Acts of Faith and Imagination: Theological Patterns in Catholic Fiction

by Brent Little
Catholic University of America Press, 2023
eISBN: 978-0-8132-3666-7, Paper: 978-0-8132-3665-0

ABOUT THIS BOOK
Acts of Faith and Imagination wagers that fiction written by Catholic authors assists readers to reflect critically on the question: “what is faith?” To speak of a person’s “faith-life” is to speak of change and development. As a narrative form, literature can illustrate the dynamics of faith, which remains in flux over the course of one’s life. Because human beings must possess faith in something (whether religious or not), it inevitably has a narrative structure—faith ebbs and flows, flourishes and decays, develops and stagnates.

Through an exploration of more than a dozen Catholic authors’ novels and short stories, Brent Little argues that Catholic fiction encourages the reader to reflect upon their faith holistically, that is, the way faith informs one’s affections, and how a person conceives and interacts with the world as embodied beings. Amidst the diverse stories of modern and contemporary fiction, a consistent pattern emerges: Catholic fiction portrays faith—at its most fundamental, often unconscious, level—as an act of the imagination. Faith is the way one imagines themselves, others, and creation. A person’s primary faith conditions how they live in the world, regardless of the level of conscious reflection, and regardless of whether this is a “religious” faith.

Acts of Faith and Imagination investigates the creative depth and vitality of the Catholic literary imagination by bringing late modern Catholic authors into dialogue with more contemporary ones. Readers will then consider well-known works, such as those by Graham Greene, Flannery O’Connor, and Muriel Spark in the fresh light of contemporary stories by Toni Morrison, Alice McDermott, Uwem Akpan, and several others.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Brent Little is Associate Professor in Catholic Studies at Sacred Heart University (Conn.) and coeditor of Revelation and Convergence: Flannery O’Connor and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (CUA Press). Mark Bosco, SJ, is Vice President of Mission and Ministry at Georgetown University.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Foreword by Mark Bosco, SJ
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Patterns of Faith in the Catholic Literary Imagination
Some Additional Clarifications
A Glance Ahead
What Is Faith?
Catholic Fictional Works as Theological Texts
Encounters with Doubt: Greene’s Monsignor Quixote
Fragments of Faith in the Catholic Literary Imagination
Chapter Two. A Pattern of Contrast: Grace and Faith in Modern and Contemporary Short Stories
Secular Faith Overturned: O’Connor’s “The Displaced Person” and “The Enduring Chill”
Contemporary Fiction’s Postmodern Context
Uncertain Faith: Grace in the Contemporary Short Stories of L’Heureux, Klay, and Quade
Chapter Three. Faith as Resistance To Evil
Spark’s Hidden Sacramental Imagination in The Girls of Slender Means
Conversion from the Perspective of Evil in Percy’s Lancelot
Can Evil’s Existence be Defended?
Innocent Suffering in L’Heureux’s The Shrine at Altamira: Hope or Despair?
Chapter Four. Sacrifice And Grace
Sacrifice as Vicarious Suffering: Greene’s The Power and the Glory
Martyrs, Both Reluctant and Willing: Solidarity in Sacrifice in Endo’s The Samurai
Sacrifice and the Suffering of Children: Uwem Akpan’s Say You’re One of Them
Chapter Five. Woundedness And Community
Community as a Source of Grace
The Turn toward Mystical Community: O’Connor’s The Violent Bear It Away
Community Reconfigured: Woundedness in Gordon’s The Company of Women
The Surprise of Grace-Filled Community: A Sacramental Reading of Morrison’s Paradise
Chapter Six. Sacramentality in Catholic Fiction: Some Thoughts on a Pattern of Contrast
A Subtle Sacramental Correction: Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Grace Both Extraordinary and Ordinary: Hansen’s Mariette in Ecstasy
Searching for Glimmers of Sacramentality: McDermott’s The Ninth Hour
A Step Back from the Pattern of Contrast: Some Final Remarks
Conclusion. A Pattern of Convergence Revisited: A Theological Reflection
Snapshots of Faith in Western Theology
A Pattern of Convergence: Some Final Observations
Bibliography
Index

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