Institute for Christian Teaching
Education Department of
Seventh-day Adventists
LITERATURE AND LIFE:
By
David Velez-Sepulveda
Humanities Department
Antillean Adventist
University
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico,
U.S.A.
Prepared for the
International Faith and
Learning Seminar
Held at
Union College, Lincoln
Nebraska, U.S.A.
June, 1993
139-93
Institute for Christian Teaching
Silver Spring,
MD 20904, USA
During the past half a century, literary production has taken another bend in the road, especially from the Hispanic-American perspective, but by no means restricted to it. We have witnessed the transformation of the narrative genre that, from the 1940's on, has taken over the Hispanic literary scene. We have witnessed the unseemly explosion of this genre into the so called "BOOM!" in the Hispanic-American narrative. Consequently there have been several Nobel Prizes for Literature awarded in recognition of the major authors during these years. Here is the list: 1945 Gabriela Mistral (Chilean), 1956 Juan Ramon Jimenez (Spaniard, established in Puerto Rico), 1967 Miguel Angel Asturias (Guatemalan), 1971 Pablo Neruda (Chilean), 1977 Vicente Aleixandre (Spaniard), 1982 Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombian), 1989 Camilo Jose Cela (Spaniard), 1990 Octavio Paz (Mexican).
We see a similar phenomena occurring in the United States and in other parts of the world as well that counters this tremendous upheaval in the production of fiction. We witness this parallel in the area of criticism. In the words of Doctor John O. Waller:
Criticism of the drama and of poetry is much older, much longer established, than criticism of fiction. Almost all the best systematic fiction criticism has been written in the last forty years. In the . . . (last) eleven years . . . the advance of fiction criticism as a scholarly discipline has been accelerating rapidly, becoming the most innovative thing in all the ferment of English studies. (1)
Literary critics face a renewed challenge to analyze, critique, interpret, evaluate, catalog, and in many other ways, present this tremendous literary wealth to the public in an organized fashion. This is no easy task, to be sure. And more so from the standpoint of the Adventist educator, who faces the multiple challenges of selection, evaluation, justification, presentation, discussion, and so on. The task of justifying his choices and interpretations before fellow educators, administrators and students in itself bears no less importance than any of the other individual aspects. The literature professor, therefore, must no be left alone to face these burdensome challenges. It is with this in mind that we have undertaken the present task.
Because literature is a presentation of the human needs, values, dramas, aspirations, and so on, its teaching should help the students appreciate these, if we may paraphrase Arthur F. Holmes' statement. (2)
The study of literature has puzzled and perplexed more than one well-intentioned Adventist educator throughout the last few decades. More specifically, the reading and/or study of fiction has occupied an important part of the counsels of the spirit of Prophecy, especially in regard to the youth of the Church, but not only for the youth. Adults of all ages are advised to be wisely selective in their choices of reading material.
Several serious studies have been made in relation to what should be taught in literature classes in Seventh-day Adventist colleges and universities. We will examine some of the most prominent of these studies with the hope of shedding some light on the matter from a wider perspective than that held by most Adventist educators in general, and be Adventist literature professors in specific. Through the appropriate teaching of fiction Adventist educators have a perfect setting to integrate their faith into the subject matter, making it more relevant to the students. But this is a topic that merits the development of a paper all its own. We shall just mention this possibility and need here, opening the scene for future further study.
We pray this essay will be of benefit to educators as it clarifies the dilemma of fiction and its selection and presentation in Adventist colleges and universities, not only in the two geographical areas mentioned above, namely the U.S.A. and Hispanic-American, but also, because of the wide perspective from which it is seen, to other Adventist institution of higher education around the world that face this dilemma. As the tittle suggests, this essay deals not with literary criticism, but with a discussion of the legitimacy of the teaching of fiction in Adventist higher education.
In order give greater significance to our discussion, and in order to provide greater ease in understanding, we must be familiar with the terms we will be using. We must also familiarize ourselves with the meaning of specific terms in different contexts.
