Camus Becoming a Christian?
As reported at Maverick Philosopher
I don't fault Maverick for reporting it, but I must admit that I always find things like this vaguely disconcerting. Do we feel such need for validation that we need to co-opt authors who can no longer speak for themselves to validate our own choices? Is that what this phenomenon represents? It's rather like the phenomenon of "outing" dead "gay" writers. Was Virginia Woolf gay? Was Henry James? The evidence is probably stronger for Virginia--on the other hand, what difference does it make? She can no longer say yea or nay, so she's co-opted for a cause. That's how I see reports of Camus, Sartre, Wallace Stevens all becoming or thinking about becoming, or implying that they have become Christian. There was a vogue for a while suggesting that C. S. Lewis was, toward the end of his life, thinking about becoming Catholic, equally one suggesting the cryptocatholic schema of William Shakespeare. Co-opting dead authors says nothing whatsoever about the cause for which they are co-opted, but it says a great deal about those willing to do the co-opting.
So back to the point--was he or wasn't he? God alone knows, and it is between Him and Camus.
I don't fault Maverick for reporting it, but I must admit that I always find things like this vaguely disconcerting. Do we feel such need for validation that we need to co-opt authors who can no longer speak for themselves to validate our own choices? Is that what this phenomenon represents? It's rather like the phenomenon of "outing" dead "gay" writers. Was Virginia Woolf gay? Was Henry James? The evidence is probably stronger for Virginia--on the other hand, what difference does it make? She can no longer say yea or nay, so she's co-opted for a cause. That's how I see reports of Camus, Sartre, Wallace Stevens all becoming or thinking about becoming, or implying that they have become Christian. There was a vogue for a while suggesting that C. S. Lewis was, toward the end of his life, thinking about becoming Catholic, equally one suggesting the cryptocatholic schema of William Shakespeare. Co-opting dead authors says nothing whatsoever about the cause for which they are co-opted, but it says a great deal about those willing to do the co-opting.
So back to the point--was he or wasn't he? God alone knows, and it is between Him and Camus.
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