
Pages 160


Overview:

Want to explain happiness? Tell a happy story, and let us feel it with you. Want to know what you should do? Investigate your story: who you are and where you are going. Want to move people to action? Tell a story.

Stories shape us, give us meaning, express our longings, and help us understand the world. Ultimately, "the only way to make sense of our lives is to tell stories" (p. 2). At the same time, stories echo each other. Plotlines appear and reappear, following familiar contours:

  1. Overcoming the Monster contains a man-eating shark, a super-villain, or a ball of seething hatred.
  2. Rags to Riches features a rising hero.
  3. Quest Goes on an epic journey.
  4. Voyage and Return is a story that circles back to where it started.
  5. Tragedy voices our frustration.
  6. Comedy envisions our hopes. 
  7. Rebirth sees villains or anti-heroes begin anew as redeemed people.

These seven plotlines are no coincidence. They reveal the architecture of reality, whose Author weaves our stories into His. Each is found and fulfilled in the Grand Story of Christ, where myth becomes history, giving true meaning to our lives.

"Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin." (p. 17)