The following are several
definitions of the term fiction. The
sources from which these are taken will be identified at the beginning of each
group of definitions. Proper credit is
given at the end of each group.
Webster's Ninth New
Collegiate Dictionary includes several basic definitions for fiction. We will note the most relevant to our
discussion.
1a : something
invented by the imagination or feigned; specif: an invented story
1b : fictitious literature (as novels or short stories)
3
: the action of feigning or creating with the
imagination (3)
The Universal Dictionary of
the English Language renders the following, among other pertinent definitions:
2a : Literacy compositions consisting of fictitious narrative of events; the representation of imaginary persons, their characters and actions, and the interplay of these, especially in novels, romances, dramas. (4)
The Oxford English
Dictionary elaborates quite more on the multiplicity of meaning under the entry: fiction, the word in question. We have selected the definitions most in
accord with our use of term, indicating the corresponding number of the
definition in the Dictionary's article:
1b. Arbitrary invention.
2 Feigning, counterfeiting; deceit, dissimulation, pretense.
(Please note here the
following example, from the many the Dictionary includes, where Bacon is quoted
from an 1873 edition of Adv. Learn.,
I.vii. §7 (1873) 56: A man of the purest goodness, without all
fiction or affection.)
3a. The action of 'feigning' or inventing imaginary incidents, existences, states of things, etc., whether for the purpose of deception or otherwise.
3c. A statement or narrative proceeding from mere invention; such
statements collectively.
4a. The species of literature which is concerned with the
narration of imaginary characters; fictitious composition. Now
usually, prose novels and stories collectively (Emphasis supplied); the
compositions of works this class.
4b. A work of fiction; a novel or tale. Now chiefly in depreciatory use.
(Consider briefly the
following quotation from 1875, cited by the Dictionary as an example of
the word's usage: Manning Mission H.
Ghost ix, 258: They read nothing but fictions and levities.)
5.
A
supposition known to be at variance with fact, but conventionally accepted for
some reason of practical convenience, conformity with traditional
usage, decorum, or the like.
(Under the heading of 5. b. gen. the Dictionary exemplifies
the point with a quotation from 1861 that is also very revealing: Mill Utili. i.
2 The elements of algebra . . . are as full of fictions as English law.)
(5)
From these definitions and
examples it is quite clear that the term fiction has a wealth of meaning that
not many of us suspected. Some of the
definitions are almost identical in all three sources. The Oxford, however, cites examples
of usage and gives the date of publication of the source. This I find rather illuminating, because it
let us appreciate the variation of meaning throughout a specific period. It also let us know the most common meaning
attached to a word at a particular time slot.
Please also note that I have recorded some interesting examples from the
period in which E. G. White was giving her counsel regarding the use of
fiction.
This fact gains greater relevance
when we study the most common meanings of the word fiction prevalent at that
time. Note, for example, that in the
second definition the Oxford cites, it is used as an antonym, as if it
were, for the expression "purest
good". Here the word is equivalent
to "bad, perverse, evil, immoral," etc. No wonder E. G. White uses it constantly urging our youth and the
church constituency in general, to stay away from fiction, because we can read
as if she were saying "stay away from evil, from immorality". Let me assure that E. G. White was
absolutely correct in her usage of the word.
This is what it meant then.
Under definition 4.a. the Oxford
again brings up a very interesting point.
I have stressed in bold letters the phrase Now usually, prose novels and
stories collectively. This
"Now" makes reference to the Second Edition of the Oxford,
completed in 1989. Cautious as not to
put words in the mouth of Mrs. White, I wonder if, had she been alive today,
she would have used the term fiction in quite the same way, keeping in mind the
gradual change in meaning it has gone through.
We know that she read, approved and recommended some stories, as we will
show later, that must be catalogued under the broad term: fiction.
