Book Review: The Truth and Beauty
The Truth and Beauty: How the Lives and Works of England's Greatest Poets Point the Way to a Deeper Understanding of the Words of Jesus
-6 December 2022-
Publisher: Harper Collins Religious US
By Andrew Klavan
“The Romantics set aside all religious precepts and traditions in order to see things anew. And in an age that was much like ours—an age of unbelief—these genius poets, in works of spectacular depth and beauty, in ways that were often unintentional—either accidentally or guided by a hand they could not perceive—blazed a literary trail back from the ruins of the old faith—from the smoking shambles left by human superstition, corruption, and violence—toward the original vision that Christ delivered not only in the Sermon on the Mount but in all the works and words of that invisible biography that hovers in the creedal silence between his miraculous birth and his suffering death.”
About the Book
The Truth and Beauty is essentially a two-volume work[1]. The first ‘volume’ is a two-part exploration of the world of the arts and the insights it gives into the person of Jesus Christ. The first part deals with the problem of a godless world as a perhaps inevitable outcome of the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment. Klavan is looking for reasons amongst the artists for why the world seemed to go so wrong. The second part of the first volume is an examination of the worlds of Wordsworth and Keats, who in the words of the author are the greatest exemplars of the Romantic Age. The author sees in Romanticism an attempt at pulling back from the godless abyss occasioned by industry and technology and our inability to make sense of either in the presence of God. The second volume is the author’s own reflection on the Gospels and the insights he brings as an artist. The two volumes, although forming one work, should be reviewed as distinct from each other.
Volume I
The author opens with an admission of a difficulty: “I don’t understand the sermon on the mount.” The Gospel did not always make sense to him. “Love you enemy,” “turn the other cheek” always seemed like wonderful ideas that should never be put into practice. Yet, they had an irresistible pull upon his heart. He knew that he needed to do more than honour them from afar- he had to embrace them. But he struggled to do so. The beginnings of an answer were found in the words of his own son: “Maybe the problem is that you are trying to understand a philosophy instead of trying to get to know a man.” It is then that the author embarks upon a quest to understand Jesus the man. He learned to read the Gospels in the original Greek, in an attempt at understanding who Jesus was. He tried to look at Jesus as he would at any man on first meeting him, or as a character in a history novel. He wanted to abandon any preexisting notions he had of him. He eschewed philosophy, theology and tradition- even the apostle Paul. He wanted an unfettered Jesus- direct and unfiltered. The author is expressing a desire I think that many Christians experience- they want to get beyond the surface level of things. To come to the profoundest understanding of the deepest truths. Christ did not come so that we could all just behave- He came so that we might have life and have it to the full. But after we have removed every obstacle and stumbling block- our sins, vices and misconceptions- what could this life possibly look like?
The author makes a keen observation- our world looks like the world of the romantics. Their world was overshadowed by the French Revolution and the falsehoods it promised and the failure that it became. Our world is overcome by the sexual and cultural revolution that promised the same utopia and has failed in the same ways. The romantics were the artistic vanguard of a conservative movement that would eventually usher in the Victorian period. The author sees the same thing in our age- a coming conservatism and a return to stronger values. For this insight alone, this book is worth your time.
The first part of the first volume is an extremely interesting exploration of the worlds of Shakespeare, Shelley (Mary) and Milton. His insights into their works of literature and the artistic mindset pull back the curtains on an artist’s mind through the mind of an artist. It is fascinating vision of how culture truly is downstream of religion, and is always an expression of man’s religious instinct- to discover and live into the deepest meaning of things.
Even though this book is well structured, it would be amiss of me to give you the impression that it is neatly structured. The author returns on serval occasions to ideas and people that he had mentioned previously. A strictly systematic presentation of material is the province of the academic, not the artist. The artist is trying to always remove and reveal- and he does so in layers. And so, from time to time, he has to come back and peal something away that he forgot; or reveal something else that he has just remembered.
I can heartily recommend that any Christian read the first two parts of the first volume. Although, I can recommend this work, it is not for the stated reasons of the author. Even though the desire to “know Christ as He is” is an understandable one- it is precisely the very thing the author does not do. He states at the start he wanted unfettered access to the person of Christ, and then he goes looking for insights in the works of authors, artists, and poets. He tossed aside tradition and its theology, but went looking for wisdom in the arts. It is a common failing amongst Protestants to want to get to the “real Jesus”. The great problem is not their desire but their method. Their starting point- Sacred Scripture- is itself received wisdom and the fruit of the very tradition they see as getting in the way. The author concedes the same point himself: there are four Gospels and therefore four accounts of the Gospel; and they read as four accounts of four different men. But they are accounts- “the real and unfettered Jesus” we will only fully experience in eternity. The same tradition that makes Christ known to us today cannot be removed from the person of Jesus as we know him. It is to quite literally saw off the branch upon which you are sitting. The author, in seeking inspiration from the arts, is doing the very thing he said he wouldn’t- he is looking to received wisdom. And that is a very catholic thing to do. This book is a success despite the author’s intention to self-sabotage at the start. He is closer to Catholicism than even he perhaps realises. And that is what makes the first volume such a work worthy of your time and money. To be an authentic Christian artist is to be catholic.
