“There is No God and We are His Prophets”: Cormac McCarthy and Christian Faith

Potts, Matthew

doi:10.1177/014833311406300409

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 2 publications

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“…Matthew L. Potts's statement about The Road, "When the world no longer makes sense, some people yet move on, convinced their acts have worth even if they cannot make meaningful claims about such acts," not only expresses the virtues McCarthy presents in this story but accentuates the grave transgressions he depicts in No Country for Old Men. 56 Bell's experience with Chigurh effectively dismantles his own understanding of the world, from which he refuses to "move on," as Potts states. Like Dante, Bell must climb Mount Purgatory to move on and experience a semblance of virtue, but in the hellish world of No Country for Old Men, such hope only appears as a glimmer in a dream.…”

Section: Three Ways Of Sinning: Dante's System In No Country For Old Menmentioning

confidence: 99%

“I’m a man of this time”

Griffis

2019

Christianity & Literature

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Criticism on the nature of evil in Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men (2005) has acknowledged the precarious moral position of Sheriff Bell, often creating sympathy for the character who resigns at a crucial time. My article argues that the novel's literary ancestor, Dante's Inferno, offers a way of reading this novel through categorizing the sins of the three main characters: Moss, Bell, and Chigurh. This categorization suggests not only that Bell is guilty of acedia, one of the seven deadly sins, but also that this particular sin elucidates the sheriff's meaning when he calls himself "a man of this time." Although more noticeable sins, such as Moss's impulsive theft or Chigurh's disciplined treachery, drive the plot and captivate readers, Sheriff Bell's acedia is the prevailing danger to morality in the novel.

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Section: Three Ways Of Sinning: Dante's System In No Country For Old Menmentioning

confidence: 99%

“I’m a man of this time”

Griffis

2019

Christianity & Literature

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“On”: Reading Cormac McCarthy’sThe Roadthrough Beckett’sWaiting for GodotandIll Seen Ill Said

Russell

2020

English Studies

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Embodying place: An ecotheological reading of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road

Russell

2016

Christianity & Literature

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The blackened landscape of Cormac McCarthy's The Road (2006) suggests the possibility of a future restoration of the earth through the survival of the nameless boy, who is variously figured as a fire-carrier and more specifically, as the Word of God, a chalice holder, a tabernacle. McCarthy's privileging of the bodies of the boy and father suggests how the body is the basis for our encounters with the dynamism of place. The sacrificial love of the father for the son exemplifies embodied, emplaced love and is finally Christlike in its manner and tone. This relationship and the relationship of father and son

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“There is No God and We are His Prophets”: Cormac McCarthy and Christian Faith

Cited by 4 publications

References 2 publications

“I’m a man of this time”

“I’m a man of this time”

“On”: Reading Cormac McCarthy’sThe Roadthrough Beckett’sWaiting for GodotandIll Seen Ill Said

Embodying place: An ecotheological reading of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road

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