Linking up with California to Korea for 3 Reasons I Love Catholicism Vol. III.
1. Literature
The Catholic world has turned out the most and the most quality literature, fiction and non-fiction, poetry and prose, since its founding. Chances are, if you pick up a classic novel post-Jesus, it was written by a Catholic. The Reformation throws the balance somewhat, but even then, the traditions from which so many of the Protestant authors draw is steeped in Catholic Tradition. Even those pieces that are far from Christian in their aims are Catholic in their themes: they deal with questions of existence, the ugliness of original sin, true love, forgiveness, joy and sorrow, sacrifice. Things that the Church embraces in her exquisite maternal embrace of all things human. I mean, how honored are the lowly, that God would take on our menial existences and make them the center of truth and beauty in the Incarnation?
Shameless plug.
2. Art
Everything said above. Word for word.
3. Education
You know that little ol' institution called the university? Built by Catholics for Catholics, refined by Catholics, higher education in the west is what it is today because of the Catholic Church. Not going to bother citing this, as I assume it's common knowledge. And if you didn't know that, it's as easy as looking it up in a library. (The modern library--also a Catholic credited institution. Thank you monks of the Dark Ages!)
Wait: do you have a story in the Tuscany Selected Short Stories?! I read it recently and loved it!
ReplyDeleteEverything you said is so true, and I love every word. It drives me absolutely bonkers when atheists try to claim authority on logic and reason while throwing all the logic and reason passed down by the Church out the window. Not very logical, now is it?!
Your photo is breathtaking. Do you have a macro lens?
Yay! I wrote "The Debt." I'm L.C. Ricardo. I bought a "nifty fifty" lens after it kept being brought up everywhere! I took a real close picture and cropped it, but you can turn the 50mm backwards, hold it to the body of your camera and use it like a macro lens. It's neat!
DeleteOhmygosh! Can't wait to go back and re-read that story!
DeleteAnd that tip?! Did you really just change my life? Yes, I think you may have.
I think in # you just pretty much ignored 2/3 of world literature.... :)
ReplyDeleteYou mean #1?
DeleteCan you give some examples? I mean something that squares with Shakespeare, Dante, The Canterbury Tales, Tolstoy, the Icelandic sagas, etc.? I can only think of a handful of works from outside of the western canon that hold a candle to those.
..and don't forget that folks like Joyce, Camus, Rilke, and O'Neill are God-haunted, ex or almost-Catholics ;)..But I think as regards non-western literature..one of the gifts of the Church..or at least the Western, Christ-dominated imagination is the need for literature.. There is a huge difference between the stories and tales of the non-western worlds and the world of the young church..and I think in huge part it's the question of "what is man that You are mindful of him?"..which is - in various ways, the question that burns through most of the great world-literature: East and West, Christian and non-, ...and that literature lives primarily in the world that was shaped by the Church.
DeleteYes, I was thinking of Rilke as well! Excellent points, knew you'd have something insightful to add. c:
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