It’s no secret the world owes much of its greatest art to Christendom. Whether it’s classic literature like Shakespeare, the timeless cantatas of Mozart and Bach, or the otherworldly frescoes at the Sistine Chapel, Christianity has inspired the most celebrated artwork in history. The secular world routinely borrows from the Judeo-Christian narrative in its pursuit of a compelling story, woven with the biblical fabrics of justice and redemption.
It’s justice and redemption and the letdown should neither triumph that inform our hearts and imaginations as we create or experience a narrative. There’s a spiritual undercurrent evident even to the secular world that makes these longings inescapable despite our struggle to achieve them in the nonfictional world with which we engage. One reason we fail to achieve them is because we often disagree about what justice is, or should be, as we too easily see played out with little civility on the political scene. Nevertheless, we nearly all agree that justice is central to the human constitution. But from where do these ideals stem? And why are they so vital to us as a species? And why are they so powerful whether we find them in a place of worship or a comic book series?
Men and women have shed their blood on behalf of justice in redeeming acts all throughout history. Here’s to betting they’ll continue to throughout the remaining centuries. Perhaps it’s because, regardless of what we claim to believe, we all operate as though universal truths are inescapable realities. By obliging the governing ethics of society, by obliging even a bedtime story with moral underpinnings, even the most agnostic among us acquiesce to the concept of Truth with a capital ‘T.’ And until the world fully conforms to whatever our notion of this Truth may be, we find ourselves forever restless in our quest to see justice carried out for all peoples in perpetuity. Perhaps the reason we desire this Truth be universally observed is because we also have this peculiar impulse ingrained in our beings which compels us to seek the good of our fellow Man despite the sufferings it may lavish upon us amidst the undertaking.
This impulse is no stranger to us despite its peculiarity. For as long as Man has lifted his hand against his brother in iniquity, this impulse has been haunting injustices of every sort, threatening our fallen world with restoration, peace, and beauty. What is this impulse that’s been righting wrongs all throughout human history? What is it that threatens the darkness that befalls all nations indiscriminately? Christianity calls it love. And without love, says St. Paul, we are nothing.
Truth and love, or true love if you will, is what propels a narrative toward the justice we set out for when we embark on a literary journey. When we cozy up to the fireplace with an epic trilogy like The Lord of the Rings, we’re looking to be fulfilled not solely by the author’s imagination, but by whatever on God’s green earth is capable of inspiring such a masterpiece. Deep down we all suspect there’s something behind the veil of literature. Undoubtedly, there’s a profound mystery throwing these words onto the page. If we could dig but a little deeper and reach behind the storytelling. If we could dig but a little deeper. If we could only get a peek.
Where do these timeless truths and virtues ultimately originate?
“We have come from God and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed, only by myth-making, only by becoming a sub-creator and inventing stories, can Man ascribe to the state of perfection that he knew before the fall.” (J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography, Humphrey Carpenter, Ch. IV, 1977).
As Tolkien seems to suggest, perhaps we find the “true light,” the ultimate fulfillment of all these longings—not in a piece of man-made literature (though we certainly find “splintered” traces therein)—but perhaps we find the true light in the God of Christianity, the embodiment of Truth, Love, Justice, and Redemption.
When we sub-create, whether it be by inventing stories or by more pragmatic means, we, perhaps unwittingly, commit ourselves to the work of restoring God’s masterpiece, the state of perfection found in scripture, a place we know as The Garden of Eden. We’re told Eden has been lost to us due to the failures of Adam and Eve, but the rest of scripture is the story of God working to redeem creation throughout the centuries. This “new creation” of which scripture and Christian folklore often speaks is not merely mythology; it’s the epitome of what it means to exist. We’re part of the story. Just as the potter meticulously sculpts the clay, the Author of all creation continues to pen Human History, yet He does so in such a way as to offer his creatures a decisive role to play. And when all roles have seen completion, and the curtain closes on the final scene, this epic story will crescendo into a heavenly encore that’s been in the works since creation’s unraveling.
“And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new […] Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’” (Revelation 21:5)
Wherever a story is written, wherever love fends off the evil forces that be, therein are echoes of Eden.
Avit Wilderness
Avit Wilderness is a writer and musician, but foremost a devout Catholic, husband, and father of seven. Avit runs the website www.maryandthemakebelievers.com and is currently working on a young adult novel, Johnny Doors & The Make Believers.