51 pages • 1 hour read
Gene EdwardsA Tale of Three Kings: A Study of Brokenness
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1980A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: Gene Edwards’s Literary and Theocratic Career
Gene Edwards was a well-known figure in the theological communities in which he worked, widely acclaimed for his inspirational writing and speaking abilities, though his ministry legacy has not always been an uncontroversial one. After a brief tenure as a pastor in two traditional churches, Edwards began a ministry as an itinerant evangelist and conference speaker. He was influenced by the work of Watchman Nee, an early-20th-century Chinese theologian, the author of The Normal Christian Life and one of the founding figures of the “local churches” movement. Edwards promoted the perspective of Nee and his followers, deriving significant insights from Nee’s most prominent popularizer, Witness Lee, and applying them in his own ministry. These theological influences underscored both the importance of a Christ-centered, contemplative spirituality and an ecclesiology stripped of institutionalism. As such, Edwards’s ministry developed in two directions: first, the promotion of “deeper life” Christian spirituality, in service of which he spoke at conferences and published reprints of great Christian mystics like Madame Guyon, Francois Fenelon, and Brother Lawrence; and second, an earnest involvement in the growing “house church” movement in the United States, which promoted a de-institutionalized vision of church life.
Edwards was active not only as a promoter of these ideas but also as a church planner, involved in the founding and oversight of several new churches in the “house church” model. His leadership in such contexts has received mixed attention, with both passionate supporters and reports of churches unraveling due to his leadership style. Outside of his own church network, Edwards is remembered mostly for his novels and his teaching on “deeper life” spirituality rather than for his involvement in church ministries. The story of Edwards’s ministry endeavors nonetheless sheds light on the portrayal of leadership and church conflict in A Tale of Three Kings, suggesting that Edwards’s insights into the hearts of both Saul and David may be partly the result of seeing features of both men’s tendencies in his own leadership experience. It is also worth noting that the spiritualized view of Christian leadership promoted in A Tale of Three Kings, as opposed to an institutionalized view, fits with the anti-institutional model of the “house church” movement.
Literary Context: Christian Allegory in the Modern Era
The literary genre of A Tale of Three Kings can best be described as an allegorical novel, though it lacks many of the conventional features of allegories. Unlike other famous Christian allegories, like John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, this book is not set in an allegorized world, with characters who are entirely devoted to representing symbolic meanings and spiritual truths. Rather, A Tale of Three Kings takes place in this world, dealing with a well-known biblical story, and makes use of historical characters and events. It nevertheless reads the pattern of those historical events as bearing symbolic and spiritual meaning and then applies those meanings to the experience of contemporary church life. As such, the book can be understood as a novelization of an allegorical interpretation of scripture, rather than as a pure allegory. On a personal and institutional level, it is also overtly a work of Christian guidance or Christian instruction.
Edwards achieves this unique synthesis of genres by means of several literary devices. First, he portrays the entire story as a theatrical drama, at which he (as the narrator) and the reader are spectators. The brief preface to the Prologue establishes the story as a play that is about to begin and for which the narrator invites the reader to take a seat in the front row. Second, throughout the story, the narrator offers chapter-length excurses to explain the theological dynamics of the biblical story, much as a pastor or Bible lecturer might. Third, the narrator occasionally interacts with the reader in dialogue form, with Edwards writing quotations for the thoughts of readers at various points in the story, to which he then responds as the voice of the narrator. In this way, the narrator and reader are both treated as characters within the text. These elements interweave with the narrative arc of the biblical story, allowing Edwards to allegorize and apply its lessons to contemporary church life at each stage of the narrative. For Christians, it functions in both a theoretical and a practical sense.
