Invitation to the Classics - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801011566 ISBN 13: 9780801011566

Publisher: Baker Pub Group, 1998

Synopsis

Provides introductions to such classic authors as Dante, Chaucer, Cervantes, Dostoyevsky, and Kafka for the Christian reader in particular

About this title

Reviews

For over a decade, university teachers, politicians, literary critics and preachers have argued about the educational role of the literary classics of the Western world. While some have contended that the works themselves are full of immoral teachings and should be banned from libraries and school curricula, others have argued that the stereotypical portrayal of certain characters has a pernicious effect on readers and leads to classism, sexism and racism. Still others, like authors of this lively collection, believe that the classics are indispensable for an understanding of Western society and human nature. Guinness and Cowan gather over 50 brief essays by a number of respected Christian literary scholars that extend invitations to readers to experience anew or for the first time the wonder and the beauty of selected classics. Each essay contains a biographical and historical sketch, a summary of the work being considered, suggestions and bibliographies for further study and questions raised by the text about the interaction of Christian faith and society. The selections range from the Iliad to Machiavelli's The Prince, Flaubert's Madame Bovary and Rushdie's The Satanic Verses. Genres covered range from Shakespeare's plays and Milton's epic poetry to Martin Luther's theological writings and Alexis de Tocqueville's travel writings.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This work examines 50 of the great classic texts of Western literature from a Christian perspective. Cowan (literature, Univ. of Dallas) and Guinness (The Call, Word Books, 1998) compiled criticisms for each classic?including works by Homer, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Dostoyevsky, and Yeats?from an expert in the field. Each section demonstrates how the work relates to Christian doctrine, and topics for further study are included at the end. Unfortunately, these works lean heavily toward male authors, as in most discussion of the great works in Western literature, and the editors confuse their purpose by touching on too many varied ideas while attempting to explain why these works are important from a Christian perspective. Recommended only for public and academic libraries with strong literature and religion departments.?Kim Woodbridge, "The Scientist," Philadelphia
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Baker Pub Group
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801011566
• ISBN 13: 9780801011566
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384
• Editor: Cowan Louise