Truth Really Matters

“No individual can conceive or encounter everything in one lifetime, but through literature we learn from many lives . . . Literature multiplies experiential knowledge and shares timeless meaning.  Readers have the amazing opportunity to participate in humanity’s ongoing conversation.”

 This encouraging insight from Leland Ryken and Glenda Faye Mathes in their 2021 book, Recovering the Lost Art of Reading:  A Quest for the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, should be the theme of English literature teachers throughout the West, assuming there are any left that love the classics and have avoided succumbing to today’s woke drivel.  I was blessed in my 1960s public high school by English teachers who unabashedly conveyed their passion for worthy classics.

In recommending Recovering for your reading pleasure, I’ll note that their conviction is that good books make you think and that the Bible has no peer on Earth in that category.  Furthermore, I’ve learned over the years that sound Biblical knowledge establishes a framework – a worldview – so we can discern, appreciate and sift the valuable nuggets from literature, while taking care to discard or, at least, to flag the fool’s gold.  It’s possible to enjoy some stories (even Hallmark movies) that have little value by working your discernment muscles to judge just how detached from reality the screewriters are!

So let’s pull some hopefully practical nuggets from Recovering . . .

The authors suggest that most people read more than ever, but on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc, and primarily on their smartphone.  How much personal joy or value is acquired in these hours?  “Kitten videos may be endearing but not enduring.”  Maybe we should work to balance our intellectual diets.

Their goal is to replace the perception of ‘reading as duty’ with ‘reading as delight.’  A 2018 study indicated that a quarter of American adults had not read a book (print or digital) in the previous year.  Worse, one out of five could not name an author – any author.

The most devoted readers are those over 75 years old, at 50 minutes per day.  No age group averages a single hour per day.  The average digital media consumption, however, is 6 hours per day.  That’s an average.  Many are glued to screens most of their waking hours.  The authors cite Nicholas Carr who writes about how the internet is changing our brains, profoundly and negatively.  “When we go online, we enter an environment that promotes cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning.”

In contrast, Ryken & Mathes observe that “reading a book immerses oneself into an extensive work.  When this is done receptively and thoughtfully, it becomes artful reading.”  Carr:  “The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle . . . Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words.  Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.”  Sven Birkerts sees a loss of depth and wisdom, defined as “the knowing not of facts but of truths about human nature and the processes of life.”

My wife and I have noticed this woeful deterioration in the scripts of modern movies, which seem to be written by juveniles for juveniles, exhibiting a warped view of human nature, especially regarding marriage, the raising of children, how to make a business successful, and what constitutes joy and lasting happiness.

These issues permeate not just modern literature, but also politics, education, and the culture.  For example:  There is a pattern in Hallmark movies wherein a budding romance gets derailed because one party gets offended, whether by genuinely bad behavior or a simple misunderstanding.  It then takes a while for the offended party to forgive the other.  What no one ever realizes is that where can i buy isotretinoin in the philippines unforgiveness is a sin in its own right, and persistent unforgiveness is a gross sin.  Our current culture celebrates offense and unforgiveness.  A Biblical persective on forgiveness is foreign to modern storytellers.

Ryken points out that moderns tend to avoid or to be embarrassed by an emphasis on such terms as truth, meaning, soul, and destiny.  The Christian sees this cultural collapse as Satanically inspired.  Distract people from timeless truths, truths that speak to who we are as image-bearers, to Whom we are accountable to in Judgment, and to the infinite stakes of eternal destiny and . . . well, the Gospel will be oh-so-easily scoffed at and the Christians will become ashamed of what they believe, lest they offend others with truth claims.

The authors remind us to find “the still small voice,” as in 1 Kings 19:12 and Psalm 46:10.  “We are called to quiet our souls and commune with God through an open Bible.”  Digital media fractures our focus.

In the material realm we may yearn for possessions that we have not acquired . . . it takes but little imagination.  In the spiritual realm, though, we are not likely to imagine what we have never been exposed to or looked for.  In An Experiment in Criticism, C. S. Lewis writes, “Those of us who have been true readers all our life seldom fully realized the enormous extension of our being which we owe to authors.  We realize it best when we talk with an unliterary friend.  He may be full of goodness and good sense but he inhabits a tiny world.”

Lewis suggests that leisure time is the occasion not just for rest and restoration, but for learning, growing, and rediscovering the fullness of life.  Our culture has largely discarded contemplative reading which, Ryken asserts, was once the staple of leisure in the West.

Thoughtful reading allows us to transcend the drudgery of daily life and to focus on larger themes, including the spiritual.  We need to escape the mundane, but pay a price when we devote our leisure solely to trivialities.  God rested on the 7^th day to set a pattern for His image-bearers.  God intended for His people to embrace the transcendent each Sabbath.  The principle remains and is unlikely to be satisfied while staring at a screen.  Good literature “offers the power of transport, a holiday of the imagination and spirit.”

