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Conclution of christian art
Effect of society on literature
Effect of society on literature
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Looking back on the history of the human world, one can see the evolution of the way people have expressed themselves. People have utilized things such as the following: art, music, architecture, theatre, technology, photography, and lastly, literature. But primarily focusing on the literature, the goal of this paper is to show that literature as an art can be used to glorify God. Like any art form, time has affected the way literature has been presented. Not only has the style of writing, spelling of words, and the topics that have been written on varied throughout the years but the writers themselves have transformed through the ages.
The ability to read and write is a privilege that many have never gotten the chance to experience. This was even more prominent in the past. This opportunity to read and write was only awarded to those involved in the church, mainly the Pope and those directly beneath his rank. As the world has progressed through time, this privilege has been granted to larger and larger circles of people. With this progression, authors have used this tool to express themselves and it has been an invaluable tool at that. Different genres have emerged such as the following: drama, romance, tragedy, satire, comedy, etc. Many believe that those things pertaining to religion cannot mix with those that do not. However, in the case of literature, both opposing sides involved in religion are able to incorporate their beliefs using the art form known as literature.
People have realized the potential that literature allows for. Christian authors have especially realized the power that words can hold. Many notable men and women have emerged in this art form but some notable writers that express Christian faith are the foll...
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...es and locations of where both were born factors in.
Even though Rivers and Lewis differ on their approach to the Christian faith, both are able to convey the message of love that the Gospel has to offer. Both individuals were impacted by the love of Christ and they could not help but express that through the art of literature. Both individuals have proven the point that Christianity can be expressed in a wide range of art forms, including literature. Their efforts reflect a rigorous and biblical approach to the following question: can literature be used and used well for the glory of God? C. S. Lewis expertly shows his God-given ability to utilize his imagination and take the reader into a whole new world. Francine Rivers expertly illustrates the setting, develops the characters, sets the mood for the reader, and still manages to convey Christian ideals and morals.
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.
Nearly everyone is familiar with the character of Christ. While understandings of Christ as a figure of faith may vary, he is universally recognized as a historical figure. The world knows that Christ was called “Son of God,” he called people to love, and he died a painful death on the cross. He has become such an important figure that images of him show up frequently in literature. Thomas Foster, author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, outlines a wide range of characteristics common in Christ-like figures. In his list of descriptors, Foster suggests characters might be Christ figures if they have wounds reminiscent of the crucifixion, suffer in agony, or are self-sacrificing—and this is only the beginning of his list (126). Readers repeatedly identify Christ figures in literature, both because of the well-known characteristics Foster describes in his chapter on Christ figures and because readers find them through their own understandings. In Yu Hua’s
Yet the Reverend also uses the word 'beautiful' and appreciates the wonders of the natural world. Certainly, a sense of something beyond the pragmatic permeates Maclean?s story. This ?something? is incarnated in Paul, who obviously does not conform to a narrowly-defined description of a ?good Christian.? He is a rabblerouser adrift in the world, a sophisticated ladies? man and gambler who squanders what is seemingly ample journalistic talent. Paul, however, is also effortlessly artistic, able to break free of his father?s strict fishing instructions to create his own poetry with a rod. Surely, something holy must reside in the sheer, effortless beaut...
The novelist with Christian concerns will find in modern life distortions which are repugnant to him, and his problem will be to make them appear as distortions to an audience which is used to seeing them as natural; and he may be forced to take ever more violent means to get his vision across to this hostile audience. When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use more normal ways of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the blind you draw large and
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.
Reynolds, David S. Faith in Fiction: The Emergence of Religious Literature in America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1981.
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.
Overall, O’Connor use of religious symbols as a literary device has conveyed the message to readers of Christianity and God’s grace. Critics have viewed her work as possessing thought-provoking and deep messages. It is clear that O’Connor attempted to accommodate readers of Christian faith and non-Christian faiths buy painting a picture in a way that most everyone could understand. Her lack of secular censoring in her work along with the vivid characters has helped give new points of view on grace, crime and religion.
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.
Being a devout Catholic, O’Connor’s “faith consciously informed her fiction. The difficulty of her work, she explained…is that many of her readers do not understand the redemptive quality of ‘grace,’ and, she added, ‘don’t recognize it when they see it. All my stories are...
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?
In this analysis, we will be looking at just how Flannery O'Connor accomplished this seemingly impossible task, non-didactic Christian fiction, by examining elements of faith, elements of style, and thematic elements in her writing. While secondary sources are included for perspective, I have focused primarily upon Miss O'Connor's own essays and speeches in my examination of the writer's motivations, attitudes, and technique, most of which are contained in the posthumous collection Mystery and Manners. Unlike some more cryptic writers, O'Connor was happy to discuss the conceptual and philosophical underpinnings of her stories, and this candor is a godsend for the researcher that seeks to know what "makes the writer tick."
Few authors have been able to demonstrate the incredible scope of different genres that Clive Staples Lewis, better known as C.S. Lewis, wrote in his career. Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind upon hearing his name is the mythical land of Narnia. Narnia is the fictional world that the widely popular series “The Chronicles of Narnia” takes place in. This series, enjoyed by adults and children alike, hosts talking animals, a God-like lion, an ice queen bearing many similarities to the Devil, and many other things. This series, like most of Lewis’ other works, is essentially a metaphor for the story of the Gospel as well as lessons for living a Christian life. In much of his writing, Lewis made an excellent and relatable argument for Christianity by his ability to write captivating stories relating to many aspects of Christian life.
C.S. Lewis was the 20th century’s most popular proponent of faith based on reason. As a child, he created an imaginary world where personified animals came to life, and later, he wrote the book, Chronicles of Narnia. How did he transform from a boy fascinated with anthropomorphic animals into a man of immense faith? His transformation to the Christian religion happened as his fame began to flourish. People wrote him, asking him about his claims about the truth of Christianity (Belmonte, Kevin). As I attended the drama of Freud’s Last Session, I was engrossed into the plot of the play and was constantly thinking about how it pertained to the objectives of the World Literature class. I not only connected the content of the play to its context, but I also reached out to apply the context to a discussion on a broader scale. I then discovered why the context of literature is imperative for true understanding of the w...
The Chronicles of Narnia are veritably the most popular writings of C.S. Lewis. They are known as children’s fantasy literature, and have found favor in older students and adults alike, even many Christian theologians enjoy these stories from Lewis; for there are many spiritual truths that one can gleam from them, if familiar with the Bible. However, having said this, it is noteworthy to say that Lewis did not scribe these Chronicles for allegorical didactics of the Christian faith, but wrote them in such a well-knit fashion that young readers might understand Christian doctrine through captivating fantasy and thus gain an appreciation for it. With this in mind, and in the interest of this assignment, the purpose of this paper is an attempt to analyze one of the many doctrines of the Christian faith from The Lion, The Witch, And, The Wardrobe (LWW), namely, temptation and how Lewis illustrates it through an individual character, Edmund.