Why should Christians study literature?

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Why should Christians study literature?

• The Christian Vocation

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• When I consider your heavens,
• the work of your fingers,
• the moon and the stars,
• which you have set in place,
• what is man that you are mindful of him?

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• the son of man that you care for him?
• You made him a little lower than the heavenly
  beings
• and crowned him with glory and honor.
• You made him ruler over the works of your hands
• you put everything under his feet
• all flocks and herds,
• and the beasts of the field,

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• the birds of the air,
• and the fish of the sea,
• all that swim the paths of the seas.
• Psalm 83-8
• You made him ruler over the works of your hands
• you put everything under his feet

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Our Vocation

• Vocation calling
• According to Psalm 8, we have been called to
• rule over creation

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How?

• love God
• and love your neighbor as yourself Matthew
  2227-40

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Three specific ways

• 1) we are to cultivate the potentials of Gods
  world
• 2) we are to work for a world of physical
  sustenance and justice
• 3) we are to enjoy a world of delight

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1. Cultivating potential

• Cultivating means
• Developing potential, discovering

• Reading helps us to
• Discover some of the incredible possibilities of
  language

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What can we discover?

• New vocabulary
• Figurative language
• Metaphors, similes, hyperbole, imagery
• Literary techniques
• Descriptive writing
• Point of view
• Various genres
• Plot structure

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• Cultivate potential
• Discover
• (literary elements, vocabulary)

D.
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2. Physical sustenance justice

• The responsibility to love is a responsibility
  to
• Take action
• What two things hinder us?
• Ignorance
• Selfishness

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Ignorance

• We just dont KNOW!
• Through literature we can learn about other
• people
• places
• circumstances

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Selfishness

• It is natural human trait to focus on only
  ourselves
• Through literature we can
• develop empathy for others

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• Physical sustenance and justice
• Overcome
• (ignorance and selfishness)

O.
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• Discover
• (literary elements, vocabulary)
• Overcome
• (ignorance and selfishness)

D.
O.
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3. Enjoy a world of delight

• The world God gave humans at creation provided
• Not only sustenance but also delight
• pleasing to the eye and good for food (Gen. 29)

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• Jesus tells his disciples
• I have told you this so that my joy may be in
  you and your joy may be complete (John 1511)

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• When God finished creation, he took time to
  appreciate and enjoy what he had made, calling it
  
• very good.

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• Delight in a well-crafted work of literature is a
  response to God
• When we respond to the beauty of literature by
  saying, this is good, we are imitating God and
  praising Him as the ultimate Creator

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• Enjoy a world of delight
• Celebrate
• (authors skill, or the beauty of literature )

C.
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We can fulfill our calling as Christians to

• rule over creation
• by
• loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves

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• By reading and studying literature using

C.
D.
O.
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• Discover
• (literary elements, vocabulary)
• Overcome
• (ignorance and selfishness)
• Celebrate
• (authors skill, or the beauty of literature )

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• Credits
• Ideas and some words taken from Literature
  Through the Eyes of Faith by Susan V. Gallagher
  and Roger Lundin
• Images from Microsoft Clipart