Ryken applies lessons from Francis Schaeffer when he recommends that as we read we should be cognizant of both our own worldview and that of the author, so we can interpret not just the prose we see, but what is between the lines.  We learn both from authors who share our worldview and from those who don’t.  Over the years, for example, I have read a considerable amount of evolutionary literature . . . know thine enemy.  This has benefited me greatly, but only because I was careful to know my Bible and to ground my science (which I have devoted much of my life to) in a Biblical worldview, before I dove into the Adversary’s arguments.  Given that grounding it is so easy to see the errors and fallacies in evolutionary fantasy.

Similarly, Ryken notes that as Christians we can “recognize ways that even harsh terrains reveal truth or goodness or beauty.”  “Harsh terrains” would include secular literature written by people who also live in God’s reality and have gained insights . . . or not, in some cases.

I have observed in modern fiction how often the anti-Christian authors ‘get it right.’  The lives of characters are wrecked by substance abuse, adultery destroys marriages, and uninhibited fornication produces obsession or even rage if a partner moves on.  This is all quite ironic because our culture glorifies sex without boundaries, along with substance abuse.  But when these elements are part of a story, the author typically recognizes the consequences of sin, just as if he had gotten his wisdom from God’s word.  On the positive side, the best secular stories usually recognize godly virtues, including honesty, self-sacrifice, and courage.

Ryken and Mathes observe that, “When we read imaginative literature artfully, we better understand ourselves and the meaning of life.  We identify with universal truths and emotiions, while becoming more aware of ourselves as unique individuals.  Such discoveries strum our heartstrings, reverberating humanity’s common chords.”

Nicely put.  This book is a very pleasant read!

The authors lament the degradation of literature within the universities.  They list a few typical course titles:  “The Politics of Hip-Hop;” “Digital Game Studies;” “The Art of Insult” – which could be substituted for a course in Shakespeare.  Ryken knows a student in a lit course that had no texts at all.  One exercise involved visiting a toy store to analyze gender-bias in packaging, followed by meeting at a gay bar.

If you’re a parent of a college student, you might review the course offerings before you pay the tuition.

Jesus’ parables are cited as brilliant examples of “show, don’t tell” in writing.  The parable of the Good Samaritan is offered as an answer to the question of an acerbic lawyer, “Who is my neighbor?”  Instead of a direct response, the story featured a robbery victim, heartless religious leaders, and a compassionate foreigner.  At the end Jesus was able to turn the question back to the lawyer, who was humbled enough to get it right and to hear the subsequent admonition.  Now that’s literature!

Newspapers tell us what happened, Ryken notes, while literature tells us what happens, namely, how the world works because of who we are and how our nature is wired.  Know the Bible and you’ll be closer to reality than those who don’t.

The authors attempt a definition of literature . . . “a concrete interpretive presentation of human experience in an artistic form.”  The art matters.  Beauty matters.  Well-written prose can be memorable and inspirational.  I have previously reviewed Leland Ryken’s book, The Word of God in English, in which he makes a strong case for the literary excellence of the KJV, in stark contrast to the watered-down expression typical of modern versions.  Of course, a Bible translation must also be faithful to the Hebrew and Greek of God’s prophets and apostles, but the modern versions fail woefully in that, too.

Ryken and Mathes ask, “Why does beauty matter?”  Answer:  Our spirits crave beauty.  The Bible begins with a beautiful creation and ends with a description of the wondrous New Jerusalem.  Beauty is part of God’s character and we are wired to recognize and to appreciate it.

The authors suggest a 3-part model representing the great issues of life:  reality, morality, and values.  We read fiction to enjoy a good story, but reflection will inform us regarding how faithful to reality the story tracked, whether the behavior of the characters reflected godly or ungodly morals, whether the story touched on things that matter, also on whether the characters acted in accord with what matters most.

They cite Bret Lott who explains to his college students what separates popular from literary fiction.  The first is driven by plot and intended for escape – it’s the equivalent of comfort food.  But literary fiction focuses on characters and “confronts us with who we are and makes us look deeply at the human condition.”

Lott, a Christian author, doesn’t avoid the harsh aspects of life in his writing, but is sure to include grace as a theme.  Good Christian fiction may well include page-turning action, but also engages the mind and emotions, and reflects God’s presence in a Biblically-realistic way.

Ryken cites an essay by Tolkien on the value of fantasy which, in its best form, simplifies the world with a heightened clarity about good vs. evil.  Tolkien warns of this age’s modern spirit which works to confuse good and evil.  This brings to mind the warning of Isaiah 5:20-23 where woe is pronounced against those that call evil ‘good’ and good ‘evil,’ that put darkness for light and light for darkness.  Modern culture is filled with inverted morality.

