Christianity in Literature

 

It is a mistake (largely out of ignorance) on the part of many evangelicals to think that the literature of the past is not inherently Christian. While there is no time in this short article to prove otherwise, Christianity is almost never alien to Medieval literature, common in those works of the English Reformation, and often referenced in the works of the Romantic and Victorian eras. Christianity is of significant purpose to the works of Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and the Brontes. 

C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien are among the most famous recent novelists to have had strong Christian themes in their fantasy stories. This was especially the case for Lewis. Indeed, Aslan is a type of Christ in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. 

In the twenty-first century, many have attempted to see Christian themes in other works of literature where Christianity is not so obvious. This has been the case for the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. In my view, however, these books cannot be classified as Christian literature for, despite Rowling's Anglican background, her references to Christianity are often mixed with references to practices known for the association with Satanism, witchcraft, and the occult. 

To me, Christian literature does not simply have a literary reference to something good (such as Ron and Harry's friendship in the Philosopher's Stone). Rather, the story must portray Christianity as orthodox without intermingling or mixing another faith with the aspects of Christianity that it is supposedly referring to. For example, some see Harry's resurrection in the Deathly Hallows as symbolic of Christ's own resurrection. However, I do not believe Harry's Ressurection resembles that of Christ when the morals of what is right and wrong are so ambiguous throughout the Harry Potter books (unlike that of Biblical Christianity).   

To say that any book in the present world is Christian because the book may give good portrayals of friendship or good virtues is quite a stretch. I think that many who believe this is trying to force an inspiration on the literary works that they hold dear.