I was reading a collection of essays on the legacy of H Richard Neibuhr - in an attempt to acquaint myself a little better with his theology of history, something that was only marginally successful.  Nonetheless, the book has a few useful quotes and this one that made me smile...

"We shall in any case need to rely, from time to time, on the more tedious textbooks.  But we prefer vision, or even a little magic.  Teachers as well as students will continue to gravitate towards works that embody those qualities."

R F Thieman, (ed) The Legacy of H Richard Neibuhr, Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 1991

 

It is one of those little quotations that makes me smile because it is true - and it makes me dare to dream that just maybe it might be possible to inject a little 'magic' into the writing of Baptist history.  Which probably means one of the sections in my current paper may end up with the word 'magic' in its title...