Comparing Catholic and Protestant literature

[RNRobert]

In James Cardinal Gibbon’s excellent book Faith of Our Fathers, he writes

You will search in vain outside the Catholic Church for writers comparable in unction and healthy piety to such I have mentioned. Compare, for instance, Kempis with Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, or Butler’s *Lives of the Saints *with Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. You lay down Butler with a sweet and tranquil devotion, filled with profound admiration for the Christian heroes whose lives he records; while you put aside Foxe with a troubled mind and a sense of vindictive bitterness.

A distinguished Episcopal clergyman of Baltimore once avowed to me that his favorite books of devotion were our standard works of piety. In saying this, he paid a merited and graceful tribute to the superiority of Catholic spiritual literature.

To be fair to Bunyan, his book isn’t in quite the genre as Kempis’ Imitation of Christ. I’ve read it and found it an enjoyable read, even if the author does take a swipe at the Catholic Church in a couple places (however, in Part 2 of Bunyan’s book, one of the characters falls ill and is cured when the doctor makes a ‘physic’ made “Ex Carne, & Sanguini Christi” which the patient was “to take three at a time, fasting,” which sounds almost…well…*Eucharistic. *But I digress).
Over the years I’ve been a Christian, I’ve read a number of books written by Protestant writers: C.S. Lewis (still one of my faves), Dorothy Sayer (I love her book *The Whimsical Christian), *J.B. Phillips, Max Lucado, Joni Erickson Tada, John Trent and Gary Smalley, Churck Colson, and many others.
I’ve learned alot from these authors and have been blessed by their writings. Yet, for some reason, I’ve found Catholic literature, whether written by older writers such as Thomas a Kempis, St Francis de Sales, St Leonard of Port Maurice, or later authors such as G.K Chesterton, Fulton Sheen, and Scott Hahn, to have more width and depth to them. There are exceptions (C.S. Lewis comes close, and is certainly more orthodox than certain Catholics like Fr. McBrien; and the few Eastern Orthodox books I’ve read are as good as Catholic literature), but I find Catholic literature to be “meatier” (for the lack of a better word) than the best Evangelical writings.

Anyone else experience this in their readings?

 

[Asbestos_Mango]

I went to a Baptist school for a couple of years, and Foxe’s Book of Martyers and Pilgrim’s Progress were both required reading.

Foxe is most definitely vindictive and anti-Catholic.

I found Bunyan to be, well, empty and insulting to my intelligence.

I’m personally partial to Eastern Christian spiritual works.

 

[Sr_Sally]

I agree. In fact I was commenting on this to someone else recently. Especially in the area of “devotional teachings”, I find Protestant authors to be lighter weight than a similar Catholic book. For example, most Protestant devotional books for woman talk about finding 15-30 minutes a day for ‘quiet time’. And then discuss being a good wife and mother. Similar Catholic books (ie, not written by a Saint ), talk about going to daily mass, praying a daily family rosary, attending Adoration, and going to Confession–much more than even 30 minutes a day!
Fiction is the same–we have Flannery O’Connor! I really can’t stand the romantic drivel that is sold as Christian fiction these days!

 

[Mordocai]

I would assume the reason Catholic literature is more “meatier” as you say is because most Protestant authors are writing more as a “this book can change your life” approach.
By that I mean a, broader and more sweeping grasp at the general population.
But Catholic lit is written for catechized (for the most part) Catholics.
Protestant authors never know who’s going to read their books, perhaps might shy away from getting doctrinal?
Catholics lay it on the line.

Protestant spirituality, reletively new, constantly changing?
Catholic spirituality is of course different.

Meatier because only the people that buy them can ingest it.
(not putting anyone down, just saying fulton sheen did not write for a newly baptized 20 year old Christian)

all gets down to audience.
i wanna hear what some protestant authors REALLY have to say

 

[covakid]

G.K. Chesterton has away about him and what a thinker he is, has anyone watch the TV show on EWTN called G. K. Chesterton The Apostle of Common Sense Produced by EWTN, he is a link to audio files of the show, it’s a nice way to get introduced to Chesterton.

 

[Mintaka]

It’s foolish to judge art by the artist’s denomination. I mean, yes, we have a lot of great Catholic meatiness to draw on, but that’s also part of humanity’s common heritage for anyone who cares to look. Meanwhile, there are plenty of us Catholics who couldn’t write as well as Sayers or Lewis to save our lives!

Bunyan’s actually a pretty clever adaptation of the old romances to an acceptably Protestant format, and thus saved a lot of Protestant kids down the years from utter boredom in their reading. I think that counts as an act of charity.

So, yeah, take pride in and take advantage of good Catholic reading, but don’t get triumphalist about it.

Also, remember that all good and beautiful things belong to the Catholic Church, and therefore we have the right to “spoil the Egyptians” of all the world’s literature. Including the devotional kind.

 

[Della]

What I’ve noticed is that much of Protestant literature, especially Evangelical, seems to have to hammer home the point. Going from point A to point B by the straightest route.

If a character is an alcoholic, for example, by the end of the story he will have repented at a Billy Graham meeting and be completely released from his affliction. Not that that sort of thing doesn’t appear in Catholic stories, but it is much more prevalent in Protestant ones.

IOW, the message is much more important than the story in a similar way that special effects are sometimes more important in a film than the story. It might thrill some but it has little heart, character development, or depth.

 

[RNRobert]

Years ago I read Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness. It was ok, but I wasn’t that crazy about it. The thing that ticked me off the most were the depictions of the angels and devils fighting. They had physical wings (the angels had feathered wings and the devils had bat’s wings). Personally, I found the devils in C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters to be far more menacing.

 

[Eddy]

I think it depends on the Catholic literature and the Protestant literature. And I’d have to add that it doesn’t necessarily have to be divided into camps. There’s a lot of lightweight stuff out there on both sides…

Good contemporary Protestant writers who appeal across the board beyond Protestantism include Richard Foster (on Simplicity), Jim Wallis, Eugene Peterson (who has reawakened the interest in spiritual direction among many Protestants), Rowan Williams, Tom Wright and Fredrick Buechner (whose light touch hides an incredible depth of insight).

There are also spiritual ‘greats’ from the past, including George Fox, Wesley and, more recently, Bonhoeffer (whose devotional writings are outstanding - The Cost of Discipleship is a brilliant, but dangerous, book). Many Protestants would also read the pre-Reformation ‘greats’ - Bernard of Clairvaux is a favourite, for reasons I’ve never quite understood!

Which is a long way of saying, don’t write off Protestant spirituality on the basis of some of the ‘how too’ books which seem popular in some circles!

 

[Lissla_Lissar]

In general, I agree with you. The literature is one of the reasons I’m becoming Catholic- there is just so much more depth to the Catholic writers I’ve read- more of an ability to grapple with evil. I’m joining the Church largely because of G. K. Chesterton, Thomas Merton, Brother Lawrence, Michael O’Brien, Evelyn Waugh, and George Weigel. Well, and for some other reasons, too.

In spite of that, there are a lot of Protestants who have guided my journey, spiritually, and whose writing I love. C. S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, and Kathleen Norris have been enormously influential for me, and I’m grateful for their writing. And Orthodoxy, my favourite Chesterton book, was written while he was Anglican.

The best book I’ve read recently that’s by a Christian isn’t Catholic, though, and it has great depth and power. So, I think Catholicism gives you more space and depth, and I’ve found more compelling Catholic authors than Protestant, which doesn’t mean that there aren’t any amazing Protestant writers.

Or something.