Christianity and Literature: Philosophical Foundations and Critical Practice

"What has Jesus Christ to do with English literature?" ask David Lyle Jeffrey and Gregory Maillet in this insightful survey.

First and foremost, they reply, many of the world's best authors of literature in English were formed--for better or worse--by the Christian tradition. Then too, many of the most recognized aesthetic literary forms derive from biblical exemplars. And finally, many great works of literature demand of readers evaluative judgments of the good, the true and the beautiful that can only rightly be understood within a Christian worldview.

In this book Jeffrey and Maillet offer a feast of theoretical and practical discernment. After an examination of literature and truth, theological aesthetics, and the literary character of the Bible, they turn to a brief survey of literature from medieval times to the present, highlighting distinctively Christian themes and judgments. In a concluding chapter they suggest a path for budding literary critics through the current state of literary studies.

Here is a must-read for all who are interested in a Christian perspective on literary studies.

The Christian Worldview Integration Series, edited by J. P. Moreland and Francis J. Beckwith, seeks to promote a robust personal and conceptual integration of Christian faith and learning, with textbooks focused on disciplines such as education, psychology, literature, politics, science, communications, biology, philosophy, and history.

David Lyle Jeffrey (Ph.D., Princeton) is Distinguished Professor of Literature and the Humanities in the Honors Program at Baylor University. General editor and coauthor of A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature, he has also written numerous articles and books, including the highly acclaimed People of the Book and Houses of the Interpreter.

Gregory Maillet (Ph.D., University of Ottawa) is professor of English at Crandall University in Moncton, Canada. A traditional generalist, he has taught and published on a variety of authors, including Dante, Shakespeare, Coleridge, Longfellow, T. S. Eliot and Tolkien, as well as in fields ranging from Canadian literature to children's literature to theological aesthetics.