Volume II
The second volume (or part 3 as the author categorises it) is a romantic meditation on the Gospels. The author is very candid about not being a theologian, priest or pastor. He is just a guy- who from time to time- find himself sitting in the pews. Praying, reading and thinking about the Lord. And so, he shares the fruits of this encounter. I must confess, I do not always find reading the reflections of others on the Gospel very helpful. This probably says more about the hardness of my own head or heart. I am a little like Goldilocks- it has to be just right. Despite the encouragement of many- I refuse to watch Chosen for this very reason. I would more than likely find myself arguing along the way. However, these reflections are worthy of your time, as they are the reflections of an artists and not an exegete or an academic. This will appeal to many.
There is something that I must address about this section. And that regards the author’s opinion on the perpetual virginity of Mary. He states that he does not believe it to be the case. And the reason he gives largely centre on the proper and normal womanly role in marriage and that he sees no contradiction in Mary living into that role. And the fact that Jesus had “brothers” seems to be an admission in the Gospel that she did so. There are really two comments I would make. The first, is that I would quote the author’s words to the author that he has said elsewhere but on many occasions: “I don’t care what you think. When it comes to questions of God, I don’t care about your opinion.” He has mentioned that on several occasions, especially when speaking of his struggles to find a church that preached the gospel and not politics. However, if you follow that line of thinking to its logical conclusions, then you should ignore your own opinions too. If I don’t care about your dogmatic opinions, it is not obvious that I should care any more about my own opinions either. What matters is what God has revealed- not what I, or anyone else, may opine.
Leaving aside many of the complexities contained in the above, the second point of course, is that the author is wrong. But not wrong because I am Catholic and the Pope said so. The author is wrong on the basis of the principles that the author himself holds and in the light of which he wrote his book. Let me explain.
The principle that the author is searching for in this book is what makes Jesus, Jesus. What is the thing that makes him who he is and sets him apart since before the foundations of the world. His search, all throughout the romantics and the greatest artists of the Western world, does not lead to the discovery of something material. It is not a material principle that makes Christ who he is- it is not his hair colour or his shoe size. It is nothing that he does that makes him who he is- it is rather He is He Who is- that is the foundation of everything. To know the Lord is to experience something metaphysical and transcendent. A materialist age can only know things about Christ, only the spiritual man can know Him. And this is idea the author discovers in the romantics; even though it is just as clear in the Gospels: nothing in the world is just the matter from which it is made or the functions that it performs. This same insight applies just as much to Mary as it does to Her Son and all her children. Mary’s virginity- original and perpetual- is not merely a material fact; even though it is a material fact. We cannot understand it as simply the absence of something physical- that is to try and make sense of the metaphysical by confining ourselves to the material- the very thing the romantics rejected. Her virginity is how she lives into the womanliest role of all- her motherhood of each and every one of her children. We are children of God the Father under the mothership of Mary. And Mary must be faithful to the Father of her children.
Redemption is not a transaction; it is a relationship. A relationship that restores us to real intimacy with the Father. And a real relationship with the Father, requires an actual mother. And good mothers are always faithful. To understand Mary’s virginity as something merely physical is to miss the very principle the author has come to uncover.
Final Thoughts
Many of our subscribers are my fellow traditionalists. And as such, we can have different sensibilities. The idea of a traditionalist priest recommending a book that eschews tradition and doesn’t believe in the perpetual virginity of Mary may worry some of our readers. This book is not for you. But here is the thing- the arts are messy. If you are looking for piety and devotion, there are better places to look than in The Truth and Beauty. But for those who are of a different temperament- there are some elements of this book you will find interesting. But in case you are uncertain, you must remember, artists lead different lives and come to different conclusions about the world. They are not always right. But even when they are wrong, great artists are holding up a mirror to the world. They are not always neat and tidy in their lives or their thinking. One only has to be reminded that Caravaggio was a brawler and was likely a murderer. Bernini too, under whose magnificent Baldachino I became a priest- attempted to murder his own brother when he found him in flagrante with Bernini’s married mistress. If you are looking for the sanitary- do not look to the arts. We should not throw away great insights simply because they come in a less than pristine package. All in all- I would recommend this book to the right reader- the person who understands that culture is part of the Church’s remedy of our sinful nature.
[1] This is my designation, not the authors.
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