The Truth and Beauty: How the Lives and Works of England's Greatest Poets Point the Way to a Deeper Understanding of the Words of Jesus
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- Create Date：2022-04-10 06:51:58
- Update Date：2025-09-07
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- Author：Andrew Klavan
- ISBN：0310364612
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Summary
Follow Andrew Klavan to a deeper， richer understanding of the words of Jesus。
Andrew Klavan believed what he read in the Gospels， but he often struggled to understand what Jesus really meant。 So he began a journey of wrestling with the beautiful and often strange words of Jesus。
He learned Greek in order to read the Gospels in their original languages， and he vowed to set aside any preconceptions about what the Scriptures say。 But it wasn't until he began exploring how some of history's greatest writers wrestled with the same issues we confront today--political upheaval， rejection of social norms， growing disbelief in God--that he found a new way of understanding what Jesus meant。
In The Truth and Beauty， Klavan combines a decades-long writing career with a lifetime of reading to discover a fresh understanding of the Gospels。 By reading the words of Jesus through the life and work of writers such as William Wordsworth and John Keats， Mary Shelley and Samuel Taylor Coleridge--the English romantics--Klavan discovered a way to encounter Jesus in a deeper and more profound way than ever before。
For readers seeking to find renewed meaning in the words of Jesus--and for those who are striving for belief in a materialistic world--The Truth and Beauty offers an intimate account of one man's struggle to understand the Gospels in all their strangeness， and so find his way to a life that is， as he says， "the most creative， the most joyful， and surely the most true。"
Andrew Klavan believed what he read in the Gospels， but he often struggled to understand what Jesus really meant。 So he began a journey of wrestling with the beautiful and often strange words of Jesus。
He learned Greek in order to read the Gospels in their original languages， and he vowed to set aside any preconceptions about what the Scriptures say。 But it wasn't until he began exploring how some of history's greatest writers wrestled with the same issues we confront today--political upheaval， rejection of social norms， growing disbelief in God--that he found a new way of understanding what Jesus meant。
In The Truth and Beauty， Klavan combines a decades-long writing career with a lifetime of reading to discover a fresh understanding of the Gospels。 By reading the words of Jesus through the life and work of writers such as William Wordsworth and John Keats， Mary Shelley and Samuel Taylor Coleridge--the English romantics--Klavan discovered a way to encounter Jesus in a deeper and more profound way than ever before。
For readers seeking to find renewed meaning in the words of Jesus--and for those who are striving for belief in a materialistic world--The Truth and Beauty offers an intimate account of one man's struggle to understand the Gospels in all their strangeness， and so find his way to a life that is， as he says， "the most creative， the most joyful， and surely the most true。"
Reviews
Dan Lawler
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The New RomanticsAuthor Andrew Klavan was bummed by the Beatitudes。 They read to him like: "Blessed are you when your life is awful， because in heaven， trust me， it's gonna be great。" （page 6。） When he realized his problem was trying to understand a philosophy instead of getting to know a person， he determined to read the Gospels with a pure， blank-slate mind: "I ignored every doctrine of theology， including those of the apostle Paul; I wanted Jesus direct， unfiltered by tradition。" （p。 5。） That The New RomanticsAuthor Andrew Klavan was bummed by the Beatitudes。 They read to him like: "Blessed are you when your life is awful， because in heaven， trust me， it's gonna be great。" （page 6。） When he realized his problem was trying to understand a philosophy instead of getting to know a person， he determined to read the Gospels with a pure， blank-slate mind: "I ignored every doctrine of theology， including those of the apostle Paul; I wanted Jesus direct， unfiltered by tradition。" （p。 5。） That didn't help: "It wasn't just the Sermon on the Mount that I found odd and blurry。 It was almost all blurry and all odd。" （p。 10。） So he turned back to philosophy - way back - to the Romanticism of the early 1800s， and began "reconstructing Jesus" accordingly。 （pp。 167-228。） Romanticism has become something of a fad for Christians in search of meaning in our post-Christian， post-Modern times。 See， e。g。， Romantic Religion by R。 J。 Reilly; Faith， Hope and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination by Malcom Guite; Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God by Rankin Wilbourne; The Imagination of God: Art， Creativity and Truth in the Bible by Brian Godawa; Apologetics and the Christian Imagination by Holly Ordway。 But Romanticism was short-lived for a reason， and the new Romantics have singularly failed to warrant its revival。 After the Enlightenment reduced the universe to meaningless matter in motion， Romanticism endeavored to re-enchant the world。 While its poets promised a spiritual reality beyond what the eyes can see， all they delivered were metaphors about spiritual things derived from their perceptions of the natural world。 The poet might speak of beholding heaven in a dew drop but all he really saw was the dew drop; heaven was only imagined。 People who wanted a real heaven eventually discovered the poets only offered an imaginary one， and so Romanticism withered away。The author here offers nothing more than the original Romantics， namely， metaphors。 Jesus is a metaphor， your life is a metaphor， metaphors are metaphors for other metaphors， and its "metaphors all the way down，" says Klavan。 （p。 175。） Like the old Romantics， the new ones never reach a spiritual reality。 Nature is as close as we can get to a spiritual realm because， the poets tell us， Nature is a metaphor for the kingdom of heaven。 And that kingdom is within us。 We create it with our imaginations， or rather， the poets create it for us as they are better at imagining things。 One thing the original Romantics held in common with their philosophical foes， the Materialists， was the Kantian view that the perceived world was the only one accessible to human understanding， and ultimate reality - if it existed at all - was unknowable。 Thus the Romantics declared that if the world was to be infused with spiritual life， the poets had to first create then put it there。 Samuel Coleridge wrote， "Ah！ From the soul itself must issue forth; A light， a glory， a fair luminous cloud; Enveloping the Earth--。" With God's reality unreachable， the poets claimed for themselves the God-like power of creating spiritual reality。 Coleridge described his own imaginative powers as "a repetition in the finite mind of the eternal act of creation in the infinite I AM" and poet-philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder wrote， "The artist is become a creator God。"Of course， today's Christian Romantics cannot be so bold as their 19th Century predecessors。 They must at least pay lip-service to the existence of a real， ultimate Triune God about whom something true can be known。 Klavan tries， but he's not very convincing: "I believe with all my heart that God is three persons， Father， Son， and Holy Ghost， but if it turns out he's five guys named Moe， I'm not going to cancel my vacation。" （p。 6。） And that， my friends， is the author's deeper understanding of the Gospels gleaned from England's greatest poets。 。。。more
Marcás
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