Larsen, Scott

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LARSEN, Scott

PERSONAL:

Married; wife's name, Mary; children: Andrew, Tyler. Education: Wheaton College, B.A. and M.A. (clinical psychology).

ADDRESSES:

Home—0S048 Calvin Ct., Winfield, IL 60190.

CAREER:

Works in financial services industry, editor.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) Indelible Ink: Twenty-two Prominent Christian Leaders Discuss the Books That Shape Their Faith, Waterbrook Press (Colorado Springs, CO), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

Scott Larsen is a part-time editor whose involvement in Christian issues led him to edit the 2003 compilation, Indelible Ink: Twenty-two Prominent Christian Leaders Discuss the Books That Shape Their Faith. As Larsen noted on the Indelible Ink Web site "Books shape us, dynamically molding our minds and souls. You are never the same person when you finish a book—even one that is read purely for escape or entertainment." With that in mind, Larsen decided to gather the comments of Christian theologians, writers, and scholars in his reading guide. Included in the anthology are contemporaries such as Charles Colson, Walter Wangerin, Jr., John R. W. Stott, and Luci N. Shaw. These leaders present their favorite writers, including the works of C. S. Lewis, T. S. Eliot, Søren Kierkegaard, J. R. R. Tolkien, G. K. Chesterton, and Fyodor Dostoevsky, as well as writers more commonly associated with Christian literature, such as John of the Cross and John Calvin, among others. The resulting list of books includes fiction, theology, biography, histories, devotional works, reference books, and commentaries.

Reviewing the book in Library Journal, Graham Christian felt that the its "premise is good and its promise fulfilled." Christian went on to conclude that "Larsen's collection will furnish hours of pleasure and reward for many readers." A contributor for Publishers Weekly thought that Larsen's "miscellany functions nicely as a suggested reading list of more than 710 volumes." However, this same reviewer found "the essays themselves woefully uneven." And writing in Booklist, June Sawyers commented that the twenty-two contributions "afford fascinating glimpses into the formation of the creative Christian impulse."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 2003, June Sawyers, review of Indelible Ink: Twenty-two Prominent Christian Leaders Discuss the Books That Shape Their Faith, p. 1712.

Library Journal, July, 2003, Graham Christian, review of Indelible Ink, p. 92.

Publishers Weekly, May 12, 2003, review of Indelible Ink, p. 62.