Why are so few poets/fiction authors calvinists?

S

Solaywri

Puritan Board Freshman
Although we have a strong tradition when it comes to sermons and hyms it seems like very few Calvinists throughout history have written fiction/poetry and the only one I can think of is John Bunyan. Also Marianne Robinson doesn’t count since she is a Barthian universalist.
 
The biggest reason perhaps is that Calvinism as a tradition necessarily began with the life of Calvin (1509-1564). Therefore, it is very young in terms of world history—not even 500 years old yet. On top of this, Calvinists have been and continue to be a theological minority in terms of the percentage of Christians they occupy throughout the Western world. So, numerically, it makes sense why there are "so few" Calvinist poets and fiction writers. At the same time, I would bet there are more Calvinist poets and writers of fiction historically and presently than you might realize. In terms of poetry, I think of four immediately: John Newton, Ralph Erskine, Augustus Toplady, and Isaac Watts (I know some, including me, would dispute his Calvinist pedigree).
 
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We've talked a little about this with some folks from our congregation who are interested in literature so I'm curious to read everyone's thoughts and replies (even the funny ones!). I'll only add that in our conversations about this I've wondered if our appreciation for beauty and artwork is possibly a little stunted or under-developed by the simplicity of our worship. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the Second Commandment and the Regulative Principle (debates about how broadly it must be applied or what is required notwithstanding). And I know that simplicity can be and often is beautiful (as much Reformed worship is). But it does seem that there is a greater focus on aesthetics and beauty in other Christian traditions, right, wrong, or indifferent.
 
I can hear the govt say,
Thy bank indeed is small
Taxpayer, vote and pay.
Find in me your all'n'all.

Govt paid it all
All to it we owe.
Trump had left a crimson stain.
(I'll admit; I'm struggling on making the last line scan)
 
Keep in mind, great writers, particularly novelists, aren't typically happy, well-balanced people. As I've heard it said before, writing a great novel itself often extracts a terrible price. Calvinists, in the anglo world at least, have tended to leave their legacy elsewhere.

I would be interested to know what Reformed authors may have done in Dutch literature, though. I expect we may be excluding them.
 
Just my personal experience that might be similar to others: I've been a writer and published poet. I even studied with some fairly famous names. I also have training as a composer and have had some instrumental works published.

When God converted me, I thought I'd start writing cantatas and similar works. But after learning Greek and discovering Reformed theology, my desire to do that fell by the wayside.

It was pretty obvious to me that my desire to pursue these efforts was, in some part, a desire to glorify myself.
 
The career of my father in Christ was literary criticism. His answer to this question was that holding to orthodox theology tends to militate against the composition of great literature, because they are at odds in their fundamental natures and manners of expression, viz., theology affirms the declarative, whereas literature evokes the interrogative. The contrast is readily exemplified: "To be or not to be, that is the question" ("Hamlet" 3.1) vs. "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever" (WSC 1).
 
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bookslover said:
Handel and Bach would disagree.
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With them both being born in 1685, I doubt they had any opinion on my sinful proclivities.... ;)

I play Bach regularly. I listen to his cantatas. And I thrill to much of Handel's works too. My musical taste is captured by the Baroque more than any other era (but I like them all in some respects).

But I have become a Puritan by conviction. The regulative principle is important to me. I quit writing "church music" because I didn't want to have a part in having it used in worship.

But I still write music. God willing, it is all S.D.G.
 
I think it might have something to do with the author's freely given decision making capacity.

A prolific writer (freely moving their pen on paper, constantly editing and correcting sentences and ideas and changing their minds about the designated plot), might find it difficult to submit to the idea that all their writings, (including their thoughts and ideas) are ultimately ordained and foreknown by God. They develop a heightened sense of self-responsibility and creativity, and therefore, less of their mind is focussed on God's plan for their life unfolding before their very eyes. Picture an equilibrium. One side is entitled 'personal wisdom', and the other is entitled 'God's wisdom'

A mind that is flooded with sub-biblical or half truthful (on many occasions), plotlines and narratives might put some writers more toward the middle of the equilibrium, and probably toward the 'personal wisdom' side.

