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Reading Catholic: How to approach literature as a person of faith

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This article first appeared in Our Sunday Visitor magazine. Subscribe to receive the monthly magazine here.

A professor of literature I had in the Catholic Studies Program at the University of St. Thomas taught us that literature is Catholic insofar as it illustrates some truth about human nature. We read novels by lapsed Catholics, complicated Catholics and non-Catholics. My former professor’s critical lens sheds light on the distaste we often experience for “Christian” movies and books: They fail to satisfy, whereas a movie like “Iron Man,” a story like “The Lord of the Rings” or a series like “Breaking Bad” reveals truth without even mentioning God or the Church.

A story must reveal some truth about human nature as well as hold to the time-tested principles of what makes a good story. Stories from antiquity primarily follow a path of causing catharsis to draw attention and relieve stress. They existed to pass time, although sometimes things like fables or god-myths were supposed to explain some facet of history or life. The pagans became good at telling gripping stories containing life, death, heroism, betrayal, family problems and so forth.

Biblical inspiration

We also see this with some parts of the Old Testament. Pope St. John Paul II, in his Letter to Artists, says, “Sacred Scripture has thus become a sort of ‘immense vocabulary’ (Paul Claudel) and ‘iconographic atlas’ (Marc Chagall), from which both Christian culture and art have drawn. The Old Testament, read in the light of the New, has provided endless streams of inspiration.”

The Gospels, of course, are the story par excellence. They contain all the elements of a great story, even with a surprise ending. The suffering of Christ is full of pathos, though it is harder for us to relate to his resurrection. This is partially why the majority of the New Testament is harder to enter into: The theological and philosophical reflections it contains are abstract and propositional. Many places have Passion plays; fewer have Resurrection plays, and I am not aware of any plays that reenact St. Paul’s letters to the Galatians or to the Romans.

True and false stories

Stories or images that are false are not Catholic in that they do not reveal truth. Some examples include works of art that teach that might makes right, sex has no consequences or the meaning of life is some sort of nonsense journey that leads to self-worship. It is not that violence or murder or sex should never be a part of the stories we consume as Catholics: Look at the Book of Genesis. Out of a misguided prudishness, many have rejected novels because they touch on difficult themes, and we’re left with a saccharine and stylized innocence.

The Catholic story, like the dialogue of faith and science seeking to understand reality, involves the traditional elements of quality, engaging storytelling, combined with elements of a revealed, true understanding of sin, redemption, friendship, good and evil, life and death, hope and sorrow. What may not be approachable to the unbeliever in terms of doctrine can be illuminated by stories and images that are relatable to him because of their humanity. The artist is tasked with bridging that gap, and the recipient is challenged in receiving it as a human.