I forwarded it from someone else~~The title is: Christianity and European and American Literature. As a cultural phenomenon, Christianity is reflected in various fields of Western society. It naturally plays a certain role in the development of European and American literature and affects the creative careers of many writers in the history of European and American literature. When Christianity emerged, it was inspired and influenced by Jewish "prophetic literature", "wisdom literature" and "apocalyptic literature". It accepted the historical events, religious events, folk customs, oaths, chants, love poems, etc. of the Jewish nation, along with His own gospel stories and the deeds of Jesus’ disciples formed the “Biblical Literature” and “Church Literature” during the Roman Empire. In the Latin literary creation of the late Roman period, Christian stories of Jesus, biographies of the apostles, hymns and prayers accounted for a large proportion. Among them, the autobiographical "Confessions" written by the Christian theologian Augustine as his "Confessions of Faith" was particularly influential. This book became a representative work of late Roman Latin literature. European literature in the Middle Ages was mainly Christian literature, and the "allegorical" characteristics of its writing techniques were also derived from metaphors, metaphors and other methods used in biblical expressions. 7. The poem "Genesis" compiled by the British poet Sidmund, 8. "Juliana", "Eline" and "Christ" by the poet Sinewulf, as well as the "Saint" in France in the 9th and 10th centuries. "Hymn to Euleria", "The Acts of Saint Laurent", "Passion", etc., all belong to the scope of "biblical literature" and "saint literature". The heroic epics of various European nations are also influenced by Christianity in their circulation, such as the 8th-century British epic "Beowulf", the 11th-century French epic "Song of Roland", the 12th-century Finnish epic "Kalevala" and the Spanish epic "Song of Roland". Cide" and so on are infiltrated into the stories of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary saints. While eulogizing the history of their nation, these works also promoted Christian concepts and praised Christian heroes. After the Crusades, knightly literature began to emerge, forming "the first form of sexual love that appeared in history" in medieval Europe. Although knightly literature went against the asceticism and worldly thinking of Christianity at that time, singing about the beauty of life and love in this world, it still promoted Only Christian faith allows for adventure, jihad and sacrifice, and calls for traveling around the world in search of relics of saints, thus maintaining a close connection with Christian tradition. European literature during the Renaissance was dominated by urban literature, which reflected the requirements and aspirations of the emerging citizen class. For example: Boccaccio's "Decameron", Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales", Reichlin's "Tablets of the Ignorant", Erasmus's "Ode to Fools" and Mallow's "The Tragedy of Faust" It not only draws on a wide range of materials and has a fresh style, but also has rich language and refined writing. These works emphasize human wisdom, greatness, and the beauty and tranquility of nature. They advocate using reason to counter the supreme authority of religious belief and relying on "human science" to replace "theology." However, its "revival" or "innovation" did not break away from the soil of medieval European Christian culture. Many literary works by humanists still borrowed metaphors, allegories, or dreams from church literature. In terms of ideological system, it means that it is also more or less, directly or indirectly controlled by Christian theology. For example, "The First Poet of the New Era" and "The Father of the Renaissance" Dante's "Divine Comedy" is constructed according to Aquinas' orthodox theological system. Therefore, some people say that the ethics of "The Divine Comedy" come from Aristotle, Astronomy comes from Ptolemy, while theology comes from Aquinas, and Dante is regarded as the "Aquinas" of the literary world at that time. In addition, in his narrative poem "Jerusalem Ready for Liberation", the late Italian Renaissance poet Tasso also used the conflict and contest between the two ideological cultures of Christianity and Islam to demonstrate the power of Christian faith in this world and express his appreciation and attachment to Christian culture. . 