Theology Today - Vol 19, No. 2 - July 1962 - BOOK REVIEW - Perspective On Man: Literature and the Christian Tradition

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Perspective On Man: Literature and the Christian Tradition
By Roland Mushat Frye
207 pp. Philadelphia, The Westminster Press, 1961. $4.50.

It is to be hoped that those who long for creative contributions to theological thought will not be cramped by the dust jacket blurb of the present volume. The publisher's preliminary announcement makes the book appear to be a near-anthology of sermon hints, adding-as if this necessarily were a recommendation-that the book is "based on lectures given at Princeton Theological Seminary." What the publisher should have said is that the work at hand represents the substance of the L. P. Stone Lectures for 1959, and that it fully lives up to the great tradition of the L. P. Stone Foundation. Indeed, it goes a long way in rehabilitating Christian humanism at a time when the same is treated with the scornful negligence natural to narrow and ill-instructed theological minds.

The perspective of Christian humanism is opened up with a quotation from Luther which turns out to be the guiding principle of the book. "I am persuaded," Luther wrote, "that without knowledge of literature pure theology cannot at all endure, just as heretofore, when letters have declined and lain prostrate theology, too, has wretchedly fallen and lain prostrate; nay, I see that there has never been a great revelation of the Word of God unless He has first prepared the way by the rise and prosperity of languages and letters, as though they were John the Baptists." Luther's underlying assumption has been that of the major efforts in education credited to our Reformed tradition, such as represented by Sturm's Protestant gymnasium at Strassburg, Bucer's and Melanchthon's development of effective citizenship and good churchmanship, Beza's directions to students, and Calvin's overall conception of his Genevan academy. Evidence for the emphasis placed on literary learning at the dawn of the Reformation is provided by Frye in a rich Appendix which leaves no doubt as to the contribution made by literature to early Protestant vitality.

The five chapters which make up the body of the work may be characterized as a series of essays on literature and theology. A preliminary consideration of the manner in which literary methods of parable, metaphor, and dramatic history prove basic to Christian thought (Chapter

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I: "The Letter and the Spirit"), allows fresh insights into the human situation with reference to both the greatness of the human potential, and the misery and tragic limits of man (Chapter II: "Literature and the Greatness of Man"; Chapter III: "Literature and the Limits of Man"). There follows an exploration of the action of God in Christ for the redemption of the total life of man as seen through literature (Chapter IV: "The Patterns of Christian Redemption"). Finally, the Christian life-the life of growth in grace-is considered in the setting of literary masterpieces which have focused attention on its temptations, obstacles, and triumphs, and powerfully evoked the ineffable glory of the City of God (Chapter V: "The Patterns of Christian Growth").

Actually, Roland Frye has provided more than a treatment of the relations between literature and theological thought, namely, an initiation to the discipline involved in this study. Instead of trying to impress the reader with a glittering array of names and titles exhibited in quick succession, he has in practically every case laid an expert finger on works representing the issue under consideration, and introduced the same at length. For example, the issue of human identity is approached through a profound and extended exploration of Shakespeare's King Lear (pp. 89-94); the issue of failure and guilt, introduced by preparatory allusions to the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, and to the more sophisticated Iliad and Beowulf, is treated at length in the setting of Sophocles' Oedipus the King (pp. 97-104). The development comes to a climax with an immediate juxtaposition of the joyous affirmation of Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus," to the magnificent poignancy of the ultimate confrontation of Oedipus with the darkness of the human lot. The reader is accordingly reminded of the fact that great literature is engaged in the pursuit of beauty as well as in the pursuit of truth. Did not Calvin himself acknowledge the arts as "the gift of God, not to be despised, and a virtue worthy to be praised?" Let therefore the major concerns of a genuine Christian humanism be beauty, understanding, and compassion.