I have read The Lord of the Rings at least twice and I have read considerable sci-fi and fantasy over the years.  The more modern the writer the more confused the morality.  I have written before of the chivalry, self-sacrifice, and courage portrayed in E.E. Smith’s 6-book Lensman and 4-book Skylark series.  In the last 20 years there is little that comes close to the clarity that Tolkien admires except, perhaps, David Weber’s Safehold series.  For those that would suggest other novels that uphold ‘conservative’ values, I would recommend a quick examination regarding the author’s portrayal of sexuality and marriage, and whether there is any effort to resist profane dialogue.  It is not enough to support free markets and limited government.

Ryken notes that one critic of C. S. Lewis’ fantasies declared that lovers of these books must be either children or Christians.  Tellingly, this critic opined that those two groups “share one quality of imagination – a common willingness to extend reality beyond the visible.”  How sadly limited the worldview of an atheist!

Madelein L’Engle, who writes fantasy stories for children, notes that the world of fantasy “is inimical to the secular world, and in total opposition to it,” also that “in the Bible we are constantly being given glimpses of a reality quite different from that taught in school.”

On the charge that reading fantasy is escapism, Lewis points out that “all reading whatever is an escape.  It involves a temporary transference of the mind from our surroundings to things merely imagined or conceived.”  This includes history and science books along with fantasy or realistic novels.

Sci-fi writer Ursula LeGuin rejects the charge that “we who hobnob with hobbits and tell tales of little green men” are mere entertainers or escapists.  She views the imaginative details of fantasy as “precise and profound metaphors of the human condition.”  LeGuin notes that the classic tale of a scientist who creates a monster is entirely up to date in our present age.

Pablo Picasso extends the principle to all literature, art, and music:  “We all know that art is not [factual] truth.  Art is a lie [at the literal level] that makes us realize truth.”

The authors have much to say on children’s literature, which has been almost wholly corrupted in the last few generations.  Jill Carlson’s analysis shows that, “Novels which reveal God’s positive power are censored from library shelves.  Into this vacuum . . . authors pour a torrent of books offering a narrow spectrum of other ‘isms’ – rationalsim, occultism, and nihilism . . . In the name of diversity, our kids are offered books channeling them into a humanistic dead end.”

Teen fiction is overwhelmed with “real life” problems from the trivial to the traumatic, like sexual abuse.  Characters are portrayed as victims understood by no one, especially parents.  There is no God and if Christians are involved, they are shown negatively.  Language is often graphic.  David Mills describes most teen fiction as “tawdry and sometimes depraved,” appealing to the “worst in every teenager.”

Our authors highly recommend that parents read to their young children, a practice that develops language and literary skills and shapes emotional development.  “Reading aloud has potential for helping children be kinder, calmer, and more focused.”

On the idea of reading the Bible with a literary perspective, they note that the account of Cain’s life is covered in just 16 verses, yet illuminates such human experiences as “sibling conflict, domestic violence, harboring a grudge, feeling rejected, anger at getting caught, refusal to repent, . . . guilt, exile, and so on.”

Psalm 23 uses a poetic form and a shepherd metaphor to reveal truths on how to live life in sync with God.  Throughout Scripture we find “figures of speech, such as imagery, metaphor, simile, allusion, and personification.”  Consider the personification of wisdom in Proverbs chapter 8.

Ryken and Mathes:  “The Bible is one of the most copious anthologies of diverse literary genres and forms in the world, and their presence easily demonstrates that the Bible is a literary book.”  By the way, as Ryken shows in The Word of God in English, modern versions tend to destroy the literary quality of the Holy Spirit’s message by dumbing down language, destroying metaphors, and choosing specific interpretations where multiple meanings were intended.

On literature’s moral perspective, Ryken and Mathes observe that how sin is portrayed and whether consequences unfold will portray the author’s worldview, which is often intended to influence the reader.  Immoral literature recommends sin by making immoral acts attractive, portraying evil as something that brings satisfaction, and depicting immoral acts as normal or even irresistible.

As examples, Samuel Taylor Coleridge notes, “Shakespeare always makes vice odious and virtue admirable, while Beaumont and Fletcher do the very reverse – they ridicule virtue and encourage vice:  they pander to the lowest and basest passions of our nature.”

On beauty in literature, our authors write:  “A written work could be good and true, but without beauty it is not art.”  Defining beauty is difficult, but they suggest that we can use Scripture to see what God says about it, since He is the source of beauty and has made us in His image.  A word study using a concordance would be a simple way to begin.