In definition 4.b the
Dictionary parallels "fiction and levities", a term apparently used
to mean "light (weight), not heavy, that would levitate". In a more playful tone, yet without leaving
its seriousness, let us look briefly at the example under definition 5, where
we find the following: "The elements of algebra . . . are as full of
fiction as English law." We
must remember that fiction has a "legal" meaning, as referred to
previously. The point we would like to
make is that fiction was used to mean so many different things, and with so many
shades of meaning, that we must be sure how it was used during the nineteenth
century and how it is used today if we are going to understand and interpret
Mrs. White's references to it profitably.
We must conclude that today,
"Now, as the Dictionary says,
usually the term fiction is used to refer to prose novels and stories
collectively. (Again the emphasis is
ours). The word seems to have lost most
of the negative connotations it really had during the nineteenth century and
the first part of the twentieth. This
is not to excuse anyone who uses it today, nor to condemn those that used it in
years past, but to procure a dissipation of the cloud that has shrouded the
term within Adventist literary circles.
There are today devout and
very well meaning Christians, yes, Adventists, that are producing a trickle (I
don't dare say a stream) of prose fiction.
Let us just mention Dr. Rafael Escandon and June Strong, one Hispanic
and one Anglo. These and many other
individuals are shaping the modern mentality of the youth in our church with
materials well worth reading. Let not
their efforts go to waste because we may be hung up on a word, on a meaning,
very real to be sure, but also in dire need of a re-evaluation.
I would lead my reader to
the exceptionally well researched papers by Dr. John O. Waller: "A conceptual study of Ellen G. White's
Counsel Concerning Fiction" and "Fiction, Critical Theory, and a
Graduate Criticism Course", to which we will make reference later. (6)
II. E. G. WHITE ON FICTION: COUNSELS AND ADMONITION
It is imperative that the
counsels given by Ellen G. White be taken in the right light and in the right
context. As Roy Adams very clearly and
pointedly spells out in the June '93 Editorial of the Adventist Review,
too often
we misuse the writings when
we employ them in a way that Mrs. White herself would not approve . . .
Misuse turns into abuse when
we wrest statements from their proper context so as to advance some pet theory
of ours . . .
. . . a serious problem in the study of Ellen G.
White (arises due to our) failure to pay adequate attention to time and place
and circumstances.
Time, place and historical
setting must be taken into consideration. (7)
E. G. White writes
extensively to counsel and lead the growing Church to higher ground, to
excellence in every aspect of the Christian life. Not the least of these are the instructions given in regards to
the reading material to be readily available to children and young adults. She states in 2 Testimonies, p. 410:
I appeal to parents to control the reading of their children. Much reading does only harm. Especially do not permit upon your tables the magazines and newspapers wherein are found love stories. It is impossible for the youth to posses a healthy tone of mind, and correct religious principle unless they enjoy the perusal of the Word of God. (8)
There are abundant
quotations regarding the use of fiction throughout E. G. White's writings, and
as has been indicated above, we have found not one that sheds positive light on
this activity. Let us review a couple
of these.
You have indulged in novel and story reading until you live in an imaginary world. The influence of such reading in injurious to both the mind and the body; it weakens the intellect and brings a fearful tax upon the physical strength. At times your mind is scarcely sane because the imagination has been overexcited and diseased by reading fictitious stories. The mind should be so disciplined that all its power will be symmetrically developed … (9)
Even fiction which contains
no suggestion of impurity, and which may be intended to teach excellent
principles, is harmful. It encourages
the habit of hasty and superficial reading, merely for the story. Thus it tends to destroy the power of
connected and vigorous thought; it unfits the soul to contemplate the great
problems of duty and destiny. (10)
Dr. Waller, commenting on
this often quoted paragraph says the following:
From the standpoint of literary art--techniques of presentation ––fiction has taken on much greater complexity and artistic subtlety. Consequently the better fiction is not nearly so easy to gobble up as it used to be. In terms familiar to readers of Mrs. White, today's best fiction is not so likely as was yesterday's to "encourage the habit of hasty and superficial reading, merely for the story." Of course, simpler, old-fashioned stories are still being ground out for the popular market, but these are no longer the types that interest serious literary critics or competent English teachers. In other words, the best fiction both long and short, tends to be artistically better and more mentally challenging than it was in Mrs. White's time. (11)
Again, Dr. Waller points out
with keen academic insight and historical accuracy:
So far as the fiction
written during Mrs. White's years is concerned, the vast majority of it
has long since died a natural death, been winnowed out as both artistically and
philosophically worthless (just as Mrs. White said), of almost no kind of value
except possibly to literary historians.
