Great Post: Who's Afraid of Flannery O'Connor

In Volume 18, Issue 2 of the Credenda Agenda, Douglas Jones questions why today's Christians are so afraid of Flannery O'Connor. Though in my opinion she is a writer whose works all Christians should read as much as they read those of Lewis and Chesterton, most Christians have never even heard of her and those who have have a great aversion to her. Why? Jones believes it lies in the darkness of grace:

All her stories focus on grace, grace, grace. That's what they're about. Every one of them. Real people wrestling with bodily grace.

And that's what disturbs many readers. They don't want their grace black. It feels like an alien faith to them, and they resist it. O'Connor herself heard this complaint. In her essay "The Catholic Novelist in the Protestant South," she argued against that pietism typical of Christian readers: "The reader wants his grace warm and binding, not dark and disruptive."

It's a great article. I especially like how Jones contrasts Christians' aversion to O'Connor with their love for "Christian" horror like Frank Peretti. Read the whole issue here.