Art’s Eye for Evil
In the past several years I have reflected a lot on how I get more out of reading fiction books than non-fiction. I don’t say this just from an entertainment factor, but also from a deeper learning perspective. Interestingly, as I have in the last five years been intensively studying C. S. Lewis, GeorgeMacDonald, and Dorothy Sayers, and their appreciation for fiction, I have found fiction to be a major influencer of these author’s work and lives. Learning this has made me feel, not quite so “out there” in my thinking. In reading Dr. Richard Hughes Gibson’s just released and awesome book, The Way of Dante: Going Through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven with C.S. Lewis, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Charles Williams (2025), the influence of fiction writing was even further affirmed.
Gibson noted, “…the fact that my archival labors revealed daily how thoroughly Dante had infiltrated my trio’s [C. S. Lewis, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Charles Williams] reading and writing lives” (p. xvii). Gibson’s new book interested me on several levels, but this idea of influence really interested me. Then at the beginning of Chapter 6, The Problem of Glory, Gibson asserted that, “EVIL MAY BE A PROBLEM for philosophers and theologians, but it is no problem for artists” (page 123). I loved this because it drove home what I have been saying about narrative artists and the power of fiction for years now – we get to see all the context and all the complexity of the characters. The artist reveals everything we need to know. This doesn’t happen, at least not all the time, with non-fiction.
Dr. Gibson referenced philosopher Agnes Callard saying, “Callard, let me be clear, thinks that art’s eye for evil is a good thing. Amid our busy lives, we look at the world with a purpose, and our purposes become blinders, obscuring our recognition of the ‘irrelevant, the unhelpful, and the downright wicked.’ Artists, by contrast, ‘take a long hard look at what the rest of us can’t bring ourselves to examine; they are our eyes and ears’” (p. 124). This illuminates the distinction between everyday perception and artistic perception. Callard suggested that people generally view the world through a purpose-driven lens, focusing on what matters to us—our goals, needs, and interests. This focus acts like blinders, preventing us from noticing things that don’t directly relate to our intentions, including aspects that might be irrelevant, unhelpful, or even morally troubling.
Gibson’s appreciation is for the artist’s role in providing a deeper, more honest perspective—especially regarding the presence of evil or wickedness—something that society generally tends to shy away from confronting directly. The emphasis, according to Gibson, is the importance of art as a means of truth-telling and of gaining a more comprehensive understanding of reality, beyond our convenient but limited viewpoints.
Byron's Babbles 
[…] I read the book as a Marion E. Wade Continuing Scholar. I’ve already blogged about the book in Art’s Eye For Evil and The Problem of Glory. The discussion of glory in the book really intrigued […]
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