Return of Christian Humanism: Chesterton, Eliot, Tolkien, and the Romance of History »

Lee Oser is Associate Professor of English at the College of the Holy Cross and author of three books, including T. S. Eliot and American Poetry (University of Missouri Press) and the novel Out of What Chaos. He lives in Worcester, Massachusetts.

 

Oser argues that the Christian humanist occupies the “radical middle” between church and state, past and future, faith and reason. Writing at the interface of literature and religion, he challenges the assumption that Christian orthodoxy is incompatible with humanism, freedom, and democracy. He argues that contemporary academic culture has overlooked Christianity’s gifts to literature and civilization. Oser maintains that Christian humanism encourages a genuine diversity of thought based on reason, nature, and the accomplishments of artistic genius. He describes how the liberal humanism of Arnold gave way to the Christian humanism of Chesterton, then proposes the work of Tolkien as a litmus test for modern critics. And in pointing out a strong Augustinian strain in Eliot, Oser shows that he can best be understood in comparison with Chesterton and Tolkien. Along the way, he tackles such issues as the canon and the education of taste and takes on some of today’s most prominent literary critics.

Preface     ix
Acknowledgments     xi
Humanism and Culture
Between Two Worlds     3
Three Christian Humanists
G. K. Chesterton     21
T. S. Eliot     36
J. R. R. Tolkien     52
Gnostic Aestheticism
Antihumanism in Beckett and Others     71
Artificial Taste     85
The Radical Middle
Enter Reason and Nature     105
An Imperfect Theory     121
The Canon and Literary Form     136
The Romance of History     100
Works Cited     167
Index     179