Pathway Publishers

[barnhart]

I think the struggle of Christian art in general is the negotiation of morality and potency. Once the morality quotient reaches a certain level, the art struggles to be interesting and it gets bland very fast. To succeed as Christian art, it needs to be art first.

What exactly are you trying to say? That in order to be interesting, art has to include nakedness or hints of sexuality or immorality?

No.

[ken_sylvania]

I think the struggle of Christian art in general is the negotiation of morality and potency. Once the morality quotient reaches a certain level, the art struggles to be interesting and it gets bland very fast. To succeed as Christian art, it needs to be art first.

What exactly are you trying to say? That in order to be interesting, art has to include nakedness or hints of sexuality or immorality?

No.

OK good. Thanks

[Szdfan]

Good art does not require immorality to be interesting, but stories that wear their morals on their sleeves and are sermons disguised as stories are frequently uninteresting. What makes stories interesting are things like conflict and complex, relatable characters. Stories that are mostly morality and not character or conflict often feel pretty flat and boring to me.

[barnhart]

Good art does not require immorality to be interesting, but stories that wear their morals on their sleeves and are sermons disguised as stories are frequently uninteresting. What makes stories interesting are things like conflict and complex, relatable characters. Stories that are mostly morality and not character or conflict often feel pretty flat and boring to me.

Agreed. I was using morality in the sense of the phrase "morality tale", a story created to teach a specific lesson. Unless the story is a good story and can stand alone, it can become uninteresting. I think that is the distinction being made about Pathway publishers, the stories are relatable because the characters are not perfect and things are allowed to go wrong.

[JayP]

I think a significant quality of Pathway stories is the ability combine ideals within realistic storylines. Virtually no one lives like the people in Rod and Staff stories. The Christian life is not simply black and white WHERE the rubber hits the road.

That does not mean we can recognize the truth that right and wrong IS binary, but our lives our full of gray, struggles, stories of two steps forward, one step back, then a few more forward. Acceptance of sin is never right. We do not recognize the gray or the struggles to excuse failure, rather to see the battle in a realistic light to encourage us to learn and strive towards a heavenly goal.

I just recently reread Jemima’s Secret Dream. Aside from the story, in brought back memories of when it was first serialized in Family Life. How we all wanted to grab the newest issue and see what The Yoders were dealing with this month!

I do think reading it as a serialized story over roughly a year, being forced to wait to see the results, unlike a book, also reaffirmed that time is as much a part of our Christian growth as the things we need to do, learn, and think on. The victory is not won in a day or week, but in continual growth.

Simply cannot say enough about how much I appreciate their magazines.

[Ernie]

Virtually no one lives like the people in Rod and Staff stories.

From my observation, many of my relatives growing up seemed to function just like the Rod and Staff stories. Down to the cliches and all. What do you mean that virtually no one lives like these folks?

[JayP]

I mean real people do not live like the characters usually presented in R&S materials.
You disagree. Pleased for you. I am not saying the ideals are inaccurate nor that many families in general live like them, especially in important matters.

But no, I think they are simplified ideals.

[JohnH]

Virtually no one lives like the people in Rod and Staff stories.

From my observation, many of my relatives growing up seemed to function just like the Rod and Staff stories. Down to the cliches and all. What do you mean that virtually no one lives like these folks?

Did they always say “Father and mother”, not “mom and dad”?

[ken_sylvania]

Virtually no one lives like the people in Rod and Staff stories.

From my observation, many of my relatives growing up seemed to function just like the Rod and Staff stories. Down to the cliches and all. What do you mean that virtually no one lives like these folks?

Did they always say “Father and mother”, not “mom and dad”?

Why not? It would feel disrespectful to me to call my mother "Mom."

[JohnH]

From my observation, many of my relatives growing up seemed to function just like the Rod and Staff stories. Down to the cliches and all. What do you mean that virtually no one lives like these folks?

Did they always say “Father and mother”, not “mom and dad”?

Why not? It would feel disrespectful to me to call my mother "Mom."

I’ve always wondered what Rod & Staff type people say when speaking PA Dutch.