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Equivocal Faith, Uncertain Salvation
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11681 |
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Section : |
BOOK WORLD
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| Issue
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2 / 1994 |
2,917 Words |
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James Thompson
James Thompson, who lives in Nashville, is the author of
several books, the most recent of which is The Church, the
South and the Future. |
I don't like to answer questions in novels. I only like to ask them.
--Brian Moore, interview in the
New York Times Book Review,
September 12, 1993
Nearly forty years ago, the protagonist of Brian Moore's first novel, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1955), uttered a cry that reverberates throughout Moore's writings: "I do not believe, O Lord, help my unbelief." The Irish, Canadian, and American characters who populate his novels can neither believe nor disbelieve with ease and assurance. They run from God, only to find Him waiting at the end of their flight; if they pursue God, He eludes them. Seeking holiness, they blunder into sin; sinning flagrantly, they cannot avoid the temptations of godliness. Defending Christian verities, they often end up fostering doubt; celebrating their emancipation from broken-down dogmas, they are liable to succumb to belief. Past certitudes may no longer command unquestioning assent, but they retain vitality enough to reassert their claims in unexpected ways.
Although Moore is not a Christian, he comprehends the vagaries of faith and belief in the late twentieth century. His novels pose questions no thoughtful person, whether Christian or not, can honestly ignore.
Lost certainties
In the author's note that prefaces the novel Black Robe (1985), Moore mentions a French Jesuit who took a solemn vow to remain until death among the Indians of Canada, even though he dreaded the prospects. "A voice speaks to us directly from the seventeenth century," Moore declares, "the voice of a conscience that, I fear, we no longer possess." In Father Laforgue, the missionary of Black Robe, Moore depicts a spiritual sturdiness that his contemporary characters could scarcely imagine, much less emulate. "Everything that he did, everything that he suffered, he did and suffered . . . for the greater glory of God."
Trials and temptations batter his will, his dedication falters, but Father Laforgue perseveres in the conviction that "God is with me." Faith animates his existence with transcendent meaning and inspires him to heroic self-sacrifice. To save the soul of a lone Indian would be worth any price, even death. The economy of Christian selflessness is elementary to the Jesuits isolated in the wilds of Canada: For them, "the more
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