16th century Martin. Luther's Reformation not only transformed Christianity, but also German literature. His German translation of the Bible and its prose, fables and hymns "not only cleared the Augean pen of the church (then the Roman Catholic Church), but also cleared the Ogian pen of the German language. , created modern German prose, and wrote the words and music of the triumphant hymn that became the sixteenth-century Marseillaise." The "Religious Reform" under the banner of Christianity not only created a new era of modern European capitalism, but also began a new era of European and American literature development. The British bourgeois revolution in the 17th century was carried out under the banner of the Christian "Puritan Revolution", which produced the famous writers Milton and Bunyan. Their works all take Christian culture as the theme. Their masterpieces embodying the theme of the Bible, such as "Paradise Lost", "Paradise Restored", "Samson the Strong" and "Progress to the Kingdom of Heaven", are very popular and have been widely circulated. They have become the representative works of European and American literary circles. Treasure. In addition, in order to find the paradise of religious freedom. The Puritans who escaped religious persecution in Europe and moved across the sea to North America also laid a permanent foundation for North American literature. The first book published in North America in 1640, "The English Translation of Psalms" (often called "The Bay Psalms"), was written by the Puritans, and the Christian poet Wigglesworth's long poem "Last Judgment Day" preaching doctrine After its publication in 1662, it was reprinted more than ten times and became the first best-seller in England. These Puritan works became the most popular novels in the North American literary world in the early spring of March. The European Enlightenment literature of the 15th century reflected the subtle changes in Christian thought in the new era. The German writer Lessing used the allusion of three rings in his "Nathan the Wise" to promote the idea of ??religious tolerance, believing that all religions have their value and that "narrow views" cannot be held.
The French writer Voltaire also narrated the love story of the Islamic Sultan Orosman and the female Christian Zaire in his "Zaire", and used this to point out that extreme religious restrictions will lead to the tragic ending of human life. . Diderot criticized Catholic monastic life in his epistolary novel "The Nun", accusing it of the adverse consequences of asceticism. During this period, people from all walks of life in the West had diverse understandings of Christianity, so attitudes toward Christianity in European and American literature also varied. The romantic literary trend that influenced Europe and America in the 19th century further developed this pluralistic tendency. Both positive romanticism and negative romanticism discuss Christianity as a Western cultural tradition from their respective perspectives, and Christian thought also influenced the emergence of romanticism, mysticism, intuitionism and transcendentalism. In the works of the German writers Schlegel brothers, Nofalis and Hoffmann, the British poets Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey, and the French literati Chateaubriand, Lamartine and Vigny, you can I saw the various forms of Christian thought at that time. They use mysterious and dreamy drinking to describe natural and super-ideal themes. Although they go to extremes and make people's inner experiences and fantasies and the mysteries of nature mysterious and incredible, they also have the concept of "the unity of things and myself". ", the mysterious beauty of "returning to the universe" and the natural fragrance of "lakes and mountains" and "secluded forests and deep valleys". In the United States, the romantic writer Hawthorne used a realistic arm to analyze the truth and falsehood in the early North American Puritan life in "The Scarlet Letter" and explore the crime and punishment of human destiny. While Emerson, Alcott, Lipley and others were intuitive. In the transcendental creation, you are leisurely fascinated and lingering. The second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century were a turbulent era in European and American society. The once-proud Romantic literature had to give way to the realist trend of thought that saw the crisis in Western society. Ibsen's plays and Dostoyevsky's novels all found ways out of crises in Christianity, so they were respected as "prophet authors" by Christian thinkers in the 20th century. Tolstoy wanted to turn the tide with Christian humanism, and left behind many stunning masterpieces. The Polish writer Sienkiewicz borrowed Christian themes to evoke the soul of the nation, making his novels poetic and passionate, showing long-lasting charm. In recent European and American literature, the guidance of Christian ideological trends and the use of Christian themes have become less popular and no longer constitute the mainstream. However, excellent works reflecting the relationship between the two are still published from time to time in the contemporary literary world, thus continuing to maintain the momentum of its existence and development. Note: The Christianity mentioned above refers to Christianity in a broad sense including Orthodox Christianity, Catholicism and Protestantism. This article involves many subjects including history, religion, and literature. Due to the author’s shallow personal knowledge, I apologize for any errors and please give me some advice. Glory to the Triune God.