I have a new post up at Christianity Today on why there’s a difference between critics and haters.
As I have written (and illustrated) earlier, sometimes, when you review a book that most people loved less-than-positively, the responses are more or less like this:
There’s often the assumption that the critic is like that critic in the Disney/Pixar movie Ratatouille, who seems to get pleasure from ripping apart other people’s efforts.
As I wrote in the piece:
At its best, though, criticism seeks to expand the reader or viewer’s understanding of the primary work—whether a book, an album, a film, or a blog post. Good criticism is deeply considered and well-crafted. As blogger Andrew Sullivan wrote: “A great critic can help us to figure out what is going on [in a piece of work] and to appreciate it in a richer way.” Think of it as expository preaching for non-sacred texts.
Click here to read the article at Christianity Today (and to find out why I hid my nametag from Ann Voskamp.)
{you may also enjoy “We Can Be Critical and Christian and Female all at the Same Time.”}
