Brian James Patrick Doyle was well known for his various writings on humor, nature, faith, and the power of story. He wrote for many magazines and journals, including the New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, Orion, and American Scholar. He received many honors, including the American Arts and Letters Award in Literature.
What can readers learn from Doyle’s devotion to the written word?
When Did Brian Doyle Become Interested in Writing?
Doyle was born to an Irish Catholic family in New York in 1956. Doyle grew up with a love for Irish folklore and storytelling. His mother, Ethel, was a teacher, and his father, James, was the editor and assistant director for the Catholic Press Association. Growing up with literary parents gave Doyle a passion for the power of language.
Doyle recalled in his essay “How Did You Become a Writer?” what he learned when he asked his father what it would take to become a writer:
“If you wish to be a writer, write, he would say. There are people who talk about writing and then there are people who sit down and type. Writing is fast typing. Also, you must read like you are starving for ink. Read widely. Read everything. Note how people get their voices and hearts and stories down on the page. Also get a job; eating is a good habit, and you will never make enough of a living as a writer to support a family. Be honest with yourself about the size of your gift. Expect no money but be diligent about sending pieces out for publication.”
In his fascinating essay, “The Old Typewriter in the Basement,” Doyle writes fondly about a typewriter his father used for his journalism work. His father's strict writing routine allowed him to get work done while being there for his family. Observing this inspired Doyle to develop his own writing routine and helped him understand that if you want to be a writer, you can’t just talk about it but must actually write.
How Did Brian Doyle Become a Writer?
Doyle read voraciously growing up and pursued a career as a novelist and editor. Exploring his passion for writing led him to enroll at the University of Notre Dame. Doyle graduated in 1979 and embarked on a writing career, which led to becoming the editor of Portland Magazine in 1991.
Doyle’s interesting essays were inspired by topics like childhood memories, playing sports, going to Mass, city life in New York, becoming a father, and different writers he came to appreciate. He particularly appreciated the works of Flannery O’Connor, James Joyce, Fyodor Dostoevsky, James Joyce, Walker Percy, and Robert Louis Stevenson.
Some Christians are called to write books on practical theology, apologetics, imagination, and beauty, and some are called to write poetry, non-fiction, and fiction. Doyle was in the latter category. His writing won considerable acclaim, including four Pushcart Prizes and praises from writers as wide-ranging as Annie Dillard and Christopher Hitchens. Fans praised Doyle’s ability as an essayist to convey a sense of wonder at being alive on this planet.
Doyle became well known for his novels and essays but also for his local impact. He contributed for decades to the literary community in Oregon, where he lived for many years with his wife, Mary, and their children.
What Did Brian Doyle Write about Christianity?
Growing up in an Irish-Catholic family, Doyle developed a great reverence for scripture, liturgy, and the Mass. Although Doyle expressed his honest existential doubts and questions in his writings, he also affirmed his faith in Christ.
Even as Doyle affirmed his faith, his wide reading gave him a great understanding of different worldview perspectives. His influences included Christian authors (notably Thomas Kempis, the author of The Imitation of Christ) and authors from other religions (notably the Dalai Lama). He understood that if all truth is God’s truth, Christians have the freedom to learn from different perspectives.
As he found his voice as a writer, Doyle wrote poignantly about God’s beauty and glory revealed in nature, everyday encounters with others, and people’s suffering and joy. After Doyle’s 2017 death, his friend, author David James Duncan, compiled a book of Doyle’s best essays called One Long River of Song. The book was published in 2019 and is a great resource for understanding how faith informed Doyle’s daily life.
Doyle’s devotional, A Book of Uncommon Prayer, contains 100 daily prayers. The book is a great example of Doyle’s humor, honesty, and prayer's importance to him as a person of faith. In 2023, a tenth-anniversary edition was published with a foreword by his wife and an afterword by author Peter Boland.
In his essay “Last Prayer,” collected in One Long River of Song, Doyle reflects on the struggles, pain, joy, beauty, and love he experienced. Just as the Psalmist expresses gratitude to God for his unfailing love and new mercies every day, Doyle expressed his gratitude poignantly:
“And You let me write some books that weren’t half bad, and I got to have a career that actually no kidding helped some kids wake up to their best selves, and no one ever laughed more at the ocean of hilarious things in this world, or gaped more in astonishment at the wealth of miracles everywhere every moment.”
What Can Brian Doyle Teach Christians about Art and Faith?
As noted earlier, Doyle learned at a young age that part of using artistic gifts for God’s glory is diligently using those gifts. As Christians, we are called to be good stewards of our gifts, whatever they might be. As a writer, I cannot be taken seriously if I don’t show up and do the work. The creative process brings joy, but it also requires discipline and tenacity.
In Doyle’s non-fiction, fiction, and poetry, the reader is given an honest expression of how people from all walks of life experience suffering, grace, joy, and redemption. Doyle’s Christian faith is embedded in his work, yet he writes to connect with people of all worldviews. Doyle's writings have no false paradigm of sacred and secular art.
A good example of Doyle’s achievement as a writer of faith to reach a wide audience was his ability to write about many topics—including baseball, childhood, family, fish, and Ireland. Doyle’s sense of humor, carefully crafted sentences, and poignant observations bring the reader joy and challenge them to pause for reflection.
Artists who are Christians are called to use their gifts for the glory of God and help struggling, broken people find hope in Christ. In this context, art should not be viewed as a commodity for buying, selling, and shallow consumption. Whether the medium is music, visual, film, poetry, sculpture, or literature, art is a God-given gift to display His goodness, love, beauty, and glory to humanity. Doyle, as well as many other artists, had this understanding of the Christian life.
10 Best Brian Doyle Books for Beginners
Doyle published dozens of works during his lifetime, all worth exploring. However, the best works to get to know his work.
1. One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder
2. Chicago: A Novel
3. Mink River: A Novel
4. Martin Marten: A Novel
5. The Plover: A Novel
6. The Thorny Grace of It: And Other Essays for Imperfect Catholics
7. A Book of Uncommon Prayer: 100 Celebrations of the Miracle and Muddle of The Ordinary
8. How the Light Gets In: And Other Headlong Epiphanies
9. The Adventures of John Carson In Several Quarters of The World: A Novel of Rober Louis Stevenson
10. Grace Notes
To read about more great Christian authors, check out these articles:
Forgotten Christian Fantasy Pioneer Robert Siegel
15 Female Christian Authors You Should Know
What Made William Peter Blatty’s Horror Stories Christian?
50 Great Christian Authors You Should Know
Why Should We Remember Malcolm Muggeridge?
100 Christian Novels You Haven’t Read Yet
Karen Swallow Prior Interview on the Christian Imagination
What You Need to Know about Frederick Buechner
Photo Credit: Sam Beebe/Flickr
Justin Wiggins is an author who works and lives in the primitive, majestic, beautiful mountains of North Carolina. He graduated with his Bachelor's in English Literature, with a focus on C.S. Lewis studies, from Montreat College in May 2018. His first book was Surprised by Agape, published by Grant Hudson of Clarendon House Publications. His second book, Surprised By Myth, was co-written with Grant Hudson and published in 2021. Many of his recent books (Marty & Irene, Tír na nÓg, Celtic Twilight, Celtic Song, Ragnarok, Celtic Dawn) are published by Steve Cawte of Impspired.
Wiggins has also had poems and other short pieces published by Clarendon House Publications, Sehnsucht: The C.S. Lewis Journal, and Sweetycat Press. Justin has a great zeal for life, work, community, writing, literature, art, pubs, bookstores, coffee shops, and for England, Scotland, and Ireland.
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