As a classicist myself, when I first started reading the Fathers on New Advent, that dream of Jerome’s scared me.
I would’ve interpreted it as the angel referring to the fact that Jerome seemed to put his reading of secular literature above his devotion to God in prayer and other service. However, he doesn’t just agrree to make God his priority in response to this dream. He swears off all classical literature altogether and that is the only thing that seems to release him from his dream. So, it would seem that thsi was the proper response that God wanted, if we are to take his dram as divinely inspired.
Still, the dream may have been meant to be more particular than universal in that what was right for Jerome may have, in fact, been to give up classical literature altogether as, if he kept reading it, it may still have presented a problem for him in prioritizing his spiritual life.
Thing is, in a later letter aimed at his rival Rufinus’ claims that Jerome still quoted classical literature in his writings, Jerome seems pretty much to discount his dream, mentioning that dreams are liable to be just that, dreams. He even cites a verse of Scripture to back up this claim. He also seems to say that he was not entirely conscious of what he was saying/vowing in that dream, so he may not have been fully in his “right mind” in his dream when he vowed what he did (simply because it was a dream and the mind doesn’t always work logically in dreams). (At least, this is what I get out of what he says here. This letter can actually be a little confusing, I think.) In seeming to say that he was not in his right mind at the time, Jerome might even be saying that even his vow was not one he would’ve made were he fully conscious. He, in fact, seems to argue that his dream was NOT divinely given by saying how completely counter to reality many other dreams can be. One might dream, for instance, that he is committing adultery while he would never do so in real life. One might dream that he receives the martyr’s crown while he is obviously not dead in real life. Implicitly, Jerome seems to be saying that the judgment that he saw may simply be a strangeness in a dream rather than anything in reality divinely sent or otherwise significant.
While Jerome does consciously seem to have struggled with his priorities and this may have to whatever degree influenced his dream, whether it was divinely inspired or not seems to be a question. Does the Church have any official position on the inspiration of this dream of Jerome?
I mean, there were certainly other Christians, both earlier, within Jerome’s time and later who read classical literature for various reasons.
Also, if we are to take Jerome’s dream and his vow as literally applicable in every sense to our lives, we all would have to give up all secular literature (and possibly movies, music, etc.) and focus entirely on sacred things.
Any other thoughts on this?
