Christian Core Literature

We were asked to take Ngugi's essay today and apply it to our identity as Christians. And he asked how we would react to a suggestion of making our core curriculum focussed on Christian literature with a few secular branches.

All our reactions were vehement "NO"s. First I'll give the reasons that are applicable to the essay...

In Kenya's case, they wanted to embrace what their culture actually was. Danielle brought up geography. They were one country reading the literature of another country. In the US, however, we are composed of a lot of different ideas and religions. So in terms of being able to work together in the real world and being able to relate to the people walking next to us on a sidewalk, we need to have a balance of secular literature, because they are in our environment.

Our professor countered my point that all but a small portion of Christian literature is cheesy. Apparently, aside from theology, apologetics, Lewis, L'Engle, and Tolkien, there is Christian literature out there that is not absolute crap. And I don't mean books about living like a Christian, I mean art. Characters, plot, and conflict. I trust him, I really do.

Another argument we made was that we need to be able to function in literary society (where most of our futures lie). Our colleges will probably have not heard of good Christian authors, but they will know Fulkner, Vonnegut, Orwell, McCarthy, ect. We don't want to look like we're above the agreed-upon world of good literature (not that we don't have minds of our own...it actually is really good literature).

Finally, I wanted to talk about historical context. Let those who are actually oppressed complain about not being recognized. Why should we scream for other people to recognize us as valid human beings when we've spent the last couple centuries murdering people in the name of Christ? I don't mean to say that all Christians are murderers; I mean to say that we need to recognize our situation, and speak about identity with delicate caution. We've been at the top of the food chain for as long as we can remember. And this has less to do with a curriculum and more to do with seeking a place of recognition through literature.

Maybe my biggest issue with a Christian curriculum is that I simply don't want to read that kind of literature. I want to read secular literature. I want literature to bring me to new places, not places I have already been. I know the intention of a Christian-centered literature list would not be repetition, and that it would also want to open its readers up to new worlds. Maybe I just don't have faith that it will do that.

I haven't completely given up on the issue. But for now my leaning is still strongly negative.