Interview with Ryken on ESV Literary Study Bible - II

I started this interview a couple days ago, but then was beautifully interrupted with the birth of our son. Now that we're all home from the hospital, I'll post the second installment of my interview of Dr. Ryken.

Do you see this study Bible being used in high school and college courses on the Bible as literature?

Dr. Ryken: It became evident early in the editorial process that an evangelical bias was evident in our commentary, even though our focus was on literary issues. Realistically speaking, therefore, while our study Bible is ideally suited for Bible-as-literature courses, it is unlikely to find much use beyond Christian schools and colleges. But I will not prejudge the matter, since my books on the Bible as literature have regularly been used in secular universities, and an online course that I composed and taught for Barnes and Noble University built around one of my books on the Bible as literature was one of their most popular courses.

Speaking as a professor of English at Wheaton College, might you offer your top-ten list of great Christian fiction?

Dr. Ryken: Such a list always reflects personal taste, of course, and this is reflected in my list. Additionally, although in common parlance fiction is virtually synonymous with the novel, the realm of fiction actually extends well beyond the novel. With those provisos in place, here is my own list of top eight: Homer's ODYSSEY; Shakespeare's MACBETH and HAMLET; Milton's PARADISE LOST; Hawthorne's THE SCARLET LETTER; Dickens' GREAT EXPECTATIONS; Tolstoy's THE DEATH OF IVAN ILYCH; C. S. Lewis' CHRONICLES OF NARNIA. If I were to add two works to make the number ten, the additional two would not quite be at the high level of the works I have named.

What is the role of Christian literature in the spiritual lives of believers?

Dr. Ryken: Several years ago I agreed to compose an address on literature and the spiritual life. This was a different topic from the one on which I had written books and articles, namely, literature in Christian perspective. When I undertook research to uncover personal statements and anecdotes about how Christians had been spiritually influenced by their reading of literature, I was astounded to discover how important literature is in the lives of many Christians. I had underestimated the degree to which Christian literature can nurture one's spiritual life and even become the instrument by which people come to faith. I am a Miltonist (specialist in John Milton) by profession, and out of the mass of scholarship that I have read on Milton, my very favorite piece of commentary is the opening statement of someone's testimony offered when he became a member of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia: "I was led to the Lord by John Milton."

How should Christians interact with highly-regarded non-Christian literature?

Dr. Ryken: They should interact in the same way that they interact with all of life. They should affirm and be edified and entertained by what is true, good, and beautiful in such literature, and they should set up resistance to what is false and depraved.