I feel sure that no more than a fraction of one percent of the long and
short fiction poured out during the years 1850 to 1910 would ever be even
mentioned in any schools of the 1970's. (12)
Various new kinds of fiction have replaced the kinds predominant in Mrs. White's time …Other stories seem not bad, but relatively good, both artistically and morally, once they are fully comprehended, but learning to read them can be a challenging business, requiring moral perceptiveness and critical know-how. The best twentieth-century prepossessions and expectations.
The application of systematic literary criticism--literary theory--to the study of prose fiction was still in its early infancy when Mrs. White wrote … Until very recently it has been possible for scholars to argue that no significant theoretical criticism of prose fiction existed prior to about 1880.
The study of literary prose
fiction in college and high school… was itself very young when Mrs. White
lived… The college major in English… was a late-nineteenth-century development…
and in its present sprawling proportions is largely a post-World War II
development…Now prose fiction has become the single literary medium studied
most widely in public schools and colleges, having passed up its more venerable
rivals, the poem and the play… I feel convinced that in SDA schools at all
levels the total prose fiction assigned in English classes is no more than a
fraction of the poetry and non-fiction prose assigned--which may very well be
as it should be. (12)
We must also notice,
however, that E. G. White distinguishes between what she calls
"fiction" in accord with the contemporary thought of her time, and
other forms of creative literature that are considered today as fiction, or part
of the larger picture. In The Great
Controversy, p. 252, she refers to John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress
not as fiction, but as an allegory. And
it certainly is an allegory, but this does not make it factual, on the
contrary, "allegory" is a form of fiction.
E. G. White is concerned
with the uplifting of the young minds with which we come in contact through our
teaching, for example. In Counsels
to Teachers, p. 136, she speaks against some stories in real life, and
states that they can be as harmful as fictitious creations because of their
content and the treatment they are given by the authors. In one breath she encompasses Daniel Defoe's
Robinson Crusoe and Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin,
the first, a high suspense, adventure novel (fiction, which may be based on a
real incident) and the second, a novel based on incidents during the U.S. Reconstruction era, after the Civil
War. Here is the quotation:
The best way to prevent the growth of evil is to preoccupy the soil. Instead of recommending your children to read Robinson Crusoe or fascinating stories of real life, such as Uncle Tom's Cabin, open the scriptures to them, and spend some time each day in reading and studying God's Word. (15)
Time and time again the
Spirit of Prophecy will refer to the need to present reading materials that are
appropriate to the students and the youth in general. Ellen G. White was so impressed with this need that she kept a
personal set of scrapbooks where she collected "moral and religious
reading". From these materials,
collected over many years, she edited several volumes under the general title: Sabbath
Readings for the Home Circle (1877-1878). (16)
As Dr. Waller amply demonstrates, many of the clipping studied are clearly fiction, without losing the main characteristic: being "moral and religious" in content. The Guide to the Teaching of Literature In Seventh-Day Adventist Schools states that:
… such materials in the form of simple stories teaching "moral and religious" lessons "that defend a sound morality and breath a spirit of devotion, tenderness and true piety", at the same time specifying their value in contrast with "religious fiction"… (were recognized by Ellen White as having) a proper limited use. (17)
We must conclude that E. G.
White had a clear view of what to read, of what to recommend as appropriate
reading, and what to recommend as inappropriate reading for the development of
a Christian character. We do contend,
however that we cannot find an across-the-board condemnation of all fiction in
the context of what the term denotes today.
