You might have dreams of becoming a poet or novelist, or of educating the next generation, or you just want to continue studying the thing that brought you the most joy at school. Whatever your reason for choosing English Literature, your studies give you a chance to explore who we are as image-bearers of the Word.
Words are a part of who God made us to be. We worship a speaking God, one who describes Himself as “the Word” in John 1. A God who reveals Himself to us in the form of literature, in a book full of powerful stories and stirring poetry. A God who spoke creation into being like a poet reading aloud, and who wove the power of language and literature into who we are as His image-bearers.
A speaking God creates image-bearers who shape and are shaped by words, using the power of literature to explore who they are and praise Him for it. This is the reality we enter into when we study English Literature.
Working for the wellbeing of creation
For as long as humanity has existed, we’ve been telling stories and composing poems. Writers take the complex web of emotions and experiences in our lives and fashion them into a form that resonates with people.
We see this on the first pages of the Bible. At the sight of Eve, Adam opens his mouth and pours forth the world’s first poem as a way of expressing his love and delight: “This at last is bone of my bones / and flesh of my flesh; / she shall be called Woman, / because she was taken out of Man.” (Genesis 2:23).
In effect, literature (like all art) seeks to bring order and beauty out of chaos, the same thing we see God doing in the early chapters of Genesis. And this writing isn’t inert. It jumps off the page and into our hearts, getting under our skin and transforming us. When we write or respond to a piece of literature, we are fashioning or engaging with a story about ourselves, what matters to us, and why we are here.
As we shape our stories or poems or plays, they shape us. Even as you write essays and participate in tutorial discussions, you’re taking part in that process. Whether you’re creating an original work or plumbing the depths of the great classics, you are helping to bring order out of chaos and shape words that will in turn shape those reading them.
However, as fallen human beings, we have been bent out of shape by our sin. That means we tell stories and weave words that are out of shape. The feedback loop of shaping and being shaped can in turn perpetuate the cycle of distortion within us that started with the Fall. This is why we need Christians studying and fashioning literature. We need those who have begun to be reshaped by God’s word to start to reshape the narrative.
Sin distorts and destroys. By the grace of God and the gift of words he has blessed us with, we can push back against such chaos. Like Winston in 1984, we can turn our backs to the ruler of this world, put pen to paper, and start to tell a better story. Our gospel-shaped words are an act of resistance against the tyranny of the Fall.
Worshipping the God we work for
As we seek to bring order from chaos, we actually start to learn more about the God whom we are imaging in the process.
Literature is an art form, and so like all forms of art it provides us with a chance to explore truth, goodness, and beauty. Every text will make a statement about what it believes to be true and good. We live in a fallen world, full of lies and evil, and yet we cannot fully suppress the truth of who we are as God’s image bearers. So we will encounter fragments of a greater truth and goodness scattered throughout the texts we study. Each text will also have been fashioned in such a way (either through narrative structure, poetic techniques, or the development of its characters) that aims to be beautiful and engaging to the reader.
Ultimately, God is the source of all truth, goodness, and beauty. He is Himself Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. So, when we encounter a line in a poem that stops us in our tracks, or we feel satisfaction at a character arc affirming the beauty of love, or redemption, or sacrifice (think Sydney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities), then we can lift our eyes to the Word whose image we bear and praise Him that He is the fount of such goodness.
A thorough understanding of literature and how it is shaped also helps us appreciate the text of the Bible itself. It is an astounding fact that, of all the ways God has chosen to reveal himself in the world, he primarily uses the means of literature. If ever there was a fact to lend dignity to your studies, it’s that! Narrative, poetry, and discourse combine into the multifaceted revelation of the Word himself.
Let your love of literature stoke your love of Scripture. The same tool kit of analysis, comprehension, and reflection that you will be using in your essays will equip you to plumb the depths of the Bible for all its worth. Enjoy the deep riches of the Psalm’s poetry, feel the epic drama of Exodus or 1-2 Samuel, be delighted by the wit and wisdom of Jesus’ sermons and parables. The Bible is so much more than just another book, but, at the same time, God gave us a book! Read it, enjoy it, drink deep from it, and your love will increase not only for the words on the page, but much more so for the God who breathed them out.
Witnessing to the world
As Christians engaging with literature, we have a remarkable opportunity to witness to the world. We have a better story to speak into the world’s broken narratives.
In my third year I took a module on Modernism. Safe to say, it wasn’t the cheeriest of courses. The horrors of the twentieth century (the wars, the dictators, the massacres) did something to the human psyche, especially here in the West. People felt very acutely bent out of shape, and our literature only became more so. Inconclusive or contradictory narratives, fragmented verse, drama shot through with anger and disillusionment. The overwhelming tone of the course was of anger and disillusionment as writers sought to tear down everything that had come before but had been found wanting.
That’s not an easy environment to be in as a Christian, especially when the Bible and the church are often included in the things that should be cast aside in favour of something new. It was difficult. There were frightening times when I felt my heart being bent out of shape by the books I was reading. But it was by no means hopeless. These texts were exploring a void that only Christ can fill, and that led to remarkable opportunities to share the truth of the gospel.
Take Samuel Beckett’s play, Waiting for Godot, for instance:
The comically depressed protagonists of Beckett’s play wait for the titular God(ot) who never turns up making their hope seem pathetic and laughable as a result. Beckett insisted that Godot was not meant to be read as an allegory for God but, regardless of his intention, the story he told was one of an empty, meaningless universe full of false promises and expectations that will never satisfy. Yet, the truth resonating from it is that we are living in a world subjected to futility where characters long for something better even if that seems foolish.
I remember trying to share how Godot didn’t have to be read as a hopeless story. Instead, I tried to point out how the play might reveal something of the nature of faith and could open discussion about the dignity of such hope. Granted, the tutor taking the seminar didn’t agree with my take, but that doesn’t matter. As a student of literature, your lecturers and tutors don’t just want you to read a text and be done with it. They care about your response to it, how it makes you feel, the emotions and reactions that it elicits, no matter their own beliefs. They might not like it, they might not be interested in it, but the hope you have as a Christian and the way that shapes the way you read and write will stand out to your lecturers and coursemates.
We need Christians in literature
The speaking Word has blessed you with a love and skill with the written word. As you analyse, reflect, respond, and maybe even create, you will be imaging Him, learning to love His word more and share His truth, goodness, and beauty with others in a way that resonates. Literature this side of eternity is as fallen as everything else. It cannot provide ultimate satisfaction, but it can reveal facets of truth, goodness, and beauty that point us to our Saviour and to the hope He brings to the world. We need Christians in literature, telling better stories and pointing to a greater hope. No matter your reason for studying this degree, embrace the joy, excitement, and satisfaction of studying literature for God’s glory.
Reflect and discuss
Think: Think back over what you have studied so far in your degree. Where have you seen God's fingerprints? Where have ideas presented to you challenged what you believed to be true?
Live: What do you think your coursemates would know about what is important to you from the way you live? Is there anything you want to change here?
Speak: Are there topics in your subject that are closer to talking about your outlook on life, God or the gospel? Pray for people on your course and for opportunities to share about Jesus with them this term.
Taking it further
- Reality and Other Stories, Peter Dray and Matt Lillicrap
- Art and the Bible, Francis Schaeffer
- The Daily Poem podcast
