Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 179:714 (Apr 2022)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Matthew S. DeMoss

BSac 179:714 (April-June 2022) p. 236

Book Reviews

By The Faculty And Staff Of Dallas Theological Seminary

Matthew S. DeMoss

Editor

Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making. By Andrew Peterson. Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2019. xiv + 202 pp. $16.99.

“Recording artist, songwriter, producer, filmmaker, publisher and award-winning author of The Wingfeather Saga, Andrew Peterson is also founder and president of The Rabbit Room, which has published thirty books to date and fosters community and spiritual formation through music, story and art” (https://www.andrew-peterson.com/home). He describes this book as “a glimpse into my own faltering journey as a songwriter, storyteller, and Christian. It’s a love song . . . about the life God has given me” (xiii).

In chapter 11, “Selectivity,” Peterson gives good advice to songwriters, but also to writers and preachers as well. He begins, “Whenever I get demos from young songwriters, there’s usually one glaring problem: the songs are too long” (107). He then gives several examples from his own early songwriting, followed by this helpful advice: “The lesson is, after your song is finished, look at the lyric. Play it live several times. Then if there’s anything in the song that no one would notice was missing, axe it now. Don’t wait two decades. After a while you’ll learn the art of selectivity and you’ll anticipate those superfluous moments and pull the weeds before they choke the flowers” (110). Peterson identifies a related problem: “The other reason young songwriter’s songs are too long is that their songs are about five things instead of one. We can be so pleased with our ingenuity, our expansive poetry, that we think each song needs to be epic. That’s just not true” (ibid.). Peterson concludes, “Selectivity means choosing what not to say. It means aiming at the bulls-eye. It means making sure the song is about one specific thing” (113). Preachers, teachers, writers of fiction, poets, and others who use words to communicate need to learn this lesson.

Peterson’s life’s work demonstrates his commitment to two convictions: “art nourishes community” (ch. 14) and “community nourishes art” (ch. 15). When he discusses these ideas in the book, his words are deeply planted in his experience in a community of artists. These are not simply good ideas, and they are not untested theories; he has lived them. Peterson is convinced that artists need feedback and that writing requires revision: “Revision usually means collaboration. Whenever I talk to students, one of the key points I try to make is that their teachers aren’t crazy or cruel to make them edit and re...