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Literature & Spirituality

Literature is defined as "imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artistic value." Spirituality is defined as "the quality or state of being concerned with religion or religious matters." The purpose of this podcast is to examine how these two subjects intersect with one another and how they relate to our lives.
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Now displaying: July, 2016
Spirituality as Quest, Pt. 20 -- Augustine's "Confessions"; Reading a Story, Pt. 24 -- How Much Does a Narrator Know? 0
Jul 31, 2016

Our passage from the Word of God today is 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 which reads: "Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart."

Our quote today is from W. H. Auden. He said: "A real book is not one that’s read, but one that reads us."

In this podcast, we are using as our texts: "Literature and Spirituality" by Yaw Adu-Gyamfi and Mark Ray Schmidt, and "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing" by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia.

Our first topic for today is "Spirituality as Quest, Part 20" from the book, "Literature and Spirituality" by Yaw Adu-Gyamfi and Mark Ray Schmidt.

Today, we will continue reading a selection from Augustine's "Confessions."

This selection is from Book I - Childhood / Chapter 5 - Augustine's Prayer

Who shall bring me to rest in thee? Who will send thee into my heart so to overwhelm it that my sins shall be blotted out and I may embrace thee, my only good? What art thou to me? Have mercy that I may speak. What am I to thee that thou shouldst command me to love thee, and if I do it not, art angry and threatenest vast misery? Is it, then, a trifling sorrow not to love thee? It is not so to me. Tell me, by thy mercy, O Lord, my God, what thou art to me. “Say to my soul, I am your salvation." So speak that I may hear. Behold, the ears of my heart are before thee, O Lord; open them and “say to my soul, I am your salvation.” I will hasten after that voice, and I will lay hold upon thee. Hide not thy face from me. Even if I die, let me see thy face lest I die.

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Our second topic for today is "Reading a Story, Part 23" from the book, "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing" by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia.

Today, we're taking a look at How Much Does a Narrator Know?

The all-knowing (or omniscient) narrator sees into the minds of all (or some) characters, moving when necessary from one to another. This is the point of view in "Godfather Death," in which the narrator knows the feelings and motives of the father, of the doctor, and even of Death himself. Since he adds an occasional comment or opinion, this narrator may be said also to show editorial omniscience (as we can tell from his disapproving remark that the doctor "should have remembered" and his observation the the father did not understand "how wisely God shares our wealth and poverty"). A narrator who shows impartial omniscience presents the thoughts and actions of the characters, but does not judge them or comment on them.

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Spirituality as Quest, Pt. 17 -- Augustine's "Confessions"; Reading a Story, Pt. 21 -- Point of View 0
Jul 9, 2016
Our passage from the Word of God today is Revelation 1:3 which reads: "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand."
 
Our quote today is from Gustave Flaubert. He said: "An author in his book must be like God in His universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere."
 
Our first topic for today is "Spirituality as Quest, Part 17" from the book, "Literature and Spirituality" by Yaw Adu-Gyamfi and Mark Ray Schmidt.
 
Today, we're taking a brief look at Augustine.
 
Augustine (354-430) lived during the decline of the Roman Empire. His pagan father ensured that Augustine received an excellent education. Beyond this fact, his father's influence on Augustine seems to have been marginal. However, his mother's influence was very powerful. She was a Christian who over the years, became very strong in her faith. Perhaps her spiritual growth can be linked to her prayerful struggles with God over the destiny of her rebellious and confused son. Born and educated in northern Africa, Augustine eventually taught rhetoric (effective speaking and critical thinking) in Rome and Milan, Italy. After his conversion to Christianity, he returned to North Africa and served as an influential bishop and a defender of orthodox Christian doctrines.
 
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Our second topic for today is "Reading a Story, Part 21" from the book, "Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing" by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia.
 
Today, we're taking a look at Point of View.
 
In the opening lines of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain takes care to separate himself from the leading character, who is to tell his own story. It begins: "You don't know about me, without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly."
 
Twain wrote the novel, but the narrator or speaker is Huck Finn, a fictional character who supposedly tells the story. Obviously, in Huckleberry Finn, the narrator of the story is not the same person as the "real-life" author. In employing Huck as his narrator, Twain selects a special angle of vision: not his own, exactly, but that of a resourceful boy moving through the thick of events, with a mind at times shrewd, at other times innocent. Through Huck's eyes, Twain takes in certain scenes, actions, and characters and - as only Huck's angle of vision could have enabled Twain to do so well - records them memorably.
 
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