| dc.contributor.author | Orser, Sandra Marion Parsons. | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2014-10-21T12:38:11Z | |
| dc.date.available | 1992 | |
| dc.date.issued | 1992 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.other | AAINN71568 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10222/55294 | |
| dc.description | This thesis constitutes a study of the views of Protestant Christianity and the organized Church in texts by Sinclair Ross (As For Me and My House), Margaret Laurence (A Jest of God), W. O. Mitchell (Who Has Seen the Wind), and Robertson Davies (Fifth Business). Both the rigid systems of belief and morality that are stereotypically associated with Calvinism and the dead and powerless quality of Christian practice are questioned. Ross, Laurence, Mitchell, and Davis all see organized Christianity as an unscriptural and limiting force that cannot meet the social, psychological, and spiritual needs of those involved with it. | en_US |
| dc.description | In each chapter of the thesis, the effects of an unyielding religious heritage on a community are examined. Characters in each novel consider alternative systems of belief, including atheism and the adoption of false gods, but find such systems disappointing. Finally, the characters attempt to salvage some portion of the Christian faith they have tried to reject. Hope, it seems, lies in adopting principles of love and service and in recognizing the importance of the miraculous, all of which constitute part of the Christianity outlined in the New Testament. Each author points out the difficulties in implementing the teachings of the Gospels but emphasizes that the attempt should be made. | en_US |
| dc.description | Ross, Laurence, Mitchell, and Davies maintain that acceptance of traditional ideas about religion is not enough, and the systems of belief presented in their respective fictions are often unconventional. What may initially appear to be a rejection of Christianity emerges, however, as a rejection only of static form and harsh moral codes. Each text examined provides the conclusion that the spiritual aspect of life, however it is understood, and the Gospel-based principles underlying the Christian faith continue to hold great value in the twentieth-century world. | en_US |
| dc.description | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 1992. | en_US |
| dc.language | eng | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Dalhousie University | en_US |
| dc.publisher | | en_US |
| dc.subject | Literature, Canadian (English). | en_US |
| dc.title | In search of a vision: Concepts of the Christian faith in four Canadian novels. | en_US |
| dc.type | text | en_US |
| dc.contributor.degree | Ph.D. | en_US |
