(From left to right: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Simone Weil, C.S. Lewis, T.S. Eliot)
This year’s Catholic Culture Literature Series features four influential and fascinating authors, none of whom were Catholic. Yet the writings of T.S. Eliot, Simone Weil, C.S. Lewis, and Fyodor Dostoevsky all shared much in common with Catholic theology and philosophy. With these lectures, we hope to inspire Notre Dame undergraduate students to read and appreciate the work of these great non-Catholic luminaries as invaluable to their Catholic formation. Each speaker will spend a good amount of his or her talk on the similarities and differences between the professed faith of each author and the Catholic faith and the way these differences shape each author’s work.
Series Schedule:
All lectures will take place at 8:00 PM in DeBartolo room 155 on the campus of the University of Notre Dame.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
"T.S. Eliot "
Dominic Manganiello, University of Ottowa
T. S. Eliot. Born in the United States in 1888, T.S. Eliot was a poet, playwright, and critic. Eliot converted to Anglicanism in 1927, and later described his beliefs as Anglo-Catholic. Winner of the 1948 Nobel Prize in Literature, Eliot is best known for poems such as The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land, and Ash Wednesday, all of which treat themes prevalently found in Catholic theology. Several of his plays and essays also exhibit qualities of Christian apology.
We at the center chose Eliot because of his reputation as one of the most prominent Christian literary figures of the twentieth century. More specifically, we chose him because of the ideas shared by his poetry and the Catholic faith.
Dominic Manganiello. He is a Professor of English at the University of Ottowa and the author of T.S. Eliot and Dante.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
"Simone Weil "
Ann Astell, University of Notre Dame
Simone Weil. She can be described in a number of ways—philosopher, mystic, and activist. During her short life, she was very politically active, participating in strikes to protest the labor situation in France and also fighting in the Spanish Civil War. Her early writings were focused mostly on social and economic issues such as labor, management, and wages. However, after having one mystical vision in which Christ appeared to her and another in which she reached a state of religious ecstasy, her writings began to address those issues through a spiritual lens. T.S. Eliot described her as “a woman of genius, of a kind of genius akin to that of the saints.”
We chose Weil because of the underlying Christian theodicy in such works as Gravity and Grace and The Need for Roots. We admire her analysis of spirituality and eithers in the French culture of the time.
Ann Astell. She is Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame and the author of “Saintly Mimesis, Contagion, and Empathy in the Thought of René Girard, Edith Stein, and Simone Weil.”
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
"C.S. Lewis"
Joseph Pearce, Ave Maria University
C.S. Lewis. He was raised in an Anglican household, but at the age of 15 declared himself an atheist. More than 15 years later, after being heavily influenced by good friend J.R.R. Tolkien, and The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton, Lewis converted back to Christianity. A novelist, essayist, theologian, and apologist, Christian ideas permeate both his apologetic works and his fiction. His most notable works include The Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, and his Space Trilogy.
We at the center chose Lewis because of the similarities between his works of Christian apologetics and the teachings of the Catholic Church. Not only that, but also because of the underlying Christian themes in his famous works of fiction.
Joseph Pearce. He is a world recognized biographer of modern Christian literary figures, and the author of C.S. Lewis and the Catholic Church.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
"Fyodor Dostoevsky "
Robert Bird, University of Chicago
Fyodor Dostoevsky. He was born in Russia in 1821. As a young man, he was sentenced to death for his connections to a liberal intellectual society. His sentence was changed, at the last minute, to four years of exile in Siberia. During this time, Dostoevsky embraced the Russian Orthodox faith, and following this period, went on to produce some of the greatest works of literature ever written.
Some may be puzzled by the choice of Fyodor Dostoevsky to be the final subject of this series. It seems strange to label a man whose work frequently attacks the institutions of the Roman Church “Close to Catholic.” But the deeply Christian themes that reveal themselves in Dostoevsky’s painfully insightful portrayals of humanity make him essential reading for any educated Christian. Immersed in his works, one cannot shake the feeling that, hidden beyond the intricate plot, there is a greater conflict, one in which the very souls of the characters hang in the balance, and perhaps the soul of the reader, too.
Robert Bird. He is an Associate Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Chicago and the author of “Understanding Dostoevsky: A Comparison of Russian Hermeneutic Theories.”
