Secular Romance Series We Recommend
John Piper, in the article Can Christians benefit from secular books? declares that all our readings, Christian or non-Christian, aim to know God better, man, the ways of God and the ways of man, so that we can more fully obey what God says and be more useful in achieving his purposes and glorifying his name. In this series “Secular novels that we recommend”, many theologians and pastors recommend good literature that every Christian should consider reading.
- If your goal is to write the Great American Romance.
- I have some bad news for you.
- Herman Melville accomplished this feat more than a century ago when he wrote Moby Dick.
Moby Dick’s magnificence lies in his incomparable theological symbolism that Melville has spread abundantly throughout the novel. For example, consider using the biblical names of characters, such as Ahab [Ahab], Ishmael, Elijah, and ships. jeroboam [Jeroboo] and Rachel [Raquel].
Don’t Melville researchers agree on the symbolic meaning of the novel’s central character?the great white whale Moby Dick.
Many argue that [1] symbolizes the incarnation of evil. Ahab certainly supports this view, as it is driven by a monomaniacal hatred of this creature that ate his leg and left it permanently damaged in the body and soul.
Other scientists are convinced that the whale symbolizes God Himself, so Ahab’s quest for her is not a just search for God, but man’s useless natural effort, in his hatred of God, to destroy the omnipresent divinity.
I have that last perspective
I think Moby Dick contains the most powerful chapter ever written in English: “The Whiteness of the Whale. ” Here we find a glimpse of Melville’s deep symbolism as he explores how white is used in history, religion, and nature. describing the appearance of whiteness in these areas include sneaky, spectral, and transcendent terror, as well as sweet, respectable, and pure. Melville writes:
But we have not yet solved the magic of this whiteness, and we do not even know why it has such a powerful attraction in the soul; And even stranger and much more prodigious?Why, as we have seen, is at the same time the most significant symbol of spiritual things, the very veil of Christian divinity; and yet the intense agent in the things that terrify humanity the most.
Does he, because of his inaccuracy, obscure the merciless emptinesses and immensities of the universe, and thus stab us in the back with the idea of annihilation as we contemplate the white depths of the Milky Way?Or it is white, in its essence, not a color, but the visible absence of color and, at the same time, the fusion of all colors; Are these the reasons why there is a blank space, full of meaning, in the vast snowy landscape?A colorless and colorful atheism we’re fleeing from?[?] And of all these things, the albino whale is the symbol. Are you still surprised by the ferocity of hunting? [2]
What if the whale personifies everything that whiteness symbolizes? What is scary? What is pure? Which is excellent. the hideous and spectral; What is mysterious and incomprehensible? Would you not personify these attributes that reside in the perfections of God Himself?
Who survives the hostile pursuit of such a being?Only those who have experienced the sweetness of the grace of reconciliation can look at the overwhelming power, sovereignty, and immutability of transcendent God and find peace, rather than vengeance.
Read Moby Dick, then read it again
[2] MELVILLE, Herman. Moby Dick. Cosac Naify, 2014 (Kindle edition, 3361). Translation by Irene Hirsch.
By: R. C. Sproul. © 2014 Between 2 Worlds. Original: R. C. Sproul: A novel every Christian should consider reading
Original: Moby Dick? Secular novels that we recommend [1] © 2017 Ministério Fiel. All rights reserved. Website: MinisterioFiel. com. br Translation: Leonardo Galdino
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