American literature students are sometimes entrusted with William Faulkner’s 1930 novel While Dying (L)
For Christians, While Dying offers a gold mine of theological discoveries, not in terms of devotional affirmation of orthodoxy, but in terms of moderate reminders of the need for faith. Falkner loved the Old Testament, but was less delighted with the New, believing that the Stories of the Hebrew Scriptures were more fascinating. My feeling is that he was a crypto Calvinist who believed that the Atonement is so limited (and God so holy or so cruel) that no one is chosen. God is a righteous judge who correctly condemns everyone. Each of us thus lives on an unalterable path to death; vultures circulate through each of our corpses, at least metaphorically.
- I have heard that Western culture.
- Especially American culture.
- Is fascinated by the fruit of the gospel as it repudiates its roots in Christ’s ministry of sacrifice and grace.
- Which calls us to humble repentance.
- Neither the gospel nor its fruits.
The novel reflects on the nature of masculinity and femininity
It confronts us with the despair that accompanies abortion.
It offers us a fictional incarnation of the rawest absurdity of the Darwin Prize.
For those of us who become disciples of Christ in their youth, there is a constant risk of forgetting what life is without the hope of the gospel, we simply cannot remember what it is like to live without hope, which is the condition of our friends. and neighbors outside of Christ, when you die, it’s a way to show empathy again with that despair. When we reach the last pages, we are defeated: Oh!I wish this world didn’t have to be like this!I wish there was a Savior who could save us from our stupidity and mortality!
Ah, here’s the lesson. Salvation comes from outside this sphere; until we humiliate our hearts and look up, we will not be able to see what is transcendentally present: the gift of Christ’s grace.
By: Gene Fant. © The Coalition for the Gospel. Website: thegospelcoalition. org. Translated with permission. Source: GENE FANT: NEW THAT EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD CONSIDER TO READ
Original: Die? Lay novels we recommend [14]. © Faithful Ministry. Website: MinisterioFiel. com. br. All rights reserved. Translation: Leonardo Bruno Galdino. Review: William Teixeira.