Homer, Sophocles, Virgil and Markos

A Short Defense of Reading Classical Texts

This fall, I started a new practice: when I give tests to my humanities students, I take the test with them. I seem to remember Josh Gibbs recommending this practice somewhere. Doing so has been informative and enjoyable. Recently, I asked a humanities class to respond a Louis Markos passage from The Myth Made Fact. I am including below the Markos quote and my (short) response.

“Although Christ has fulfilled the truths latent in pre-Christian literature, he has not thereby rendered all such literature defunct. Homer, Sophocles, and Virgil can still be tapped as sources of real wisdom, not only because they reflect general revelation, but because their mythic elements help draw out and highlight the mythic elements of the Christian story. For, though the Christian story is real and historical, it speaks to us with the same imaginative force as the Greek myths. We, of course, do not need the Greek myths to explain to us the gospel message or the core doctrines of the faith; however, by reading Greek and Roman mythology through Christian eyes, as Lewis himself did, we can shed light on those elements of the Bible and the faith that speak more to our imagination and reason (The Myth Made Fact, xix).”

The scriptures provide all that is necessary for life and salvation. I tend to interpret this as something like: “The Scriptures provide you with the proper way of living in the world.” Over the last semester, we’ve talked in this class about mythology as worldview. The Holy Scriptures provide the correct view of the world. This is not so simple as it sounds. Thankfully, God gives us his Holy Spirit to help us interpret Scripture; however, the Holy Spirit works also through the world and through history.

Observation 1: Understanding the Scriptures is a long process, and our understanding is always less than it could be. God is not a God of necessities only; he will always give us what we need, but often blesses us with abundance besides. We have the privilege of being able to learn more and more as we go through our lives.

Observation 2: As for ancient texts, many do in fact highlight the truths within the Scriptures. For example, the modern reader may go back and decry the ‘sexism’ in the Bible. Compared to modern standards of freedom, the Bible may be interpreted as restrictive. On the contrary, held up against other ancient texts, we see that the Scriptures place a much higher value on women than was otherwise known in the ancient world. Further, the importance of motherhood as constructive and world-building is highlighted. Rather than a curse on man (Hesiod), woman is a blessing and helper in mankind’s work.

Observation 3: We read the Scriptures so that we may live, we do not live so that we may read the Scriptures. We live to imitate Christ and carry on his work in the world. The Scriptures are the primary means by which we understand Christ; they are also the primary means bu which we understand the world. Nevertheless, the medieval notion of theology as “queen of the sciences” suggests that Scriptures do not tell us everything… but they do tell us how to order and interpret all other sciences. Ancient, Medieval and Modern texts tell us many things that Scriptures do not. However, through the Scriptures we apply all knowledge in service to Christ, for the sake of his work in the world.

As we read other texts, the unique quality and power of the Scriptures become clearer, brighter and more beautiful. I did not know how to see heaven and earth until I read Lewis’ The Discarded Image and Dante’s Divine Comedy. I know what sacrificial love looks like because of Christ, who appears also as Charles Darnay, Aslan, Oedipus, Odysseus and countless others. Through the Scriptures the old stories are, in a sense, redeemed.