This week’s author interview is with Clifford Foreman, author of Literature in the Faithful Learning series.

• What was your purpose in writing this?

I hope that I can convince some people that, for a number of reasons, it is important for Christians to study literature. Certainly reading great works teaches us to use the language better ourselves. It also can help us to understand the Bible better. Beyond that, we can experience the sheer delight that comes from beautifully arranged words. That delight reflects the way God created us as human beings.

• What works of literature did you concentrate on and why?

I teach American literature, so I decided to stick to American writers mainly. Of course, our tradition is rooted in the English tradition, and I have taught British novels, Romantic and Victorian poetry, Shakespeare–but particularly in the twentieth century, American writers emerged as leaders in the literature of the world. So the two works I give the most attention to are a poem by Frost and a passage from Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. In my mind, Fitzgerald and Frost are two of the greatest writers in our American tradition and in the twentieth century–even though neither won the Nobel Prize, and Eliot, Faulkner, and Hemingway did.

• Though you defend reading works by secular writers, do you see any dangers in it?

Certainly–there is always danger in paying attention to the ideas and feelings of our unbelieving neighbors.  Spending our lives reading their works is like living on the border of the Kingdom of God, rather than moving inland. But if we are going to speak to those outside, we have to speak their language, we have to be part of that world and to learn to live in it well. Also, though, our neighbors are gifted and those gifts were given to them by our Heavenly Father. We should be able to appreciate their work and praise the one who enabled it at the same time.

• What do you think about the state of reading and writing in our culture?

There certainly are threats to reading and writing. The resurgence of the visual element in communication sometimes seems to have handicapped people in their ability to argue. Many students concentrate on developing their visual abilities and ignore the importance of the language. That’s true of Christians as well. When I tell my students that I think their abuse of the language is a sin, they laugh. We should be thinking God for our language continually. But in many ways the internet, smart phones, and email have led people to write and read more. Many of our children have developed agile and eloquent thumbs.  And book clubs are springing up like dandelions; people are reading novels as well as seeing the movies made from them. It’s important that while, on the one hand, we enjoy the blessings of the new media, we hold onto the language with the other.

This week’s interview is with P&R editor, D. Marion Clark. Marion is the editor of The Problem of Good: When the World Seems Fine without God.

• Question #1 – Which writers inspire you?

C.S. Lewis, John Donne, George Herbert, J.R.R. Tolkien. I cannot emulate them. I find their writings sublime and cannot but be inspired in my spirit.

• Question #2 – What inspired you to write this book, about this topic?

The problem of good is the issue that has most challenged my faith. How can so much good and beauty come forth from the actions and writings of not only unregenerate persons but from immoral persons? How do I account for the beauty and truth that springs from the pens of atheists, agnostics, and outright immoral authors? And then there is the matter of discerning what we as Christians may learn from unregenerate writers and even enjoy in their writings and arts and professional skills.

I knew that the answer lay in the doctrine of common grace, but I could find little extensive work on the subject, and even less written for the lay reader. Thus The Problem of Good is my attempt to fill in to a measure that gap with the hope that others will explore the doctrine further. As I study the doctrine more, I am convinced that a deeper understanding the doctrine clears up the fundamental problem of how the unregenerate can produce works that possess beauty, truth, and practical good, as well as give Christians guidance on how to be in the world while being not of it.

I am only one of the writers in the book. The rest were chosen for their expertise in their fields, and so they are able to give insight into various questions – what does the doctrine entail? How does the doctrine affect witnessing, learning from our neighbor, loving our neighbor, and enjoying what our neighbor has to offer?

• Question #3 – Other than the Bible, do you have a favorite book?

No one book, but any by the authors listed above. And for some reason I am drawn to the Arthurian legend. T. H. White’s The Once and Future King is filled with spiritual insight, a testimony to the work of common grace.

• Question #4 – Do you have a favorite author? Who is it and why?

C.S. Lewis is easily the author I turn to the most. My interest in him began in college when I was allowed to design a self-study course on him. Whatever his genre, he has the ability to craft sentences that engage the reader. I learned from him that one may know a subject well, but there is a gift to putting words together. I can pull down any of his books and essays, open randomly to a page, and become immediately engaged.

• Question #5 – Do you have a favorite quote? What is it and why?

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” The Fellowship of the Ring

More than once I have not kept my feet and was swept off to places and experiences never intended but always enlightening.

• Question #6 – Is there anything you would like to add that you have not been asked about?

The Problem of Good is especially helpful to the young person entering a secular college where he or she will tackle this problem head on. Young people leave the faith not because they were confronted with the problem of evil, but because they met intelligent, winsome professors and students. This causes them to question how necessary it is to profess the Christian faith. This book will help them make sense of what they experience, as well as help them to gain greater appreciation for the ways of our great God.

How can readers discover more about you and your work?

• Website: www.dmcresources.com
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/dmarionclark