Why read the Great Books?

Like a lot of United Methodist pastors and members I receive, and sometimes read bits of, Good News Magazine, which represents the evangelical and traditional-Wesleyan perspective within the church (probably, the majority of the church at this point).

A couple of years ago a clergy colleague quipped that it was a publication devoted to "the Good News: that we Methodists have a traditional teaching on sexuality", hinting that he thought Good News was in danger of becoming a one-issue publication, rather than representing all of the riches and fullness of the Christian faith and Christian tradition, especially in its Wesleyan form.

However (and perhaps this is in response to such criticisms), I have noticed in recent years that Good News has had a broader spectrum of articles and pieces.  I ran across this one today and wanted to share it, because it touches on a topic close to my heart: Why Read Great Books?

The piece quotes from Homer's Illiad, a C.S. Lewis essay, and the anonymous Medieval poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but does not (as I recall) have anything to say about the sexuality debate within United Methodism.

Certainly, as one who was raised with at least some engagement with the great Classics of Western culture, I have great love of them, and confidence in their ability to enrich and impart wisdom and beauty - enchantment even - into the lives of those who attend to them.

Of course, there are debates about just what are the "Great Books".  Some of the 20th century sets (such as The Great Books of the Western World) have been criticized for mostly ignoring the great Medieval and Christian traditions, and skipping almost straight from classical antiquity to the more secular works of the 17th Century.  While some books might be a bit "debatable" (included on some folks' lists, but not others), there are a great many works that are undeniably a part of Western Civilization's Great Books tradition.

I try always to be reading at least one of the Classics (at present, Dante's Divine Comedy, and I've just started re-reading Tolkien's Middle Earth saga, including the newer volumes covering the First Age), and I really do believe that doing so not only brings me pleasure and exercises my mind, but also puts me in closer contact with the generations that came before, with my forefathers on this earth.

The essay in Good News is worth the read...as are the Great Books themselves.

The essay also suggests that we United Methodists ought to be doing more to establish or to support Great Books schools and educational programs, and I think it is always worth contacting your local UMC-affiliated liberal arts college(s), and encouraging them to create a 'Great Books Curriculum' as The University of Chicago and St. John's College have famously done, plus we could always use more reading clubs that focus on the Classics (churches could sponsor groups that read the Spiritual Classics).