San Antonio College Library

Carefully avoiding the contentions that religion can be found everywhere in literature and that literature is a tool of religion, this study argues that a legitimate and fruitful relationship between the two must be based on an adequate understanding of the nature and function of each. Literature, by presenting the subtleties of men's responses to every aspect of the world and their fellows, can aid the Christian faith by educating it to the complexities...

Mark Twain is often pictured as a severe critic of religious piety, shaking his fist at God and mocking the devout. Such a view, however, is only partly correct. It ignores the social realities of Twains major period as a writer and his own spiritual interests: his participation in church activities, his socially progressive agenda, his reliance on religious themes in his major works, and his friendships with clergymen, especially his pastor and best...

Examines the life and beliefs of William Shakespeare, presenting evidence to support the author's argument that the playwright was a member of the Catholic faith, and looking at how the religion informed his writing.

In recent years, there has been an explosion in the market for fiction on religious topics and themes, most notably Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. The variety of contemporary religious fiction and the publishing phenomenon surrounding it indicate that this literature transcends any overt religious meaning and is significant in its political and social implications; it is emblematic of the contemporary American Zeitgeist. Traditionally, literature...