Can Christians experience art more deeply than unbelievers?  I agree with the authors that the capacity is there, with the Holy Spirit indwelling and with the conviction that God, Heaven, and eternity transcend what we see in front of us – in fact, we can enjoy the ‘trigger’ that art provides to embrace the transcendent.

The same is true with science.  Unbelievers can do science, very well indeed.  But a believing scientist sees and marvels at the design and purpose filling all of creation.  An unbelieving scientist, for example, may quantify a cow’s physiology, milk production, fat content, and grazing habits, but a believing scientist understands what a cow’s purpose is, and is thankful for the cow’s Creator.

Clyde Kilby offers that the beauty of a Turner landscape painting contains a double beauty – the skill of the artist and the hand of a personal and loving God.

Artists and viewers can share both pleasure and expression.  Leo Tolstoy wrote, “Art is an activity by means of which one man, having experienced a feeling, intentionally transmits it to others.”

A few comments about some of the literature that I find especially beautiful . . .

The Psalms are rich in metaphors that deepen our understanding of God’s person, His mercy, patience, love, holiness, power, and judgment.  It is simply not enough to merely state that God is patient, loving, powerful, etc.  The marvelously diverse display of metaphors in the Psalms paints pictures to give us varied perspectives on who God is.  It’s easy to see how the great hymns of the last two centuries make use of metaphor, including explicitly Scriptural metaphor, to resonate deeply with the hearts of believers so that generation after generation is blessed by the best of these lyrics.  But it’s also so easy to see how CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) is often poor in metaphor, dumbing down the lyrics, insuring their forgettability.

Spurgeon’s sermons are perhaps the most metaphorical, and beautiful from a literary point of view.  He is often thought of as a brilliant preacher, but I would judge him as brilliant in expression.  John Wesley, on the other hand, was not so eloquent in expression, but was brilliant in analysis and application of doctrine.  Similarly, my favorite author is Francis A. Schaeffer, who is wonderfully rich in content, but not as brilliant in expression as Os Guinness, whose books are very pleasant to read.  I’ll also read any book written by John Lennox, although I don’t agree with him on everything, yet he makes his arguments so well, even when he is wrong, like on the age of the Earth.

Ryken and Mathes pose a typical question, “How in the world do I find more time to read?”  They cite Kevin Young’s impression of modern life as “unrelentingly filled up and stressed out.”

The answer is simple enough.  God prescribes a weekly rest for His image-bearers.  Just do it.  Even in the midst of a busy week, how do we find time to brush teeth or do laundry or whatever?  Well, we just prioritize those things and do it.  So . . . go ahead and prioritize rest breaks that include intellectual and spiritual refreshment via reading.  Just do it.  Everyone has far more discretionary time than they will admit.  No one makes us scroll Facebook for an hour or watch a football game for 3 hours or get hooked into a video game for __ hours.  The most insidious and vicious time thieves attack you through screens.  Figure it out and do something about it.

I recall a famous warrior who once said, “Do or do not.  There is no try.”

Ryken:  “How will you choose to spend each minute of what poet Mary Oliver calls ‘your one wild and precious life?”

The authors note that baseball fans have taken photos of Stephen King reading between innings at Red Sox games.  Often when I go for an exercise walk, I’ll take a stack of memory verses along with me.  I always take a book with me when I go to a medical or dental appointment.  At bedtime I typically read 3-5 pages of a serious book and then turn to a novel until it’s lights out.

Ryken and Mathes recommend audio books for traveling or exercising or doing mundane tasks.  But I, like them, “love the feel and smell of a physical book.”  You can mark up your own book, like I often do, once I got over the prohibitions of my youth.

They also encourage the reader to be picky.  “Put down a bad book!”  You don’t have to finish “poorly written, immoral, boring, or unhelpful books.”  Amen.

The best books can be read again and again.  I have read the Lensman series about once every five years since I was a teenager.  It’s the one time I could wish selective amnesia as I open the first book of the series.  I have read Schaeffer’s Complete Works twice.  I learned more the second time due to years of life experience between readings.  I’ve also read Feynman’s 3-volume Lectures on Physics twice, as I have Sargent, Scully, & Lamb’s Laser Physics, and Baierlein’s Thermal Physics – all are beautiful expositions of how God designed the underlying physical principles of His creation.

Also, at least twice, Rimmer’s The Last of the Giants, Guinness’ Impossible People, and Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress . . . the last simply cannot be read just once.  And several others, but I’ve already made the point.  Ryken mentions that C. S. Lewis famously defined an unliterary person as someone who reads books only once.

Good literature is analogous to good music and good art, experiential, anticipatory . . . the resolution or climax is all the more satisfying.

I’ll close with one more C. S. Lewis quote our authors offer up:  “But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. . . . Here, as in worship, love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do.”

• drdave@truthreallymatters.com