PART II, ARTICLE III: AN UNFETTERED CRITIQUE OF ALL THINGS FICTION, SECTION II

Classic fiction should be used by us as classical Greek literature was used by seminary professors and preachers of the 19th century and before: as a handmaid to Christian knowledge and rhetoric. These professors and preachers courted familiarity with the writings of the Greek masters in order to learn ancient history, hone their skills in New Testament Greek, broaden their understanding of literature and philosophy, and develop their rhetorical skills through the Grecian example. Aware that to ancient Greek writers, God usually was, at most, an impersonal absolute, an indefinite principle, or a pantheon, they read with caution. They knew that perilous bypaths and hazardous emphases would be encountered in these secular demesnes; and they were always on guard because of this. Just as theologians have learned from ancient Greek authors, we have much to learn from the modern classics that have superseded Greek literature. But there are dangers. Many readers—even readers who are treated as spokesmen for the Christian faith—commonly mistake theism for Christianity, and morality for a state of grace. This they do as they read classics like The Brothers Karamazov and Moby Dick. Then they pass their mistaken assumptions down to the students they lecture to. A piece of literature is not Christian even if it is a classic containing ethical overtones and even if moral lessons can be gleaned from it. Oliver Twist, for example, is not a Christian novel. Neither is The Scarlet Letter, though Puritan Christians are caricatured in it. Even Samuel Johnson’s History of Rasselas is not Christian, though it is about as morally flawless as fiction can be. A solid example of Christian fiction would be R. L. Stevenson’s Misadventures of John Nicholson. It parallels the Parable of the Prodigal Son so straightly that I have no doubt that this was one reason why Charles Neider excluded it from The Complete Short Stories of Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson was not a Christian; but that story is a Christian story. A non-Christian story is one which contravenes the Christian worldview: its presentation of the world. A story that does not contravene it, however, is not necessarily Christian.