Review by Jessica Walters & Anna Trujillo
When I was a freshman in college I had a quiet, persistent feeling that I might be creative. The thing was, the church that I grew up in did not welcome creativity; in fact, some looked on with downright suspicion. Had it not been for a class in creative writing that same freshman year, my niggling impulse to create may have vanished. It was in that class that I was introduced to Madeleine L’Engle’s Walking on Water and Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life. Had The First Verb been published earlier, it would have inspired and prompted me towards as-yet-unplumbed creative depths.
Colleen Warren’s The First Verb: Cultivating Christian Creativity (Wipf & Stock) is part theology of creativity, part personal testimony of how the consistent practice of creativity changed her life. While reading, I was encouraged to re-engage dormant aspects of my own creativity. I went in search of my accordion, hidden somewhere under a staircase closet. Encouraged by the results of persistent playing, I switched to the piano, which had gathered dust after sitting unplayed for several months. Warren too experienced fallow years of creativity. But one January she resolved “to ‘do something creative’ every day.” Her resolution “held and grew feet,” changing her life in ways she couldn’t have imagined. Indeed, even the writing of The First Verb is an outpouring of Warren’s abundant creativity.
The central thesis of this slim but densely packed book is simple. Warren argues that since the first action ascribed to God in Genesis is to create, and since humans were created in God’s image, humans are inherently creative beings. We were designed to practice creativity. In this regard, Warren draws on much of what Makoto Fujimura ideas of what it is to be a Christian artist. In his book Art + Faith he writes, “art making, to me, is a discipline of awareness, prayer, and praise. Imagination gives us wings to create.”
Strikingly, many of the traits that Warren presents as being integral to creativity—humility, courage, discipline, submission to God’s will—are traits that are also integral to a Christian’s walk with God. In Warren’s view, creative pursuits are more than just hobbies; they are practices that allow us to find beauty and meaning in the created order and align ourselves with the Creator. Warren presents creativity as a practice that our modern society has largely lost sight of. If Warren is right, and creativity is not something we should view as optional or dispensable, then rekindling creative practice could not only imbue our lives with glimmers of joy, but contribute to discovering essential parts of our lives and faith that we have lost sight of.
Warren’s definition of creativity is broad enough to include not just writing, painting, composing, and other practices traditionally designated as creative, but also organization, science, and other skills that so-called “creative” types might be tempted to look down on. She argues that since we are all made in God’s image, every person possesses the capacity for creativity, and when we use our creativity, we will reap spiritual and other benefits. With many creative outlets, including writing, creating altered books, calligraphy, painting, crafting, and various carpentry projects, Warren draws heavily from her own experience. She also references some of the women who first drew me to the creative life: Annie Dillard and Madeleine L’Engle. But she doesn’t leave it there; she includes a rich tapestry of academic and artistic voices, artfully woven throughout her book. Their stories and thoughts suggest that creativity, instead of being a talent lavished on some and withheld from others, is an innate trait that anyone can cultivate.
With its warm tone and practical advice, The First Verb will be invaluable to any Christian who wishes to integrate creativity into their life—or to any Christian, period, who wishes to get a glimpse into the mind of the Creator. We all, like Warren, have the ability to do “something creative,” and this book will undoubtedly guide many along a path toward similar transformation.
Jessica Walters has an MFA in Creative Writing. Her work has been published in Mockingbird, Foreshadow, Ormsby Review, Still, Scintilla, Solum, and her short story “Glass Jars” was shortlisted for the Mitchell Prize for Faith and Writing. Jessica is also the Fiction Editor for Radix Magazine.
Anna Trujillo has an MFA in Creative Writing from Seattle Pacific University. Her short fiction has appeared in various small journals, and she currently serves as Assistant Fiction Editor for Radix Magazine. She lives in Anchorage, Alaska.