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A review by lizshayne
From All False Doctrine by Alice Degan
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
So I've been super interested in religious figures in fantasy (and scifi, I suppose) who actually...practice their faith, I suppose. And for whom there is an element of *FAITH* to their belief, rather than serving a manifestly evident God who they treat like a miracle dispenser.
Also I've read Degan's writing under her pseudonym (which is less Anglo-Catholic, more Classical Greek) and enjoyed so here we are, reading about the process by which belief comes (back) into a person's life.
Also, like, a weird and wild story that is basically...okay imagine if Dorothy Sayers decide to write C.S. Lewis. It's kind of that. (Apparently he wrote a eulogy for her, a fact that I love.)
But what interests me is people talking about why they believe and I'm particularly fascinated by the role that aesthetics plays in both conversion stories we get. That it's not just belief and it's not that faith has trappings, but that the aesthetics that build up faith practices (what I'd call both minhag and hiddur mitzvah if I had to translate it into Jewish terms) are an integral part of what brings people to faith. And we lose and ignore it at our peril. The theological argument that this book is making, between the romance and the mystery of the disappearing fiance, is that matter matters in every sense.
Which makes it, of course, a deeply (Anglo-)Catholic book and also a fine addition to my "fantasticly faithful" collection.
Also I've read Degan's writing under her pseudonym (which is less Anglo-Catholic, more Classical Greek) and enjoyed so here we are, reading about the process by which belief comes (back) into a person's life.
Also, like, a weird and wild story that is basically...okay imagine if Dorothy Sayers decide to write C.S. Lewis. It's kind of that. (Apparently he wrote a eulogy for her, a fact that I love.)
But what interests me is people talking about why they believe and I'm particularly fascinated by the role that aesthetics plays in both conversion stories we get. That it's not just belief and it's not that faith has trappings, but that the aesthetics that build up faith practices (what I'd call both minhag and hiddur mitzvah if I had to translate it into Jewish terms) are an integral part of what brings people to faith. And we lose and ignore it at our peril. The theological argument that this book is making, between the romance and the mystery of the disappearing fiance, is that matter matters in every sense.
Which makes it, of course, a deeply (Anglo-)Catholic book and also a fine addition to my "fantasticly faithful" collection.