Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>Tales of tragedy, crime, and corruption have value for several reasons. One is that those that read them do not usually lead tragic, criminal, and corrupt lives, at least not the extent portrayed in such stories.<\/p>\nDon\u2019t mistake: Their natures are corrupt. As Paul says in the letter to the Romans, \u201call have sinned and fall short of the glory of God\u2026.\u201d Greed, hatred, lust, lies \u2014 most people are marked by these in some measure. We all bear their stain. But forces internal and external, graces particular and common, hold these corruptions in check.<\/p>\n
Being held in check, sometimes these corruptions escape scrutiny, are ignored, are forgotten. But Peter in his first letter says \u2014 pick your translation \u2014 be vigilant, be watchful, be alert, be careful \u201cbecause your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.\u201d<\/p>\n
The detective novel, true-crime book, or journalistic expos\u00e9 of an underground enterprise provide flavors of life otherwise untasted by people whose circumstances, fears, virtues, and providences protect them from the defects of their own characters. These stories point out the lion, show where the devil lurks, open the ledgers and add up the wages of sin. The reader looks over Christ\u2019s shoulder as he curses the fig tree.<\/p>\n
This doesn\u2019t mean that they tie everything up neatly in the end, sheep in this paddock, goats in the other, that, as Miss Prism says in The Importance of Being Earnest<\/em>, \u201cThe good ended happily, and the bad unhappily.\u201d Contra Prism, that is not necessarily \u201cwhat Fiction means.\u201d Nor true crime, nor journalistic expos\u00e9s. <\/p>\nJustice in this world is a shadow of reality in the next. Fiction that tidies up tragedy, crime, and corruption tends toward falseness. Same with any nonfiction account that skirts the results of man\u2019s sin hoping to portray a conclusion unmarbled by human defect.<\/p>\n
The defects make honesty essential. The lion still prowls. Averting the eyes is dangerous. Augustine says in book three of The City of God<\/em> that we should \u201clook at the naked deeds: weigh them naked, judge them naked,\u201d that we should discard \u201cdeluding whitewashes.\u201d<\/p>\nNo one has to plow through the pages of Walker Percy\u2019s Lancelot<\/em> or Bruce Porter\u2019s Blow<\/em><\/a>. But that\u2019s not to say they wouldn\u2019t benefit if they did.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tales of tragedy, crime, and corruption have value for several reasons. One is that those that read them do not usually lead tragic, criminal, and corrupt lives, at least not the extent portrayed in such stories. Don\u2019t mistake: Their natures are corrupt. As Paul says in the letter to the Romans, \u201call have sinned and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1270,"featured_media":2257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[58,70,240,572,633,702,709,718],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books-2","tag-apostle-paul","tag-augustine","tag-fiction","tag-redemption","tag-sin","tag-tragedy","tag-true-crime","tag-walker-percy"],"yoast_head":"\n
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