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Abstract

It is not uncommon for modern American Christians to say, with real warmth and deep gratitude, that they owe their faith to literary writers. C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy, Frederick Buechner, T. S. Eliot, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Gerard Manley Hopkins, even John Donne and George Herbert — these writers have been spiritual anchors for many Christians left utterly cold by pastors and theologians. But this is a relatively recent phenomenon: it is hard to find examples of it before the middle of the 20th century. How did this state of affairs arise? What does its existence suggest about the condition of American religious belief and the role of literature in sustaining it? And, is this good or bad news for Christianity?