Christ, Culture and John Updike

Today I learned that John Updike passed away. This saddened me because he was one of the few serious authors I enjoy reading. I am still thinking about and regularly empathize with Rabbit, Run. His talents will be missed.

I mention this in my blog not because I heard he has been attending an Episcopal church in the last few years, thereby somehow tying him into Christ and Culture, but because I had to read one of his novels in seminary- In the Beauty of the Lilies. This novel is a brilliant insight into the church of the 20th century. It starts with a preacher who is unable to speak only to be replaced by his wife. It continues into dutiful and boring worship in the middle of the century. It concludes with an investigation of alternative spirituality, telling a similar story to the Branch Davidians. Any historian of modern Christianity should check this out.

That’s how I am stretching this notice to fit into my blog- using a secular novel in a seminary class is an example of Christ Above Culture because it uses something from the secular world to advance the Gospel.