There was a time in my life when literature was something that was uninteresting and unimportant. It held little worth to me as life was to be lived through a means of, well, something other than boring old reading. This was not something that my parents wanted to hear their child speak of; consequently, they prayed for me. As sure as sand grains are countless, God answers prayers. Not only did they understand the importance of literature for merely for entertainment and knowledge, but the Bible is our family’s most valuable work of writing as it is the living Word of God—fundamental to any Christian’s life. Matthew 4:4 ESV reads, “But He answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’”” (The Holy Bible, 2007, pg. 809). As time would have it, by the age of thirteen, God began to reveal His faultless nature and the truth of His Word to me. He changed my heart about countless things—one of which was my perspective of the art of literature. Since then, not only have I begun to read of my own free will, but to write as well; in addition, I have settled on majoring in English in college. Five years ago, I couldn’t have believed you if you told me it were to be so. Presently, I have come to reason through my studies that literature is a two way street and there is a line to be crossed between quality and inferior literature. In actuality, the question is how should a Christian regard literature? This is an indispensable inquiry that not only affects writers and readers, but any person striving to live a life in the image of Christ. As distinguished co-authors David Jeffrey and Gregory Maillet, in addition to reputable authors Gene Edward Veith Jr. and Michael Palmer ...
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... monks incessantly rewriting and preserving the Holy Texts. It is therefore, in my opinion, quite ridiculous to for secular scientists, inventors, and the like to assert that a belief in Christ would stunt the growth of science, technology, and the overall success of humanity. If it weren’t for Christianity, the inventions we have today would not have been possible. This is besides the fact that no one would exist! All good humor aside, though, Veith asserted that literature would never cease among Christians because the entire faith is centered on a book (Veith Jr., 1990, pg. 17). This book is God’s Word which is very much alive according to Hebrews 4:12 (The Holy Bible, 2007, pg. 1003). Veith further illustrates that “reading has shaped our civilization more than almost any other factor…and a major impetus to reading has been the Bible” (Veith Jr., 1990, pg. 19).
As society continues to change, it is important for Christians to realize that they must respond in new and different ways. The original publisher, Tindale House, published this essay as an informative measure while Baker Academic uses this essay as a way to teach how to evaluate a specific style of writing. This essay's purpose is to not only be a source of information, but also an essay that can be evaluated in order to learn about a specific style of writing.
This paper is written to discuss the many different ideas that have been discussed over the first half of Theology 104. This class went over many topics which gave me a much better understanding of Christianity, Jesus, and the Bible. I will be addressing two topics of which I feel are very important to Christianity. First, I will be focusing on the question did Jesus claim to be God? This is one of the biggest challenges of the Bibles that come up quite often. Secondly, I will focus on character development.
Literature has been a medium for getting messages across for centuries. Various authors from Aesop to Shakespeare have used writing as a vehicle to get a message across to their audiences. All of these authors are widely respected and admired for their works. One author who transcends her peers and breaks away from traditional secular teaching is Flannery O’Connor. She is widely known for her usage of Christian themes to get across a message of our worlds need for a savior in Jesus Christ. Her style of writing is unique in that she conveys spiritual messages in everyday, fun-to-read stories. This is important as it creates a medium in which she can spread the gospel in a clever manner. Image books stated, “Her expert craftsmanship, her uncanny ability for characterization, the depth and intensity of her morality-combined in strict discipline-make her one of this generation’s most respected authors” (Books, Image 1). Flannery O’Connor uses various themes to get across a religious message, but the two that have a large impact are grace and suffering. The themes of grace and suffering can be seen in her short stories, “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, “The River”, and “The Lame Shall Enter First”. The themes of grace and suffering in Flannery O’Connor’s short stories are used to represent Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins.
Gomes, Peter J. The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart. New York: Morrow, 1996.
A Christian, when faced with the challenge of writing, finds himself in a dilemma: how is he to complete the task? Should he create an allegory? Should he try to teach a lesson reflecting God’s glory? Or should he follow secular trends and current desires in literature? To this, many Christians would say, “Certainly not!” Dorothy L. Sayers and Flannery O’Connor both aim to answer the first question of any Christian writer: How do I write a story with my beliefs?
