Let’s Read: The Gift

Sam here. Thanks to High Calling Blogger, Erica Hale, for hosting the recent discussion on Bill Strickland’s book, Make the Impossible Possible. It was HCB’s first (and successful) attempt at a “book club,” and you can check out the conversation here.

With vacation season around the bend for many folks, we figured you’d be looking for more good reads like this. And why not have a place to share your thoughts along the way? That’s why we’re inviting you to join us for a second book installment at HCB:

The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World (Vintage), by Lewis Hyde. Byron Borger of Hearts and Minds Books has offered a 20% discount on the book to HCB members. Just mention in your order form that you’re coming from High Calling Blogs to get the discount.

I’ve just finished Chapter 1 to get a headstart, and so far I can’t stop thinking about it. I won’t say it’s an easy read (at least for me), but it’s a sticky one. It stays, making me want to respond.

The back cover reads, “The Gift is a brilliant defense of the value of creativity and its importance in a culture increasingly governed by money and overrun with commodities.” Interestingly, Hyde wrote for artists and says things like, “A work of art is a gift, not a commodity.”

I’m guessing that the implications of this statement excludes many of you, especially if you aren’t an interior designer or photographer or some other artist type employee. Work as a form of art, you say? Hardly. And second, customers buy our services and products. That means our work, even if it could be called art, is a commodity.

So why read The Gift? Well, I don’t know yet exactly (hence the invitation to read along!), but I know I feel guilty when I see my job as “artless.” We’re full of creativity by virtue of being made in God’s image, which means we create every time we face a complex decision or a company growth opportunity. Furthermore, I feel uncomfortable limiting my job to a mere commodity. When we do it right, we give to God and to our neighbors through our vocations.

Those are good enough reasons for me to read it. I hope you’ll join us to discuss Chapter 1, starting June 8th.

Post written by Sam Van Eman.

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Tagged as: book club, Lewis Hyde, The Gift