The power of words

Lifestyle/Technology: Author Bret Lott strives to write with the integrity of Christ | Susan Olasky

Luke Rutan

Bret Lott is 6 feet 4 inches tall. In a play he would be more likely cast as a lumberjack than a literary writer, college teacher, and member of the National Council on the Arts. He's one of the few evangelical Christians in recent decades—Larry Woiwode and Walter Wangerin are two others—who have had success as serious writers. He's also had commercial success: In January 1999, Oprah named his novel, Jewel, one of her book club selections, and it went on to sell millions of copies.

Lott's author biography on the Oprah site includes the Bible on his list of favorite books. He writes, "My most cherished book, the one that has transformed me and from which I read every day, is the Bible. Though I know this sounds like a Sunday sermon, the Bible has been—and is—the single most influential book in my life, the book that inspires me, challenges me, changes me, confirms me. Like the character Jewel, the people found throughout it are at once strong and weak, well-meaning and flawed, stubborn and loving, all of them wrestling with the will of God; and there at the center of it all is Christ, God on earth, to show us what genuine love really is: the surrendering of self for others."