Susan V. Gallagher - Literature Through the Eyes of Faith: Christian College Coalition Series

T here have always been theoretical issues concerning the composition and reading of literature and concerning the nature of the literary text. And there have always been controversies concerning the answers to these issues. Until quite recently, however, most teachers of literature apparently felt that such issues could be avoidedmany felt that they should be avoided. Literature, they felt, could be read and appreciated without entering the controversies of theorists.

That day of innocence is rapidly disappearing. To more and more teachers of literature it is becoming evident that the way they had been reading and appreciating literature did not steer clear of the issues raised by theorists but took positions on those issues. So too, what they had been saying about the literary text took stands on such issues. And the texts they had their students read did not reflect some purely objective recognition of greatness but presupposed certain values with which other intelligent and committed people disagreed.

Literature, which once appeared to be a resting place from the rigors of theory, has become a battleground of theory.

One of the great merits of this new book by professors Gallagher and Lundin is that, in their approach to literature, they openly and straightforwardly enter this battleground. They do not try to go around it. With courageous honesty they face up to the issues, lay them out clearly, and frequently themselves take a stand. They do so in graceful, readable prose. And more remarkably, perhaps, they do not forget literature in the excitement of engaging in the theoretical debates. They never forget that the point is not to keep theorists busy but to illuminate literature.

This would be enough to make this book a significant contribution. But I have not yet mentioned its chief distinction. Professors Gallagher and Lundin have not simply added another book to the ongoing discussion about literature. Their guiding question is this: How does literature look when seen through the eyes of faith by someone informed on the theoretical issues? The shape of their book has been determined by their address to those questions which, in their judgment, a reflective Christian should be raising when engaged with literature.

In the course of addressing themselves to these questions, Gallagher and Lundin begin to work out a fresh and imaginative approach to literature. Most Christian reflections on literature, over the last century, have been, in a rough-and-ready way, Romantic. Gallagher and Lundin believe that a Romantic approach can no longer be defended. This is one of the very first attempts to provide a Christian perspective on literature which is non-Romantic in character. It is not an exaggeration to say that their work is path-breaking.

This book thus achieves that almost impossible task of being of interest both to the Christian who just wants some basic questions about literature discussed, and to the Christian who has read around in the recent theoretical disputes about literature and wants some illumination on those confusing disputes. At the same time it will be of interest to the non-Christian who wants to see how two gifted scholars who care very much about literature, who are deeply committed to the Christian faith, and who are eminently informed about the recent disputes in critical theory, struggle to bring together into a creative whole these sides of their existence. In our fragmented world, such attempts at wholeness are uncommon. When we come across them, we can all learn.

Nicholas Wolterstorff

Professor of Philosophy

Calvin College &

The Free University of Amsterdam