I love the idea of this book, but in practice found it frequently over my head. If you love thinking deeply about literature and faith, then this book is worth your time. Take my criticism of the book with a heavy grain of salt. It is likely that I simply didn't "get it," or was out of my depth academically.

The primary idea is that we can learn more about holiness by reading about Christians in literature. These depictions of saints can improve our imaginations and give us new ideas and ways of thinking about the Christian life. This description is what drew me to the book.

Each chapter focuses on an idea (Holy Foolishness, death, suffering, liberation, motherhood, etc) and one primary novel. The novels are then summarized in great detail. This was helpful since every story was unfamiliar to me personally, but they seemed to drag on.

The book will certainly stretch your imagination of what holiness can look like. The stories are chosen strategically and all follow rather unconventional saints. I left each chapter behind thinking more deeply about not just the subject, but the books mentioned as well.

The chapters all have a quote, devotional thought, questions, and more suggested reading. I typically skim past these, but these were profound and helpful.

This is a book that demands to be read slowly. It would even be enriched by reading the books mentioned in between each chapter. I found myself reading this book much slower than I would read normally and still struggled to follow along.

I would recommend this book for intermediate/serious readers. I like to think of myself as well-read, but I had never heard of most of the novels mentioned in the book.

If you are not well versed in more "serious" literary fiction, then I might recommend starting with Karen Swallow Prior's "On Reading Well" instead.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

The title is a bit of a misnomer - this book, with amazing breadth, takes us through the stars of holiness and their works and publications. This isn’t a book for the feint hearted and there needs to be a good depth of literature read to feel at ease in the text. Tolkien, Anne Frank, CS Lewis to name just a few. There is also an excellent reference to the old and New Testament jumping between modern fiction, analysis and theology in each chapter. The guided reading at the end of each chapter was not simple nor were the questions and prompts. I love the idea of the book, and it is beautifully written, I just felt inadequate when confronted with the huge number of long references and analogies that were assumed.

The author presents a powerful argument, largely from her own reading experience, of how reading classical fiction (in particular but really a variety of fiction) can improve our minds. She convinced me.

A book about books makes for dangerous reading material if you happen to suffer from a perpetually growing list of books you plan to read. Even so, The Scandal of Holiness by Jessica Hooten Wilson was well worth the risk. Writing on eight themes from the following life, Wilson employs characters from fiction to shed an angle of light on the nature of holiness and a life lived consciously in the presence of God.

Since I have already been catechized by the Reverend John Ames from Marilynne Robinson’s fiction and by various residents of Wendell Berry’s Port William membership, I am eager to have my imagination expanded again in new ways. How wonderful that sanctification can be encouraged by the good, the true, and the beautiful sifted from 20th century novels!

Wilson mingles the more familiar names of Flannery O’Connor, C.S. Lewis, and Walter Wangerin, Jr. with the less familiar work of Eugene Vodolazkin, Sigrid Undset, and George Bernanos (and many more!). Each chapter ends with a brief excerpt, a related scripture verse, a quotation from a saint, and a prayer, underscoring the author’s conviction that our reading choices are life-altering, for “a novel is… a way to travel through the human heart.”

I have been formed by a love for fictional characters who somehow speak more wisdom than they realize and by authors whose view of the world made me want to peer through the same lens they were using. By reading well, we become better equipped to read more skillfully our own narrative arc, to ask ourselves the probing questions that reveal our motives and sift our hypocrisy as we trust for grace to live well.

Many thanks to Brazos Press and Net Galley for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which, of course, is offered freely and with honesty.

Wilson's Scandal of Holiness is a breath of fresh air. Each chapter dwells on an aspect of holiness and how that relates to thr chosen novel. Some I had read before, and the others I have placed on my to read list. Her analysis encouraged not only my faith, but also my love of fiction. If I had to describe her book in one sentence I would say that Scandal of Holiness is a literary devotional.