Sursum Corda: 10 Suggestions for Rekindling the Literary Imagination

NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER, MAY 31, 2015 C1 “Good literature forms a worldview: It offers us insight into our families, our communities and ourselves. Great literature offers us insight into our relationship with God and the world.” AMONG THE BOOKS. The Long Room in the Trinity College Library, the largest library in Ireland and home to The Book of Kells, in Dublin. MayaTheB / Shutterstock Sursum Corda: 10 Suggestions for Rekindling the Literary Imagination The Internet also demands our attention, does and what good literature can do. reat men and women — great souls — are formed by and when we do read, we often do so in bite- If we want to solve the problems of size morsels, reading only email, tweets, Western culture, we need, desperately, a great literature. Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt blogs or inane and prattling lists. Or we read renewal of the Western mind. pornographic depictions of zombies and All of us who wish to bring forward and Thomas Jefferson were voracious readers. St. Paul, vampires — books which neither satisfy our a renewal of Christian culture in our world St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas were steeped in intellects nor our imaginations. should begin on our knees, in prayer. And, finally, modern methods of educa- But we must also begin with books in the literary traditions of their times. St. John Paul II, canonized tion too often favor reading as a technical our hands, being formed in the great tradi- G exercise — as a necessary skill to prepare us tion of the classical mind. just last year, recalls that, in his youth, he was “completely consumed for a career, instead of as a way to become In short, we need to be wise to defeat the more fully human. father of lies. We can’t propose wise policies by a passion for literature.” The cultural content we consume today if we have not cultivated wisdom and good is mostly uninspiring, at best. And the media judgment. And wisdom begins with the itself — the technology by which we con- wonder of the literary imagination. BY BISHOP JAMES CONLEY moral discernment has become a lost art. sume content — is very dangerous. While I’m often asked for book recommenda- SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER I talk about beauty a great deal. And I am the technology we possess in our cellphones tions. In fact, this essay was inspired by such The men and women who have been sometimes asked, in the midst of our current and tablets offers great potential, it can also a request from Catholic friends. Many of my most influential in my own life were readers, crisis, whether paying attention to literature, have the effect of making us shortsighted: friends know that I have had the benefit, too. Professor John Senior, my teacher and music, poetry and art is a waste of time. I’m hooked on instant gratification, bored with- entirely undeserved, of the kind of literary godfather, seemed to have the whole canon asked whether it would be more prudent to out immediate stimulation, lonely for real formation that has become too rare these of Western literature and poetry at his fin- spend all of our energies fighting the political connections instead of text messages, tweets gertips. Blessed John Henry Newman, my effects of secularism, rather than spending and Facebook “likes.” spiritual mentor, was a man of letters. My time in the library reading books. In a situa- When we aren’t careful, our technology grandfather was an avid reader of American tion as grave as ours — for family life, for reli- can make us flat-souled — very bored and Sursum Corda history, and my father was a reader and gious liberty and for the unborn — this is a very lonely. author — in his spare time, he wrote a book legitimate question. Sometimes, in moderation, television can Just as the priest prays in the liturgy, addressing the faithful in the preface, on our family’s Wea Indian ancestry. We need to be active in the political arena be worthwhile. And the Internet can be a Sursum Corda — “Lift up your hearts.” The Russian playwright Anton Chek- — each of us, as Christians. We need to pro- source for great good. But we’ve lost the lit- hov said, “The business of literature is not to pose policies that support the dignity of the erary culture that formed the heroes of answer questions, but to state them fairly.” human person and the institutions that ani- Western history. We’ve replaced it with I’m not certain that is true. Literature mate and order society. We need to protect noise. Literature, which once formed hearts days. As a student in the Integrated Human- does raise questions, but it can also — in the the unborn, the freedom of conscience, the and minds towards greatness, is forgotten. ities Program at the University of Kansas, I witness of ideas or characters or stories — traditional understanding of marriage and But literature — and poetry, music and read from the great books of Western culture point us to the final answers, to the perma- the sovereignty of the family. the fine arts — is the antidote to our flat- and also from the thousands of good books nent things. But we won’t be successful in the political souled culture. And it is critical to solving that have some worthwhile story to tell. arena if we don’t first succeed in transform- our culture’s real crisis. Those books began my journey to the Cath- Cultural Formation ing culture. We need to understand the humanity olic Church and to Jesus Christ. Good literature forms a worldview: It The crisis we face today is a cultural cri- taught by Plato, Augustine and Shakespeare, This essay includes a list of some of offers us insight into our families, our com- sis, with political consequences. Good policy because we need to understand our own my favorite works and some favorite authors, munities and ourselves. is borne of good minds and good hearts, and humanity. In the darkness of elective illiter- following the trajectory of Western thought Great literature offers us insight into our bad policy is born of dull minds and small acy, it seems that we can too easily lose our and culture. This list is not definitive, or relationship with God and the world. vision — of egoism, greed and lust. sight, even of ourselves. authoritative, or even objective. Literature reflects culture and forms it. Our battle is not just for policies. It is a Instead, this list is deeply personal: The history of Western culture can be traced battle for hearts and minds. ‘Born Anew in Wonder’ reflecting the authors who have touched in the stories we’ve told over the past millen- Literature opens our imaginations to my heart or my mind or my imagination. nia. Whether we read much or not, we’ve all Literary Crisis wonder. Reading good books exposes the All good-book lists will necessarily be been formed, at least in part, by the ideas and Our crisis is, in some ways, a literary cri- contemplative part of our human- personal. This book list is by no means ABOUT THE AUTHOR hopes expressed in the history of Western lit- sis — and thus a crisis of the imagination. ity. Good books can spur in us a sense of exhaustive — there are too many good erature. Very few people today are reading good justice, charity and generosity. They can books to list them all. Bishop James D. Conley Today, we face an unprecedented crisis of books. We’re busy with families and profes- expand our souls and inspire our hearts And the experience of reading proves that is the shepherd of the culture. The family is disintegrating before sions. Television sings a siren song, tempting to strive for greatness. Just as the priest a good book may touch one heart very Diocese of Lincoln, our eyes. Women and children are objectified us to spend mindless hours taking in sports prays in the liturgy, addressing the faith- deeply and hardly touch another at all. Such Nebraska. in new and dangerous ways. Pornography is or crass comedy or the over-scripted melo- ful in the preface, Sursum Corda — “Lift lists may spark vigorous debate and deep ubiquitous. Abortion is pervasive. Civil and drama called “reality television.” up your hearts.” That’s what our faith conTinUes on paGE C2 NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER, MAY 31, 2015 C2 Leisure, the Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper Josef Pieper was a German-Catholic philosopher, which we can form a truly Christian family, and a a professor of sociology and anthropology at the Uni- truly Christian culture. versity of Munster. He was a student of St. Thomas The exploration of great literature is a form of lei- Aquinas, Plato and Aristotle. sure. Today, in our “down time,” we too often shut off Pieper possessed the unique gift of clarity: He our minds, our hearts or our imaginations. reflected on virtue and vice, sin and redemption, But real leisure is the use of our minds and hearts beauty and culture in books that could be easily to form deeper relationships with Christ and his understood and easily appreciated. Church. I think often of my father, working each day, Leisure, the Basis of Culture was written in 1952. providing for our home, but carving out huge The book explains that leisure — the capacity to per- amounts of time to write a little book on our family’s ceive, contemplate and celebrate the world we’ve history. He didn’t write the book for money or fame.

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