Essentially the same thing is said of dramatic productions and/or
presentation, according to another well researched study from the writings of
Ellen G. White done by Arthur L. White in an article included in Dr. Robert
Dunn's already quoted Seventh-Day Adventists on Literature. (18)
III. POSITION
OF THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH ON FICTION
A: The
1971 Guide to the Teaching of Literature in Seventh-Day Adventist Schools
As our investigation leads
us to conclude, this Guide represents the official position of the church in
regard to the teaching of literature.
To our knowledge, it has not been revised since first published by the
Department of Education of the General Conference, then under the direction of
Charles B. Hirsh.
The statements the Guide
makes are clear and should have been adhered to in our schools during the last
twenty years, but there is still a great deal of misunderstanding in this
respect within the mind of the general Adventist constituency. The Guide establishes a philosophy,
from which section I quote the following paragraph:
Acceptable literature, whatever its form, is serious art and should be taught in such a manner that students will become vividly aware f its aesthetic qualities – its beauty of word and structure, of rhythm and rhyme, of light and shade. The teacher should share with his students an innate and cultivated love of the best in literature that they might learn to appreciate the highest and to employ its principles in their own literary endeavors. (19)
The Guide goes on to
establish the following general criteria:
a.
Be
serious art . . .
b.
Avoid
sensationalism (the exploitation of sex and violence) and maudlin
sentimentality (the exploitation of the softer feelings to the detriment of a
sane and level view of life.)
c.
Not
be characterized by profanity or other crude and offensive language.
d.
Avoid
the elements that give the appearance of making evil desirable or goodness
trivial.
e.
Avoid
simplified, excitingly suspenseful, or plot-dominated stories that encourages
hasty or superficial reading.
f.
Be
adapted to the maturity level of the group or individual. (20)
In addressing fiction, the Guide also begins, as we have done, defining the term. It arrives at the conclusion that:
… In the minds of many the term fiction denotes less broadly the perverted, harmful form of imaginative writings often designed to exalt sin and sordidness. In most literary circles the term fiction has been understood merely to mean the categories of the novel and the short story. (Emphasis provided). (21)
It goes on to enumerate the
five characteristics that Ellen G. White attributes to the works of fiction.
(1) It is addictive. (2) It may be sentimental, or sensational, erotic, profane, or trashy. (3) It is escapist, causing the reader to revert to a dream world and to be less able to cope with the problems of everyday life. (4) It unfits the mind for serious study, and devotional life. (5) It is time consuming and valueless. (22)
We must keep in mind that
these characteristics were generally accepted for the type of literature
referred to as fiction by E. G. White.
We have to remember that there were other types of works being produced
that we must catalog today as fiction, but Ellen G. White considered them
differently in her day. Note, for
example, that she refers to Pilgrim's Progress as to an allegory, which
it is, but it also is within the scope of the modern definition of fiction.
Reference is also made here
to the volumes of Sabbath reading as other examples of fiction that is
also acceptable. The Guide also
discusses Biographies as another type of literature that must be viewed and
taught carefully. It the following
section had to be succinctly expressed, it would be properly done by saying
that "men are not to be glorified."
A criteria is set forth in
regard to the relevance of the literature chosen for presentation in the
Adventist classroom. It is recognized
that
… literary study can promote understandings that may
be useful for problem solving and for coping with personal and cultural
change. The following criteria should
be considered:
a) Teachers of literature in
Adventist schools should build on the
premise that
both selection of materials and methods of teaching be governed by relevance to
the development of students into mature Adventist Christians, committed to the
search for wisdom and truth and concerned with the physical and spiritual
well-being of their fellow men.
b) Teachers of literature
should assist students to discover the relevance of the literature of the Bible
and the writings of Ellen G. White to present-day concerns.
c) Adventist school
(particularly on the higher level), recognizing students' interest in currently
pressing human problems, may include in their literature program such materials
as encourage sharpened perceptions and fresh insights and challenge values that
students have accepted or held without critical examination. The teacher's judicious attitude toward such
material and candid explanation should reveal to students its usefulness for
such higher values as perception and insight despite certain drawbacks. The teachers should inform administrators
about the purposes and approaches involved in the use of such material. Appropriateness of topics the philosophy
expressed in this document must always be important considerations. (23)
B: Semi-Official
Papers
There have been several very
important contributions to the teaching of literature in Adventist
schools. We will mention some of these
briefly as the interested reader may find them very challenging and
illuminating.
