Date
5-22-2024
Department
College of Arts and Sciences
Degree
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
Chair
James Corey Latta
Keywords
religious experience, experience, subjective, literature, God, faith, Tolstoy, Sanderson, Robinson, Nayeri, Lewis, Bible, narrative
Disciplines
Creative Writing
Recommended Citation
Wood, William, "“Who do you say that I am?”: Literary Portrayal of Religious Experience" (2024). Masters Theses. 1139.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/1139
Abstract
Literature is one of the primary means through which God has revealed Himself to the world. Christian writers, therefore, should be bold to portray their God in and through the religious experiences of their characters. Evaluating classic and contemporary literature, four distinct methods of portraying religious experience may be described, each with varying levels of flexibility and faithfulness. Works of literature such as fantasy fiction may include any and all of these methods, even while that literature pursues other themes. In this thesis, an Artist Statement describes the included work of fiction, with its literary context, impetus, and personal significance. A Critical Paper follows, studying and describing the four types of religious experience in literature. Finally, the Creative Manuscript attempts to put these four types into practice in the context of a coherent story, using the beginning of a longer novel.