Think C.S Lewis. He would have had a strong understanding of Reformed doctrine, (and indeed he was exceedingly wise by the worldly standards of intellect), but perhaps his focus on fiction and philosophy intermingled with clear teachings of scripture distracted him from really embracing the truths of Reformed theology, which reveals God's wisdom: the fact that God is indeed sovereign to the extent that every word that he wrote on paper is known to God. His much writing might have led him to conclude that, as a free agent in God's creation, he is completely in control of his will.

Perhaps I'm overthinking though. And of course the part with lewis are mostly assumptions.
 
The Mystery of the Call

Why is it that some will hear His call
recognize His voice,
and follow
willing in a heartbeat
to forsake all
for love of Him whom others cannot even see
as He is, of all loves
the most choice

Some, when they hear Him
hate Him
as dark deeds, and their doers
hate light
exposing them
and so harden, turning away
to where even noon is night
like those fanged who hate the day

Why is it that hearts are so
given to such love and hate,
the one to embrace exposure
reveling in His embrace,
the other turning back
to bloom in the shade ?
In your own choosing is your fate,
the proof of what you are made.​


[from, THE WRITING ON THE WALL: Among the Poets on Apocalypse Field, Global Arena of Consciousness –– bit.ly/2MyBmrR]
 

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Solaywri said:
Although we have a strong tradition when it comes to sermons and hyms it seems like very few Calvinists throughout history have written fiction/poetry and the only one I can think of is John Bunyan. Also Marianne Robinson doesn’t count since she is a Barthian universalist.
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Roses are red
Violets are blue
I am reformed and don't have the emotion within me to write meaningful poetry
And neither do you

:)
 
I guess you are talking about professional poets that are reformed, as opposed to reformed people who happen to write poetry on the side. I wonder if in general poetry is just written less overall. And since there are (it seems) fewer and fewer reformed people today, they'll be fewer reformed anythings. I've come across poetry from reformed ministers from time to time. Andrew and James Melville wrote poetry; James was quoted in the Marrow of Modern Divinity. Ralph Erskine wrote poetry - "reduplicating ases" anyone?
 
This is a topic close and dear to my heart! In these days where poetry is pretty much relegated to the trashcan of the peoples as stuff mostly irrelevant to our lives, and Christian poets even moreso (with their talk of sin and judgment, repentance and faith), it is hard to make a true assessment of the matter. For instance, in just a short while — can't put any numbers as to when — all the unregenerate poets and writers extant will be swept into the horror of judgment and eternal doom. So whatever fame and recognition they receive from the world is fleeting, ephemeral — mere vanities.

And the opinions of genuine Christians? Well, many of them don't read poetry, and many churches — especially in the 20th and 21st centuries — have been against the arts, both literary and graphic. It is not so much a matter of being Reformed or not. Part of the problem is that we have not had a classic Poet — a true Laureate — sing of Christ, humankind, the Fall, redemption, eternal Hell, endless Heaven on New Earth, and life in these times and generations we are part of. Sing so as to arrest and touch the hearts of the faithful. But the dust has not settled on the field of battle that these days are. Not yet.
 
Theodore Beza was something of a poet before his conversion. Afterwards he put his gift to better use in contributions to the Genevan Psalter.
 
BayouHuguenot said:
I can hear the govt say,
Thy bank indeed is small
Taxpayer, vote and pay.
Find in me your all'n'all.

Govt paid it all
All to it we owe.
Trump had left a crimson stain.
(I'll admit; I'm struggling on making the last line scan)
Click to expand...

I admit that this poem is a valiant effort, though it is not quite at my level. ;)

I hear the Deep State say
America, thy strength is small
Republican delegates vote today
Find in Trump thy border wall
Donald builds the wall,
All to him we owe
CNN had left a crimson stain
Donald set free Roger Stone

Trump, now indeed I find
Thy tweets and thine alone
Came and exposed the Democrats' plots
And pardoned Roger Stone
Donald builds the wall,
All to him we owe
CNN had left a crimson stain
Donald set free Roger Stone

And when before Trump's home
America's economy is unique
Donald ran my wall to build
My lips shall still repeat
Donald builds the wall,
All to him we owe
CNN had left a crimson stain
Donald set free Roger Stone
 
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