Robert Dunn has edited a
volume of essays that is invaluable for the teacher of literature because it
compiles the work of leading Adventist educators and investigators. This compilation has already been quoted
from, the well researched Seventh-Day Adventists on Literature, edited
at the Department on English of Loma Linda University.
In our Bibliography we have
noted several other important publications so that the serious investigator's
job is facilitated somewhat, if a more detailed research were to take place.
IV. WHY
USE FICTION IN ADVENTIST SCHOOLS?
Someone may well pose the
above question to a literature teacher, asking to justify such position when
the counsels of the Spirit of Prophecy are so abundant against it. We have tried to clarify this concept. However, there are several reasons that have
not been yet alluded to and that we consider important in a well rounded
response.
Our colleges and universities are mostly oriented towards the acquisition of a liberal arts education. Emphasis is, of course, put on specific academic programs, but the end result, the end product, we would expect, is a well rounded, mature, Adventist Christian, whether a minister, an economist, a farmer, a nurse, a teacher, or a secretary, to name just a few possible careers.
The liberal arts curriculum
of our universities require that the student be knowledgeable of major trends
in world literature, as in the social sciences: history, sociology; in the fine
arts: poetry, music; in mathematics: algebra, trigonometry, statistics; in the
sciences: biology, chemistry, physics; and so on. We also strive to teach ours students to care for their bodies: e.g.,
health and physical education courses; to procure a correct relationship with
their Creator: e.g., religion, philosophy; and so on.
Modern fiction is an unavoidable part of literary studies. It must be approached from the correct perspective and for the correct motives, but we feel it has to be approached because it is an integral part of college and university curricula.
Fiction is sometimes likened
to a mirror. We can see other aspects
of life vicariously, as when the reader is brought to partake of experiences
that have not been lived personally, thereby gaining an added insight, a
cumulus of experience that will permit the alert individual to learn from the
experiences of others that which is valuable and virtuous. This vicarious experience must be led correctly
by a knowledgeable individual with Christian morals and values, or it can lead
to undesirable consequences. We,
therefore, recommend the selective use of fiction, presenting the subject
matter in consonance with our beliefs, principles and expectations.
Through a correct approach
to fiction we are better able to deal with and relate to the great
philosophical questions of human existence:
Who am I? Where did I come
from? Where am I? Why am I here? What is my final destiny?
Why must I (or anyone, for that matter) die?
Through the use of fiction we can explore these and other questions that humanity has been asking for ages, and explore, as well, possible plausible answers and their impact with a determined set of circumstances that may be varied and altered with great ease. The student may also be directed to possibilities encountered by characters in diverse situations, some of which may be similar to the present. The solutions arrived at may or may not satisfy the students' quest for a way to solve the continuously more complex riddle of every-day living. But as Edison is said to have said when his one thousandth experiment in search for the right filament for the incandescent bulb failed: "I now know a thousand ways that don't work." But he kept his laboratory open, and his experiments going and his enthusiasm undaunted, the results of which we are all familiar with.
After a thorough review of
the literature that deals with our subject we have come to a very firm
conclusions that will be summarized in the following statements:
1. It is possible and
desirable to use selected pieces of fiction in our Adventist colleges and
universities.
2. The study of these
selections should be dealt with by those appropriately trained professionals;
individuals whose religious experience has girded their intellects to mold the
young, pliable minds of the up-coming generations. We mean committed Christian teachers, individuals with a vested
interest in the Adventist Church, its mission and its message; not mere
salaried retailers of information. We
mean those committed to the enrichment of the society and the church quality
and excellence in education.
