A Cord of Seven Strands
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: C.J.S. Hayward Publications
Place of publication: Wheaton
Language: eng
Format: Jacket hardcover
Number of pages: 285
ISBN-13: 9780615202181
First sentence: A gift does not need to be costly in order to be big.
Description: This is a cornucopia of creative work that sometimes stands on its head, sometimes has both feet planted on the ground, and may sometimes be caught doing both at the same time. The writing may often be experimental, narrating the flow of a dreamlike vision or describing the cultures in a fantasy world, but the experimental is still meant to me highly accessible. And it is serious art and seriously Christian.

Welcome to the world of A Cord of Seven Strands. Please take some time to explore, and do try to take something from each of the exhibits!
A quote:

        "When it comes to games, never try to understand the Janra mind."

            -Oeildubeau, Urvanovestilli philosopher and anthropologist 

    It is known that Janra sports usually last for at least half an hour, involve a ball, two or more teams, running and acrobatics, and animated discussion. Beyond that, neither the Urvanovestilli's logic nor the Yedidia's intuition are able to make head or tail of them. In general, the teams appear to have unequal numbers of players; the players often switch teams in the course of play; teams are created and dissolved; the nature of the activities makes sudden and radical changes; there is no visible winning or losing. There are occasionally times in the course of play when some intelligible goal appears to be being approached... but then, all players seem to be approaching it in a rather erratic manner (when asked why he didn't do thus and such simple thing and achieve the approached goal by an inexperienced anthropologist, one of the Janra said, "Technically, that would work, but that would be a very boring way to do it," and then bolted back into play: the extent to which game play is comprehensible heightens its incomprehensibility). Late in life, Oeildubeau hinted at having suspicions that, if the Janra believe that they are being watched, they will spontaneously stop whatever sport they are playing, and instead begin a series of activities expressly designed to give any observer a headache.
Notes: The author's site is at http://CJSHayward.com/ ; the book's homepage is at http://CJSHayward.com/books/a-cord-of-seven-strands/ . A Cord of Seven Strands can be read online from its homepage.
Table of contents: title: I Learned it All from Jesus, a poster as it appears in print.; title: Amazing Providence, a sermon on divine providence.; title: Janra Ball: The Headache, a description of an off-the-wall game from a fantasy world.; title: The Metacultural Gospel, a recounting of the Gospel as here an now.; title: The Grinch who Stole Christmas, a revisited version of the story of someone trying to kill Christmas by stealing presents.; title: A Dream of Light, a dreamlike vision in a fantasy world.; title: Espiriticthus: Cultures of a Fantasy World not Touched by Evil, a description of cultures in a beautiful world.; title: A Cord of Seven Strands, C.J.S. Hayward's first novel.