Novels of redemption.

Sherry, Patrick J. (2000) Novels of redemption. Literature and Theology, 14 (3). pp. 249-260. ISSN 1477-4623

Abstract

Novels of redemption are ones which attempt to convey how God's redemptive purposes may work through human lives, e.g. Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment or Mauriac's The Knot of Vipers. The central themes of such novels are those of evil (i.e that from which people are redeemed) and grace. The latter is shown as working in different ways, sometimes through a sudden crisis and illumination, sometimes through slow change and growth. Two recurrent characters are the priest and the saint, who are depicted as channels of grace and mediators of redemption.