3. Teachers must always be on guard else strands of "trashy, frivolous" or passing fads in fiction filter into their syllabi and their teaching. This will only hinder their affirmative influence upon the students; and will, in the words of Mrs. White, "obscure the intellect and unfit the mind for serious study" in any chosen field, not only of the students under their influence, but also of the teachers themselves.
4. The approach with which
fiction will be presented is of utmost importance. It will not be just a matter of selecting a book or a series of
books and sending the students to read and analyze. It is the responsibility of the teacher to select and present the
selected material guiding the minds of the students under their care so as the
extract the most meaningful lessons from the excerpts or selections. The teaching of fiction will not be an
indiscriminate jumble of texts into which the students delve without guidance
or direction.
N. B. :
I must include a note in
recognition of, and in respect to two notable Adventist scholars whose work I
have used extensively in my research:
Dr. John O. Waller and Dr. Robert Dunn.
In the introduction of the anthology that Dr. Dunn puts together, as
well as at the end of one of Dr. Waller's essays, they both state very clearly
that the material contained in their research is for the exclusive use of
professionals in the field of teaching English in tertiary and graduate schools
because of the sensitivity of the subject matter. In keeping with their rightful reservations, I wish to state my
full compliance with their concern, and also would like to include this essay
in the same category of reserved materials.
I must include within the scope of accessibility, however, the literature teachers in the Spanish speaking countries, where we encounter the same situation, with the difference of the language. Spanish professors must also find the necessity, the desirability to teach fiction in their advanced classes. Once again, this material is to be used wisely, so as not to give in to misunderstandings and malinterpretations by individuals not prepared to deal with the very delicate subject of fiction in the Adventist higher education circles.
The use of fiction is to be
directed by consecrated teachers whose aim it is to glorify God and to help
students grasp the utmost significance from their educational experience. Untrained individuals can do much harm if
the concepts herein explored are used indiscriminately to justify a perverted
taste for fiction that is not in keeping with the parameters set by the Spirit
of Prophecy, the Guide to the Teaching of Literature … by the scholars
quoted above or by this essay. We
sustain that a well guided study will enrich the individuals involved and will
permit a broader worldview from the Christian perspective. This is not to say that all fiction is to
inundate like floodwater our colleges and universities. Caution and wise restraint, as well as a
sanctified mind and a desire to do God's will in whatever circumstances must be
used in the selection, discussion and presentation of literature in Adventist
centers of higher education.
1. John O. Waller,
"Fiction, Critical Theory, and a Graduate Criticism Course" as
reprinted in Dunn, Robert. Seventh-Day
Adventists on Literature.
(Riverside, CA: Loma Linda
University Department of English, 1974) p. 142.
2. Arthur F.
Holmes, at the 13th International ICT Seminar on June 14, 1993 at Union
College, Lincoln, Nebraska.
3. Frederick
C. Mish, Editor in Chief. Webster's
Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary.
(Springfield, MA:
Merriam-Webster, Inc., Publisher, 1983)
p. 460.
4. Henry Cecil Wyld, Editor. The Universal Dictionary of the English
Language. (New York: E. P.
Dutton and Company, 1932), p. 415.
5. J. A.
Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner, The Oxford English Dictionary, Vol. 5. Second Edition. (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1989), p. 872.
6. John O.
Waller, "A Contextual Study of Ellen G. White's Counsel Concerning
Fiction" and "Fiction, Critical Theory, and a Graduate Criticism
Course" as reprinted in Dunn, Robert.
Seventh-Day Adventists on Literature. (Riverside, CA: Loma
Linda University Department of English, 1974), pp. 47-62 and 140-149.
7. Roy Adams, Editorial: "Abusing Ellen G. White". Adventist Review, Digest of the General Paper of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Inter-American Edition. June, 1993, p. 3.
8. Ellen
Gould White, Testimonies for the
Church, Vol. 2 (Mountain View, CA:
Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1948), p. 410.
9. __________, Mind Character and Personality: Guide-lines to Mental and Spiritual Health. (Nashville, TN: Southern Publishing Association, 1977) p. 591.
10.
__________, Counsels to
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