Brett Lott's Theology of Creating

Esteemed writer Brett Lott describes Flannery O’Connor as humble, and lifts her up as an example for Christian artists, I don’t know that I agree with his definition of humility. “Humble Flannery” lets her ideas speak for themselves, trying to separate her authorship from her stories. This might be considered humble. However, in her interactions with her fans, she is short and dismissive. It makes sense that Lott admires this, because he is the same way. In his anecdotes, particularly those about his students or mentees, he treats others (and writes about them) as if they are inferior to him. I find this frustrating. Although Lott is clearly experienced in his field, he need not treat others as if they are lesser. This is not a good example to other Christian authors. It is good to write humbly and not to cling to one’s ideas too tightly, but when one doesn’t act this way interpersonally, that work is undone.

As much as I dislike Lott’s hypocritical essay on humility, I greatly appreciate his essay “On Precision.” In this work, Lott details the significance of describing God’s creation precisely in our writing. He says we owe it to God as a creator to pay very close attention to the moments we experience, and to tell about them as well as possible. I think this is spot on. And I will hand it to him: Lott does end this essay humbly, explaining that he hasn’t been able to present the importance of precision as precisely as he would have liked.

Comments

  1. Melanie Springer MockApril 30, 2020 at 5:38 PM

    I appreciate your thoughts on this! I caught the same vibe from Lott, which is why I liked his second essay, about his father, because he seems like a much more humble person. BTW, Gary Tandy wrote to Bret Lott a few years ago, about his book, and a year later Lott wrote back. It was a lovely letter. I would have shared more about this, if we had been in real life classes. :)

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