None are really a coherent portrait of his life. The biography, An Arrow Pointing to Heaven by James Bryan Smith, is billed as a “devotional biography.” That seems to mean it often diverts into abstract discussions of Christian theology. I email Smith asking if he can supply evidence to disrupt a gay reading of Mullins’ life. I don’t hear back.
I sit thinking about all the available information, so often vague, and given to abrubt terminations. In Rich Mullins: A Ragamuffin’s Legacy, his friend Mitch McVicker says: “Resignation and longing are his two major themes, according to him, in his songs. And those wouldn’t be there if he wasn’t — ”