Some works show their true colors right away. Gene Edward Veith’s book, Reading Between The Lines, addresses philosophical ideas, literary sub genres, and reader criticisms in order to ascertain a Christian’s role in literature. He also goes through various historical periods and examines their more prominent works and schools of thought. While a select few of his conclusions about Christianity in relation to the arts have merit, others contain more damaging implications. Specifically, his statements regarding television represent inaccurate and offensive thinking.
6. Stafford, Tim and Yancey, Philips. The Student Bible, New International Version. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1996.
Roberts, Edgar V., Jacobs, Henry E. “Literature.” The Lesson. 470-475. Toni Cade Bambara. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. 2001
I have always loved to read. While most children prefer watching television, I would rather read a book. About two years ago I read the book The Maze Runner, by James Dashner. After reading this book, I realized just how much Christ effects literature. I learned that we can see aspects of Christ in books written by secular authors. You can find Christian allegories that the author didn’t even realize they were writing.
I feel as though this class has helped me become a more polished and professional writer. When I first entered English 110, I was extremely unsure and lacked confidence in my writing. I believe that this point can be partly attributed to the fact that I had always had my instructors holding my hand and helping me through the writing process in high school. My senior English teacher always reminded us that college would be much more challenging than her class was and then she would go on to tell us stories of professors who gave out zeros for tiny oversights within a paper. This combined with general apprehension about college life left me terrified. I had always been a strong writer in high school; I know how to form an argument and support
To what extent can literature have an affect on the way we judge society? Humans are naturally able to make a first impression on countries, religions, and people based upon their own beliefs. Writers are grown up in different societies and express their own beliefs on countries, religion and people through their own life experiences. Writers have enough power to change the reader’s preconceived ideas by the writers sharing of their own perspective on their beliefs. Through analyzing different forms of literature such as White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, Joseph Brodsky’s “A commencement Address,” and watching Chimamanda Adichie’s “The Danger of a Single Story” I have realized that reading literature has the ability to change our thinking which in return affects the we judge different society. There have been controversies that media is a huge factor in altering the mind of humans. Literature can be also viewed as a type of media because literature helps the readers understand the conditions of certain societies.
The desire to study God’s word to obtain a personal connection is a pursuit for many believers. Beginning a course to study and engage with the word at a collegiate level can be overwhelming and intimidating. Even though one may read the word countless times during their lifetime, understanding the reading material academically and historically is a different concept to master. Personally, I was apprehensive about my overall ability to retain the information and comprehend the context of the scientific and historical aspect of God’s word. However, Tarwater wrote in a manner that was engaging and invited me into the historical importance of the words and understanding God. From beginning to end, Tarwater
During the course of this class, I have had the opportunity to read literature from authors who come from different backgrounds and places in the world. Some of the stories and poetry we read were straight forward while others were confusing and sometimes required a second look. But one thing is clear, it changed the way I think about literature in a few ways that I wasn’t expecting. Three works in particular stand out in my mind. “ I Wont Let You Go” by Rabindranath Tagore, “To New York” by Leopold Senghor, and Pedro Peramo by Juan Rulfo all had an impact on my thinking for similar yet different reasons. They all incorporate their cultural backgrounds into their work through the setting of their pieces. They also compose their pieces in a way that makes you want to research their history to find the deeper meaning. Finally, a couple of the authors write about things they are emotionally connected to. Some of the examples we will look at, really opened my eyes to going beyond a superficial understanding of literature.
The bible is what helps keeps our faith alive as it contains a rich amount of history that tells us of God’s revelation and the ways how our faith works. Although the bible contains numerous works of different people, it is still a work of God that helps our faith remain constant and grow, as everything written was under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In some way, I was able to understand the value also of the other books, as before I did not really take interest of the other books included bible, aside from the likes of the Gospels, Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, and Proverbs. Nevertheless, I realized that the books are all part of the bible as each has a purpose to serve and stands as a testament to the infidelity of humanity, and of God’s unfailing love for
Literature as a reflection of society and culture with respect to Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People