How to Read with Christian Eyes

Is there a specific role for the Christian critic? Critics have all but become avatars of the avant-garde, deliberately shocking and scandalous for the shock value of being scandalous. Yet many critics are embarrassed by the fact that most readers prefer works like The Lord of the Rings or classics of the nineteenth century rather than the latest novel of the zeitgeist.

The critic, like the teacher (since the critic is a sort of teacher) occupies a unique place in society and education. They act as an intermediary between the reader and author trying to highlight the Good, True, and Beautiful in works of art for others.

Ideally, the critic helps the reader understand how to know and love another human better through the story they are reading and the characters they encounter. That is what all good stories are about, they touch some aspect of the human condition and make us better humans, better lovers, better souls. The critic seeks to instruct in virtue through the stories we all love to read.

This used to be the noble enterprise of the critic, seen in men like Irving Babbitt or Paul Elmer More from the twentieth century to more contemporary critics like Anthony Esolen today. Now, however, the majority of critics espouse the latest social and political fad in their criticism – often explaining why Shakespeare is bad and Tolkien is sexist.

Modern criticism is not meant to build up in love but to tear down and destroy. Critics are unhappy with the popular taste of most readers, like when the BBC’s “Big Read” survey was conducted, which generally place works from Tolkien, Jane Austen, and C.S. Lewis among the top ten most favorite reads. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings was listed first.

Since popular reading is still supposedly tainted by a love for good things, beautiful things, and redemptive endings, the task of critics is to indoctrinate readers why they shouldn’t love the books they love. In fact, the goal of the modern critic is to make people hate the books they love, to make them feel miserable about the characters and the lives they live because life itself is awful and miserable. There is no love, just power and power imbalances between people pitted in conflict with one another.

The acidity of modern criticism rests on the rejection of God. Without God there can be no beauty and no love in the cosmos, even if certain atheists try to proclaim otherwise. The logic of a metaphysically devoid universe is clear; it is what Nietzsche concluded: there is nothing but power and self-creation. All values are simply self-created. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, not something intrinsic that all people can encounter and know.

Given the perversity of modern criticism, it is the task of the Christian critic to see the good, the true, and the beautiful in the works of art that give meaning and sustenance to culture, civilization, and the lives of millions. Scripture informs us that “God is truth.” Saint Augustine developed this further when he said, “Truth, wherever it is found, belongs to God.”

As such, it is essential that the Christian critic approach the world of art and literature from the truths of revelation. This starting point is necessary to redeem and sanctify even those stories which, at face value, don’t seem to have much to instruct in things good, true, and beautiful. Let us take Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings as a simple example.

While Tolkien later in his life declared his work to be Christian (specifically Catholic), there isn’t much discernable Catholicity in Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium at first glance. The original hostility to the work as dungeons and dragons magic has since faded, but even in its conceptualization as a work of saintly paganism the real catholicity of the story becomes visible from the standpoint of Christian truth.

There is the overarching theme of good vs. evil which the story deals with it. The Church exists to curb evil and lead the world to a virtuous life of love found in God. Throughout The Lord of the Rings, the governing spirit which moves the trilogy from its beginning to end is the confrontation with evil. There are also many temptations along the way.

There are two very famous moments of temptation in The Lord of The Rings. Lady Galadriel exhales after being tempted by the ring when she is with Frodo, “I pass the test.” Later, Boromir fails the test but redeems himself in sacrifice as he fights to save Merry and Pippin.

The Christian understanding of the world as a battleground of good and evil, with temptation trying to lead one astray from the good and beautiful to darkness and evil, suddenly sanctifies any and all stories which are governed by this basic principle. And in a modern world which shuns the truth of good and evil, the critic must always highlight this fact. In my view, the fact that Tolkien made good and evil, temptation and suffering, such a central point of his story is among the many reasons readers gravitate to it.

Then there is the theme of friendship and how friendship allows one to grow in virtue: the virtue of love and sacrifice for others. This is what happens, most especially between Legolas and Gimli, an elf and dwarf who are bitterly antagonistic to each other because of heritage and history. However, the two become friends over the course of the ring’s journey to Mordor. They help and aid each other in battle and become the best of friends.

Aragorn, too, depends on the friendship and strength of Legolas and Gimli. Although he is the once and future king, Aragorn must overcome his uncertainties and own limitations with an elf and dwarf by his side. All are united in this battle against evil, the love they have for each other unites them together. As Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote, love is “the unitive force.”

Finally, there is the friendship and sacrifice of Sam to Frodo. Frodo, though bearing the ring with immense cost to himself, can persevere because of Sam. Sam gives Frodo strength.

Tolkien noted in a letter later in life that Sam was the true hero, always by Frodo’s side even when Frodo didn’t want him. Sam temporarily bears the ring, always helps Frodo in his time of need, and carries the weight of all Middle-earth on his back. Sam’s love for Frodo is what allows them to defeat evil. Not glorious physical strength and prowess with a sword but the spiritual virtue of love.

With Christian eyes we see the profound truths communicated in books, characters, and stories. Why do we read? To know how to know and love others more deeply than we do right now. This is what the Christian critic is always looking to highlight and teach.

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