Opinion

Educate Me About Redwall

Redwall

I’ve never read more than 50 pages of Redwall.  My wife, I think, got to page 100.

I know a lot of Christian and Catholic families love the series, but I’ve never heard them explain why.  Personally, I didn’t like the fact that the animals were essentially monks-without-a-God (so far as I could tell).  My wife, meanwhile, didn’t like it that the bad guy was named Cluny, the same name as the great Benedictine reformer. 

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So what are your thoughts on this plucky, sword-wielding mouse?

And if you do view the novel (or series) as Christian art, how so?

  1. Directly (Jesus & Biblical personages are present as characters in the work) 
  2. Explicitly (they discuss Jesus & Christianity; religion is part of the subject)
  3. Allegorically (analogues of Christian stories & ideas)
  4. Implicitly (deliberately Christian sensibility & framework)
  5. By way of accommodation (highly compatible with Christianity)
  6. Superficially (they happen to mention heaven, angels, etc.)
  7. Pseudo-Christian (referencing Christianity in incorrect, even blasphemous ways)
  8. Pre-Evangelical (showing the ugliness of a world without God)

Anyone who’s read these books?

Author

  • Eric Pavlat

    Eric Pavlat is a convert from Unitarian Universalism who entered the Church in 1996. He lives in Maryland with his wife and six children. He is also a perpetually professed Lay Dominican in St. Pius V Pro-Chapter, located in Catonsville, MD. He founded Democrats for Life of Maryland, Inc., in 2004, served one term as president, and stayed on the board of directors until 2010. He now considers himself more a Distributist than anything else. Eric teaches 10th grade honors and special education students in English literature, composition, and grammar at his alma mater, Parkdale High School.

tagged as: Directly Jesus Biblical Inside Catholic Jesus Christianity Pre Evangelical Pseudo Christian

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