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A Theology of Fiction
What does literature—both classic and contemporary—have to do with God? A Theology of Fiction looks at our inheritance as “people of the book” to consider how stories found outside of Scripture can—often in oblique but potentially transformative ways—speak to us of the Word.
A Theology of Fiction traces the legacy of Sister Mariella Gable, O.S.B., the stubborn, sharp, influential critic, anthologist, and professor who helped usher in the mid-20th century triumph in American Catholic letters. Part literary history, part literary and theological criticism, it revives Sister Mariella’s clarion call for a vision of a metaphysical but deeply-sensed three-dimensional realism, one capable of shoring us up against the impoverishment of contemporary -isms and reductions.
Cassandra Nelson shares her own testimony as evidence of the reality of Providence, and of the moral and spiritual reorientation the reading life offers. Stories often reach us in kairos time: a book will arrive just when we need it, drawing us into another duration so that we can partake of reality’s deeper designs. She posits that in the masterful fiction of writers ranging from Shakespeare to Muriel Spark to David Foster Wallace readers can find proof of a God whose love comes to us, sometimes through knotted, supposedly “secular” plots and seemingly profane stories, to connect us with the source of holiness, the one who writes straight with crooked lines.
A Theology of Fiction traces the legacy of Sister Mariella Gable, O.S.B., the stubborn, sharp, influential critic, anthologist, and professor who helped usher in the mid-20th century triumph in American Catholic letters. Part literary history, part literary and theological criticism, it revives Sister Mariella’s clarion call for a vision of a metaphysical but deeply-sensed three-dimensional realism, one capable of shoring us up against the impoverishment of contemporary -isms and reductions.
Cassandra Nelson shares her own testimony as evidence of the reality of Providence, and of the moral and spiritual reorientation the reading life offers. Stories often reach us in kairos time: a book will arrive just when we need it, drawing us into another duration so that we can partake of reality’s deeper designs. She posits that in the masterful fiction of writers ranging from Shakespeare to Muriel Spark to David Foster Wallace readers can find proof of a God whose love comes to us, sometimes through knotted, supposedly “secular” plots and seemingly profane stories, to connect us with the source of holiness, the one who writes straight with crooked lines.
- GenresNonfiction
116 pages, Paperback
Published January 21, 2025
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41 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 17, 2025
Great fiction effects the re-education of loves in the reader.
"What lay authors needed to do was stop writing about priests and start chronicling their own experiences, and particularly the increasingly 'heroic fortitude' needed to sustain a marriage and to raise a family in modern American culture. In an age that encourages materialism and instant gratification of the ego's every whim, some people still choose to make room for contemplation, for charity, for sanctity - or at least they try to. In their efforts 'lies the reality out of which a great and noble fiction might be made.'" (30)
"What lay authors needed to do was stop writing about priests and start chronicling their own experiences, and particularly the increasingly 'heroic fortitude' needed to sustain a marriage and to raise a family in modern American culture. In an age that encourages materialism and instant gratification of the ego's every whim, some people still choose to make room for contemplation, for charity, for sanctity - or at least they try to. In their efforts 'lies the reality out of which a great and noble fiction might be made.'" (30)
February 28, 2025
Given how wonderful Wiseblood's monograph editions usually are, perhaps I had unreasonable expectations for a long essay called "A Theology of Fiction." Had the book been called "Thoughts, Anecdotes, and Academic Reflections on Fiction, Research, Teaching, and Religion Presented Like a Playlist on Shuffle," I would've adjusted those expectations. Admittedly, there is much to like. For one, Nelson introduced me to Sister Mariella and Betty Wahl (though left me, unfortunately, wishing the essay had just committed to telling their stories and theories). The essay isn't short on ideas or questions. It's simply lacking an organizing principle. The overall effect is like arriving at a gallery to view a painting or sculpture but instead finding a collage. Again, it may simply be a matter of expectations or taste; there's nothing wrong with a pleasant collage. Though I can't, for the life of me, think of an example of a transcendent one.
February 17, 2025
4.5 stars
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November 16, 2025Review forthcoming.
May 12, 2025
The plainly titled 'A Theology of Fiction' immediately drew my attention. For years, the consideration of how fiction and literature provide a sort of spiritual formation has intrigued me. Christian authors like Jessica Hooten Wilson, Karen Swallow Prior, and others have helped guide me. This short book continued my journey of trying to understand, 'What is it that God does through fiction?'
Nelsons theological reflection of fiction is centered largely around the question of 'What is catholic fiction?' By this she does not mean Roman Catholic.
Catholic fiction sees real things without reducing them to materialism. Like a Flannery O'Conner novel, it takes 'real life' and points towards metaphysical realities within it. Nelson helpfully describes that the gaps in our understanding between our lived experiences and metaphysical realities are not problems to be reconciled, but mysteries to be accepted by faith. This process of pointing to the metaphysical through the concrete 'ordinary' and 'day to day' makes catholic fiction a type of sacramental practice. This stands in contrast to some Christian literature that seeks to point to the metaphysical analogically or metaphorically (ie. Pilgrims Progress). While Nelson does not critique this approach, she does describe well the value that comes through a more 'concrete' approach.
Good fiction helps us see our current reality in light of the eternal. Good fiction places our work relationships, the babysitters we choose, our meals, laundry, and more in an eschatological narrative. There is only one plot, one narrative, that of redemption. Thus, all events in life are part of a grand story worth telling, especially the mundane. For none of us have ever slain a dragon, yet most have done the dishes and lied to a parent.
'The bards of antiquity spoke of muses. Perhaps we may speak of the Holy Spirit as the source behind those shimmering moments of indeterminacy in literature.... Perhaps the flickers of meaning and transcendence we find in literature are designed to guide us, patiently and at our own pace, toward and encounter with Christ, the Incarnate Word, in whom content and form are perfectly united and through whom all things were made'
Nelsons theological reflection of fiction is centered largely around the question of 'What is catholic fiction?' By this she does not mean Roman Catholic.
Catholic fiction sees real things without reducing them to materialism. Like a Flannery O'Conner novel, it takes 'real life' and points towards metaphysical realities within it. Nelson helpfully describes that the gaps in our understanding between our lived experiences and metaphysical realities are not problems to be reconciled, but mysteries to be accepted by faith. This process of pointing to the metaphysical through the concrete 'ordinary' and 'day to day' makes catholic fiction a type of sacramental practice. This stands in contrast to some Christian literature that seeks to point to the metaphysical analogically or metaphorically (ie. Pilgrims Progress). While Nelson does not critique this approach, she does describe well the value that comes through a more 'concrete' approach.
Good fiction helps us see our current reality in light of the eternal. Good fiction places our work relationships, the babysitters we choose, our meals, laundry, and more in an eschatological narrative. There is only one plot, one narrative, that of redemption. Thus, all events in life are part of a grand story worth telling, especially the mundane. For none of us have ever slain a dragon, yet most have done the dishes and lied to a parent.
'The bards of antiquity spoke of muses. Perhaps we may speak of the Holy Spirit as the source behind those shimmering moments of indeterminacy in literature.... Perhaps the flickers of meaning and transcendence we find in literature are designed to guide us, patiently and at our own pace, toward and encounter with Christ, the Incarnate Word, in whom content and form are perfectly united and through whom all things were made'
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews