Ironies of Faith: The Laughter at the Heart of Christian Literature

by Anthony Esolen

With the assistance of Tacitus himself, Nero would become the imbecilic emblem of all that was ignoble and debased in the great city; while the chief Christians whom Nero executed, Peter and Paul, would be revered as saints.

Tacitus’s mistake was born of unfamiliarity; ours are born of overfamiliarity.

Then, when the faith proves more subtle than one’s caricature, that same overfamiliarity tempts one to patter about “contradictions” and “tensions.” The critic sees holes where there are but spaces in a most intricate lacework.

Christians should reclaim their heritage. This book is written to assist them in their quest.

We judge by what we see, and unless we love deeply, we see ourselves. So will a cheat watch the fingers of everyone else at the card table.

For virtue is to vice as manliness is to machismo, as womanliness is to effeminacy, as any full-blooded reality is to its caricature.

Unfortunately, much of what passes for criticism is little better than idle gossip. Its initial spur is often not honor for the work of genius at hand, but the desire to say something clever.

I surrender in imaginative love.