Great Books Prepare Hearts for the Gospel
There are many ways to defend studying the classic works of Western culture. Some point to the ways great thinkers have impacted the modern world. Others emphasize the good of knowing our roots and gaining wisdom from our fathers. To these great defenses, I will add another: classic works shape hearts and imaginations so people are prepared to hear and understand the gospel.
Because this is God’s world, truth cannot be suppressed. Man cannot flee from the reality of God and what he is doing in the world. A great example of this truth is C.S. Lewis’s conversion. In his quest for truth, the great stories that moved him toward the truth were the old myths about the Norse gods. He notes in his autobiography Surprised by Joy that a deep spiritual longing was stirred in him when he read the words “Balder the Beautiful is dead, is dead!” [1] Later, his Christian friends, J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson, leveraged these stories to explain the truth of the gospel to him. They explained that the gospel was the true myth about the dying god who entered history to save his people. This was a pivotal conversation for Lewis causing him to turn to Christ. This example shows that even pagan myths reflect the deep truths of God and can plant seeds in the heart which will blossom in conversations years later.
Great classics are also able to reach hearts in ways that logical arguments do not always work. This is what happened to Dr. Louise Cowan. She walked away from the Christian faith after seeing the Bible deconstructed in a college classroom, but she continued to be fascinated by great works of literature. One particular interest she had was Shakespeare’s plays. While some scholars have claimed that Shakespeare was not a proponent of Christian doctrine, through her research, Cowan found the opposite to be true. She writes about Shakespeare, "Sacrificial love was evident everywhere in his dramas. Grace was one of his key words; evil was its darker counterpart. His comedies in particular were virtual illustrations of the themes and passages of Scripture.” [2] This research made a profound impact on her. Later, she was teaching Dostoyevsky’s work The Brothers Karamazov, and she says the story pushed her to a “rediscovery of Christ in His fullness.” [3] These classics worked on her so she could hear the teachings of Christ in a way that she had never heard before. She says she had been looking for logical proofs when what she really needed was a new way to see. She concludes, “I had to be transformed in the way that literature transforms–by story, image, symbol–before I could see the simple truths of the gospel.” [4]
For a final example, we see that great classics soften hard hearts and drive sinners to repentance. Megan Basham recounts this happening in her own conversion. After walking away from Christianity and spending a number of years drinking and doing drugs, she came to a crisis point. She knew that her life was a mess but she didn’t know what to do. One night, while she was both high and hungover, she was working on a paper about Le Morte D’Arthur for a college English course. She was writing about the adulterous Lancelot who is rebuked by religious hermits for his sins. Basham writes that she was struck in a profound way when the hermit told Lancelot that the path of lust degrades both body and soul. The hermit says, “I have told you all these things because of my sorrow at seeing you so abased and shamed that you will meet with nothing but slights and derision from all who know the true account of your fortunes.” [5] When Lancelot hears these words, he weeps bitterly and Basham says that she wept as well. Then the hermit reminds Lancelot: “Nonetheless you have not so offended but you may find forgiveness.” [6] At these words, Basham broke down, confessed her sins, and turned to Christ. This moment was the turning point in her life and she began living as a Christian, reading her Bible, and going to church.
These three conversions illustrate that Classical Christian education is not just helping the next generation to understand western culture and learn key ideas about the world, it is also preparing the soil of their hearts for the gospel to take root. These books do this because they embody the deep realities of truth, beauty, and goodness which stir the human spirit to be sensitive to the need for redemption. Great literature makes the gospel proclamation truly gripping. In these classic works, Christian teachers have a powerful resource to shape the next generation so they can see the glorious gospel. The encouragement to teachers and schools is to embrace these powerful resources and point students to Christ.
Endnotes
[1] C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy (New York: Harcourt & Company, 1955), 15.
[2] Louise Cowen, “The Importance of the Classics,” in Invitation to the Classics (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1998), 19.
[3] Ibid., 20.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Sir Thomas Mallory, Le Morte D’Arthur, quoted in Megan Basham, Shepherds for Sale (New York: Broadside Books, 2024), 234.
[6] Ibid.
