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February 28, 2005
Address On The Right Use Of Speculative Literature
Yesterday BoingBoing flagged an argument by sf novelist Will Shetterly that reading science fiction helped make him a better Unitarian — and in the cited article, Shetterly makes an appealing case. On the other hand, students from Seabury’s Early Church History class may remember that nearly 1700 years ago, St. Basil [the Great*] of Caesarea made a comparable argument relative to the pagan literature of classical antiquity. The earliest Christians distanced themselves from pagan literature, as the Apostolic Tradition 16 illustrates when it limits the possibility of schoolteachers to become Christians (presumably because they inculcate the myths of Hellenistic civil religion). Basil, on the other hand, argued that when young people (“young men,” to Basil, despite Macrina’s good example) study the classics, they apprehend the dim outline of such Scriptural truths as they are not yet ready to encounter directly. The youths who study literature stand to learn nobility and virtue from authors whom everyone admires for their insight. At least, they stand so to learn as long as they don’t linger over the salacious passages.
Pretty good for an old guy, especially considering that Basil hadn’t read Dune even once!
* I was about to mourn the era in which theologians got jazzy nicknames like Basil the Great or Gregory the Wonderworker or Peter Comestor (“the Eater”) — but given the temper of the moment, when the cleverest nicknames flying around seem to involve calling the U.S. Presiding Bishop “Grizzy” or tagging the Archbishop of Canterbury as a “sick chicken,” I suppose we’re better off without, for now. . . .
Posted by AKMA at February 28, 2005 09:39 AM | Threadorati
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Comments
AKMA,
I thought I should delurk to let you know that I borrowed the "sick chicken" link for my (neophyte) web log. Been reading for a while, and appreciate this website immensely. Thanks!
Posted by: Gaunilo at February 28, 2005 01:21 PM
So Jesus is the Muad'Dib?
Posted by: Karl at February 28, 2005 02:40 PM
Is it really possible to be a "good," hence "better," Unitarian?? How would one know??
Posted by: kate at March 1, 2005 10:25 AM
Karl — wasn’t he always?
kate — radically as I dissent from Unitarian ways of thinking, I need to ask for others the politeness I’d hope they would show a stuck-in-the-mud old Trinitarian such as I. Please accept my gentle rebuke on this point (as I will confess that my own perplexity has impelled me to raise similar questions at times).
Posted by: AKMA at March 1, 2005 10:51 AM
