WISDOM FROM THE CHURCH

St. Basil the Great SHOULD WE READ NON-CHRISTIAN BOOKS?

CAN WE REALLY EXPECT

TO GAIN INSIGHT ABOUT MODERN CATHOLIC EDUCATION FROM AN ANCIENT CHRISTIAN SOURCE? MOST CERTAINLY! IN HIS REMARKABLE BRIEF ADDRESS TO YOUNG STUDENTS OF HIS DAY, ST. BASIL THE GREAT OFFERS WISDOM FOR HOW TO MAKE USE OF SECULAR, NON-CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN THE EDUCATION AND THE FORMATION OF THE YOUNG.

Basil’s answer to this question is: Yes, there is much to be gained from reading non-Christian literature in the education of young people. In his day, this “literature” meant the Greek and Roman classics: Homer (The Iliad and the Odyssey), the poets and playwrights, the historians and the philosophers. Yes, we should read these, Basil says, but we should do so with great discernment. We should take what is good and leave behind what is not.

For Basil, the divine words in the sacred Scriptures provide our genuine source of truth and life. But “pagan” literature also has its positive role to play. How, then, do we discern what is good from what is bad? Basil proposes that “virtue” is the main criterion. If the books portray what is virtuous and good — if they show and illustrate exemplary conduct — then we can read them with profit. But when they portray evil and immorality, then we should turn aside and not “imbibe” these stories and examples.

Basil warns against young people becoming “intoxicated” with non-Christian literature in a way that causes them to take in “poison along with honey.” He recommends the example of honey bees: just as bees know exactly how to extract just what they need from each flower — and leave the rest behind — so we need to discern what is good in non-Christian literature and leave the remainder behind.

For Basil, non-Christian literature cannot give us the full portrait of the redeemed life — only the sacred Scriptures can do this. But this literature can help form us in what is good and virtuous and praiseworthy. In a beautiful phrase, Basil says that these books possess “a silhouette of virtue” that is valuable and worth our effort to obtain.

Should Catholic education make use of non-Christian literature as part of its formation? According to Basil the Great, yes certainly, but only when we apply careful discernment to sort the good from the bad.

COMMENTARY BY DR. DANIEL KEATING Dr. Daniel Keating is an author and professor at Sacred Heart Major Seminary.

ST. BASIL THE GREAT, “ADDRESS TO YOUNG MEN ON THE RIGHT USE OF GREEK LITERATURE”1

Now this is my counsel, that you should not unqualifiedly give over your minds to these authors, as a ship is surrendered to the rudder, to follow wherever they lead, but that, while receiving whatever of value they have to offer, you recognize what it is wise to ignore. Accordingly, from this point on I shall take up and discuss the pagan writings, and how we are to discriminate among them. (paragraph 1)

The Holy Scriptures lead us into life eternal, which teach us through divine words. But so long as our immaturity forbids our understanding their deep thought, we exercise our spiritual perceptions upon profane writings, which are not altogether different, and in which we perceive the truth as it were in shadows and in mirrors. … Consequently we must be conversant with poets, with historians, with orators, indeed with all those who may further the care of our soul. (paragraph 2)

When the poets recount the words and deeds of good men, you should both love and imitate them, earnestly emulating such conduct. But when they portray base conduct, you must flee from them and stop up your ears, as Odysseus is said to have fled past the song of the sirens, for familiarity with evil writings paves the way for evil deeds. Therefore the soul must be guarded with great care, lest through our love for letters it receive some contamination unawares, as men drink in poison with honey. (paragraph 4)

For just as bees know how to extract honey from flowers, which to men are agreeable only for their fragrance and color, even so here those who look for something more than pleasure and enjoyment in such writers may derive profit for their souls. Now, then, altogether after the manner of bees must we use these writings, for the bees do not visit all the flowers without discrimination, nor indeed do they seek to carry away entire those upon which they light, but rather, having taken so much as is adapted to their needs, they let the rest go. So we, if wise, shall take from such writings whatever befits us and is allied to the truth, and shall pass over the rest.

To be sure, we shall become more intimately acquainted with these precepts in the sacred writings, but it is incumbent upon us, for the present, to trace, as it were, the silhouette of virtue in the pagan authors. For those who carefully gather what is useful from each book are capable, like mighty rivers, to gain many additions from every side. (paragraph 10)

1 Translation by F.M. Padelford, Essays on the Study and Use of Poetry by Plutarch and Basil the Great, Yale Studies in English 15 (1902), 99-120. The translation has been modified from the Greek text for modern usage.