The Importance of Good Literature to Spiritual Development.
The landscape of much of good literature mirrors in so many ways both the landscape of the Christian Gospel and the landscape of the Christian life.
Good triumphs by surprising Evil with the strength of what Evil despises and dismisses: love, humility, loyalty, selflessness, sacrifice.
Our desire for the restoration of our broken world and for a meaningful role in that restoration is nurtured by the themes of good literature.
Books stir in us a concern for the suffering of others, and a deep desire for the good of others. Reading nourishes the imagination. The capacity for imagination is the foundation of empathy.
In good literature we learn some of the complexity of human motivations. We learn sympathy for people we might otherwise judge too quickly. We learn the value of people who are undervalued.
Books grow in us a longing for love, beauty, kindness, courage, loyalty. We learn the value of friendship, responsibility, selflessness. We learn that moral choices count and that life is full of meaning and purpose. And since a good story involves us so intimately with its characters and its world, we experience these truths very profoundly.