The dire need of the Christian reader-or should we say, hearer?-in our day, is for what I should like to call the discriminating look. By this I mean, the faculty of distinguishing accurately, to the point of discerning differences between notions, between values, ultimately between facts and fancy. Think, for example, of what it must have meant for Augustine, then a lad of seventeen, to arrive at the great cosmopolitan city of Carthage. The reader of the Confessions may well expect a detailed, glowing report of the event. But it is not so. Writing on this particular happening after a lapse of some twenty-five years, the Bishop of Hippo has a new way of looking at it. So he writes simply, "To

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Carthage I came. Is that all? Yes, except for an addition which has nothing to do with the panorama of the famous city: "To Carthage I came where a cauldron of unholy loves bubbled up around me." This is what now matters about Carthage as seen with the new discriminating look. Later in his Confessions, a similar transevaluation becomes evident when Augustine relates his entrance into the capital of the Empire, actually the center of the ancient world of those days: "And I to Rome." Thus it would appear that Roland Frye takes his place in a hallowed tradition of long standing when he revives for us the art of true discrimination. For, I ask you, is there anything more exasperating than to see ministers and Christian laymen who should know better, swept off their feet by speeches or writings of the most questionable quality? One of the sections of the work is worth pondering at this point. It is entitled, "The Failure of Glandular Writing" (pp. 61-65). Yet Frye's initiation to the discriminated look goes well beyond this beginning. The treatment as a whole bears witness to the supreme values of the Christian tradition.

The extent to which the study and meditation of great literature can develop a genuine sense of discrimination may be seen for example as the techniques of drama are laid bare. The way historical events and characters are treated by Shakespeare in Richard II, by George Bernard Shaw in Saint Joan, or by Robert Sherwood in Abe Lincoln in Illinois, provide precious clues for a pertinent evaluation of the forms of dramatic history found in the Bible. To be sure, the particular validity, or lack of validity, of what happens in any such drama is not determined by actual historical happenings, as is the Christian evangel by what happened in early first century Palestine. The concern of Frye at this point is to show how fruitful a familiarity with literary techniques can be in helping one to develop a reasonably flexible approach to the understanding of Scripture. Incidentally, it is surprising that no use is made by the author of Matthew Arnold's Literature and Dogma which in many ways covers the same ground. Said Matthew Arnold in his Preface, "To understand that the language of the Bible is fluid, passing, and literary, not rigid, fixed, and scientific, is the first step towards a right understanding of the Bible." This is also the view of Roland Frye. It allows him to undermine the very bases of both the literalist interpretation of Scripture, and the abstract, demythologized understanding of Christian realities. Having in this manner repudiated the reductionism of Biblical metaphor, symbol, and parable, he secures authentic insights into existential issues without ever making existentialism the measure of things essential. In this vein, he exposes the fallacy of self reliance: "It is precisely from self-reliance that man must be freed. In

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these terms suicide is the final form of self-assertion, the ultimate self reliance, the irrevocable assumption that man can judge himself and determine the bounds of his own being" (p. 117). Chapter IV, "The Pattern of Christian Redemption," stands out in this respect as a repudiation of the frustrating futility of all the atonements. which man imposes on himself in ceaseless self-tormenting, while the one all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ stares him in the face. More radical still is the rejection of syncretism (cf. "The Delusion of Syncretism," pp. 123-126). Two basically divergent views of man come within range at this juncture, namely, those represented by the Biblical tradition on the one hand, and the Aryan tradition on the other. "These two views simply cannot be merged into one. Here is the clearest case of either/or with which I am familiar in all of human thought. Either man is essentially god, or he is not" (p. 125). It is upon the Biblical conception of sin as assumption of deity itself that Milton builds his entire statement.

While certain sections (for instance, IV, iii, "The Pattern of Atonement") are well integrated to the point of leading up to a diagram (as on p. 120), the work as a whole might have gained in incisiveness by being more strongly organized. One sometimes labors under the impression that parts of previous articles which happened to fit into a development have been incorporated in the same. Hence a kind of interlude which slows down the progress of the argument. There also is occasional overlapping. It is just that at times the method adopted by the author carries within itself its stumbling block. Some transitions (such as the opening sentence of page 88) could with advantage have been made in a more natural way. These and other minor strictures are obviously due to limitations of time inherent in pressing professional activities. (Dr. Frye is Professor of English and Director of Graduate Studies in English at Emory University.) Besides, the abundance of available material must occasionally have proved overwhelming, and it is admittedly heart-breaking for a keen young scholar to discard treasures of precious cards. Yet, sooner or later, we all have to some to terms with the seemingly discouraging fact that we ought to read a great deal, so as to be enabled to use a smaller proportion of our reading in what we say.

Perspective on Man is an important book. What is more, it is a much needed book. I for one wish it would find a choice place in the library of every minister and theological student. Meanwhile, let all those who care rejoice at the thought that a young Christian layman of Frye's caliber has been let loose on the American campus.

Emile Cailliet
Cape May, New Jersey