Spirituality in Literature and Mental Exercise

The essays by Corrigan and McAloon both address the subject of spirituality in relation to literature.  Corrigan's approach and title of his work intertwines "Darkness, questions, poetry, and spiritual hope."  Darkness, he says, is a serious question and diminishing that fact is not a source of hope.  We experience darkness when we can't see God in "hopeless" situations.

I love how our professor points out that, "The question 'Where is God?' is much different from 'Where is God in the darkness?'"  Truly God has not left us when we face dire situations; He's still here, to answer the first question.  It is just harder to see Him when we are faced with death, financial dilemmas, or brokenness.  "Jesus is more interested in living questions . . . than in finding answers."  Asking questions acknowledges the darkness of this world.  And that's okay.  Experiencing darkness brings us to places we wouldn't otherwise know.  Experiencing darkness teaches us to relate to others.

And experiencing darkness allows us to experience hope.  This realization is apparent in many poetic works (I learn this from Professor Corrigan) such as those byCornel West, T.S. Eliot, Allen Ginsberg, Jay Wright, and Mary Oliver.  As Psalm 23 speaks of, we will go through that "valley of the shadow of death" at some point (or points) in our lives.  Being in that low place allows God to manifest the hope He brings.

Coming from a different perspective, McAloon writes about spirituality and literature with the idea of transformation in mind.  He talks about how poetry has been and is a wonderful way of expressing spiritual truths.  I wonder if maybe literature is such a beautiful way of expressing God's grace, biblical truths, and spiritual insights because it is like a response to the Bible, God's great work of literature.

I like McAloon's approach of understanding a text's unspoken meaning by searching for "scholarship" within, behind, and before the text.  This can even be applied to Scripture.  The Word becomes so much more alive when I know the literary usage of a passage and the history behind it.  I would probably benefit from reading literature if I had (took) the time to look at it in these ways.

Literature exercises the mind.


This is the main message I took from reading the first few pages of the Pearson anthology.  The writer compares exercise to reading: both are a choice, both are healthy, both lead to growth, both involve some kind of struggle, both are personal, and both build muscle and produce results.  I actually kind of view reading and exercising with a similar mindset.  I don't necessarily want to do either too often, but afterwards I always feel better about myself.  The more I exercise or read, the more willing I become to continue in the habit.