The Religion of Graham Greene

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5 word format

document in English

ancient history

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published 15/06/2008

review : Completed

level : General public

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Summary

When viewing Graham Greene from a religious perspective, or evaluating his works based upon their “religious sense,” the starting assumptions of critics have been that Greene is a Catholic writer. However, analyses of Greene’s work have proven that Greene at best fits ambiguously into this role, and have revealed that the quality of being a Catholic is ambiguous, as well. Greene’s frequent use of Catholicism as a basis for moral questioning, character development, and political commentary has resulted in a very loose implementation of Catholic beliefs and traditions. His radical religious concepts present in the novels Brighton Rock, The Power and the Glory, The Heart of the Matter, and The End of the Affair make a case on their own for Greene’s possible agnosticism. Though, through careful examination of the ideas presented in the narration and events of these novels, one can conclude that Greene sees the ideas of faith and belief, as opposed to the church, as entities more suited to connecting man with God.

The difficulty of extracting his personal philosophy arises from the source, fictional narrative; one must be able to distinguish between Greene's personal beliefs and the beliefs of his characters.
The ideals of these two men can be thought of as reflexive polarizations.
While this concept logically makes sense, it is an outrageous notion when looked at from a strictly Catholic perspective.
Analytical proofs of God's existence that occur in situations such as in 'A Visit to Morin' and The Potting Shed show that Greene thinks of God in a fashion external to the Church.
If so, it is then reasonable to say that Greene isn't much of a Catholic novelist or Catholic writer.
Another theme in this novel that characterizes Greene's Catholicism is evident in the spiritual progression of the priest.
In Greene's critique of the author Henry James, Greene states that with James' death 'the religious sense [in the English novel] was lost.?
The relationship of two polar entities, sin and salvation, cooperating with one another in order to form the fate of a man's soul is parallel to Greene's emphasis on disbelief.