Why are so few poets/fiction authors calvinists?

[Solparvus]

This is a topic close and dear to my heart! In these days where poetry is pretty much relegated to the trashcan of the peoples as stuff mostly irrelevant to our lives, and Christian poets even moreso (with their talk of sin and judgment, repentance and faith), it is hard to make a true assessment of the matter. For instance, in just a short while — can't put any numbers as to when — all the unregenerate poets and writers extant will be swept into the horror of judgment and eternal doom. So whatever fame and recognition they receive from the world is fleeting, ephemeral — mere vanities.

And the opinions of genuine Christians? Well, many of them don't read poetry, and many churches — especially in the 20th and 21st centuries — have been against the arts, both literary and graphic. It is not so much a matter of being Reformed or not. Part of the problem is that we have not had a classic Poet — a true Laureate — sing of Christ, humankind, the Fall, redemption, eternal Hell, endless Heaven on New Earth, and life in these times and generations we are part of. Sing so as to arrest and touch the hearts of the faithful. But the dust has not settled on the field of battle that these days are. Not yet.

We had this thread a while back, "The ugly modern world - Awakening to beauty". The featured painting speaks to the sadness one feels when it hits that the world has become utilitarian, and we lost our souls by it. The modern view is that aesthetics are practically useless, and are only an indulgence. However, things like beauty, goodness and truth need no defense. They are transcendent and captivating, and the indulgence in them justifies itself.

We do need godly poets and authors who excel in their work. The Christian has the most reason to take up this work. If beauty, goodness and truth are all transcendent, who better suited to scale their heights than those who know God? Beauty, no less than goodness and truth.

 

[Timmay]

We had this thread a while back, "The ugly modern world - Awakening to beauty". The featured painting speaks to the sadness one feels when it hits that the world has become utilitarian, and we lost our souls by it. The modern view is that aesthetics are practically useless, and are only an indulgence. However, things like beauty, goodness and truth need no defense. They are transcendent and captivating, and the indulgence in them justifies itself.

We do need godly poets and authors who excel in their work. The Christian has the most reason to take up this work. If beauty, goodness and truth are all transcendent, who better suited to scale their heights than those who know God? Beauty, no less than goodness and truth.

So I was able to give my testimony at church a few weeks ago. I talk about all of this in how God saved me, and continues to show me his grace. Basically I framed my testimony around the good, the true, and the beautiful. My audio should be the first on to pop up on this page.

Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church | Other audio

Miscellaneous Audio

www.gracecovpca.org

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

If Calvinists have not been good at writing fiction, does that explain why no Calvinists have ever worked for CNN?

 

[ZackF]

As long as there are so few Calvinists, there will be few Calvinist ____.

 

[Andrew35]

If Calvinists have not been good at writing fiction, does that explain why no Calvinists have ever worked for CNN?

I think most of us read "fiction" and assumed good fiction.

 

[Logan]

As long as there are so few Calvinists, there will be few Calvinist ____.

Very true. Also true that, in general, few people are"authors" for a living.
Out of those, how many are "fiction" authors?
Out of those, how many would be Calvinist?
Out of the several hundred people I know personally, only one is an author, but he does happen to be a Calvinist author of fiction (self-published).

Carl Wells Books | Carl's books and other books.

 

[Andrew35]

Very true. Also true that, in general, few people are"authors" for a living.
Out of those, how many are "fiction" authors?
Out of those, how many would be Calvinist?
Out of the several hundred people I know personally, only one is an author, but he does happen to be a Calvinist author of fiction (self-published).

Carl Wells Books | Carl's books and other books.

"For a living" is key here.

The last person I know of to make a living solely by his poetry was Robert Frost.

It's not easy to do.

The problem with poetry nowadays is everyone wants to write it, and nobody wants to read it.

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

I have read that Antoine de la Roche Chandieu (a French Huguenot theologian) was a poet. Here is one of his poems:

Memory, immortal memory,
Feebly do I call on you
And into your hands do I commit
So very many acts of cruelty
Against your Church
So they may never be forgotten.

Tear out of forgetful silence
The violence that knows no pity
Which is so scandalous; in hot pursuit
It chases away, kills and destroys
My family, my people, my Church
And I must suffer a living death.

O powerful and fearful God
Always the same, never changing
Look down, I pray, on my captivity:
Change my weakness into strength
My fear into joy and consolation
My slavery into freedom.

See this article for the source.

 

[Puritan Sailor]

I would suggest (and it's only a suggestion from my own limited experience) that perhaps because Reformed writers are so committed to a straightforward manner of articulating truth (i.e. clear preaching, polemic, and/or lecture) that they are less developed in more artistic and indirect ways of communicating truth through poetry and story. Even the attempts of some Reformed authors to write "fantasy" are often just predictable Christian allegories. I think Tolkien's approach to fiction was very helpful, writing stories which appeal to broader human desires and longings in a fallen world in order to create a hunger for the gospel, rather than a straightforward gospel allegory, sermon, or hymn. The same could be said for poetry, focusing on the broader themes of wisdom and human nature and longing, rather then just well-written hymns. My own 2 cents...

 

[Boreal]

Interesting conversation.

 

[VictorBravo]

they are less developed in more artistic and indirect ways of communicating truth through poetry and story.

Or less inclined to go that route.

I was thinking of my main poetry teacher, Richard Hugo. You could say he made a living as a poet eventually, because he left Boeing to become a professor after he hit it "big."

He was also very self-effacing. Two comments I remember him making:

"You think what we do is important? Look out the window at that guy mowing the lawn. THAT is important! We are playing with words."

And....

"Never trust a poet who says 'I love you.' You don't know if he means it or just likes how it sounds."

It's quite common for a poet to hear that others find things in his poems that he had never thought of. That's related to your point about Reformed writers: they probably are more focused on meaning.

 

[Jerusalem Blade]

Poets can speak directly of spiritual truth, though few do it. When I speak of great poets I refer to those who speak of heaven, hell, God, the devil, humankind. I think of Bunyan as a poet, and also Tolkien, though he wrote prose – both men of vision – yet JRRT was Roman Catholic. A poet has to be man of vision, not just poems here and there, but a story in which we are all players – the true story of earth, as one writer puts it.

In his Treasury of David Spurgeon often writes with a poet's heart, the Spirit gifting him to sing of the glory, love, and truth of the King. It remains that very few poets can touch my heart as godly preachers can, vessels of the LORD. A meager piece,

IGNORING PROPHECY

In ancient times
bards sang the feats of kings
and of battles, heroics, and blood
sometimes freely given – for honor, for love
self-preservation flung to the winds
an encumbering cloak
changed for the bright linen of saints

and seers delved into the hidden
meaning of things written by prophets
who saw and heard outside of time
on the open field of omniscience
in the mind of the One who sends his sayers
with wisdom concerning the course of events
that praises might ring above the plaints.

But now, we know few bards and seers,
few singers as of old, few learned
in things that count, discerning
gems from glass, poets now unwilling to hear
wisdom that separates from the crowd,
approval from peers the honor sought, and acclaim,
few for their truth willing to be burned.

Can it be that among the ranks
of the world’s finest singers
prophecy’s lodes are not mined
but demeaned, and in their conceits
ignored? So be it! We give thanks
You have given the lowly to be bringers,
O wise King, of Your astonishing feats.​