When we reward writers who tell us only conventional things in conventional ways we contribute to the decline of a civilization--and a kingdom of faith--which desperately needs good stories. We foolishly settle for stories--on the screen and on the page--which tickle us, instead of demanding those which interrogate us (likewise in our conversations and from our pulpits). We use feeble stories to kill time, when there are so many available that redeem the time.

We must insist, in a cynical age, that there is such a thing as a good story. We should identify and prize the good stories from the past, and we must fulfill our responsibility to tell new ones.

Daniel Taylor, "In Praise of Stories"