The idol or gift of love

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, June 6th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: our Classic Book of the Month for June.

World Reviewer Emily Whitten says, with romantic love so idolized these days, a British author you likely read in high school might be worth reading again.

EMILY WHITTEN, REVIEWER: Author Charlotte Brontë was born in 1816 in a small English village. She was the daughter of a clergyman, and she knew her Bible—though she held unorthodox views on some important issues. That said, our Classic Book of the Month, Jane Eyre, offers much Christians can savor. It follows Jane as she grows from a mistreated child to a responsible, loving adult. Here’s an audiobook clip by Thandiwe Newton

AUDIOBOOK: I never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoons: dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight, with nipped fingers and toes, and a heart saddened by the chidings of Bessie, the nurse, and humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed.

In that clip, you can hear Jane’s longing to be happy, to be good, and to be loved—as well as how those things are out of reach for her. She’s unjustly punished by adults in her life and treated as an inferior by other children. And like all of us, she responds to that mistreatment in sinful ways at times.

At Lowood School, though, she makes a friend—a girl named Helen who is a true Christian. Sadly, Helen dies young from tuberculosis, but in her final scene, Helen points Jane to God’s love.

AUDIOBOOK: “You are sure, then, Helen, that there is such a place as heaven, and that our souls can get to it when we die?” “I am sure there is a future state; I believe God is good; I can resign my immortal part to Him without any misgiving. God is my father; God is my friend: I love Him; I believe He loves me.”

The rest of the novel might be seen as Jane’s search to find—and live out—a similar kind of godly love. She eventually seems to find it in romantic love with Mr. Rochester. He’s the guardian of a young girl Jane cares for as a governess. But a dramatic plot twist threatens to separate her from Rochester forever.

CHELSEA BOES: I had the great privilege of not knowing the ending when I read it. And, if you have not, if you don't know the ending yet, you should go read it now before it spoiled.

That’s Chelsea Boes, a WORLD writer and book reviewer. She earned her degree in literature at Patrick Henry College, and she says Jane Eyre was the first novel she read after graduation.

BOES: And I really think of it kind of as a book that was healing for me because it was sheer pleasure.

Not everyone will enjoy Brontë’s challenging writing style. But Boes did.

BOES: Jane Eyre is full of words nobody knows anymore. Words like inanition and moiety and things like that that I only know now because I've read it so many times. And there's something about Charlotte Bronte, her language is it just has this amazing musicality. It's beautiful.

Boes also enjoys the Gothic flavor of the book. The setting on the empty moors of England or Rochester’s house, with its heavy drapes and creepy noises. All these invite readers into Jane’s feelings of longing and foreboding.

BOES: I mean, parts of Jane Eyre are scary. Like you're reading alone in your bed at night and you're like getting the creepy crawlies and it's just delicious, you know.

Boes says she’s read the book several times since her first encounter with Jane. One reason she keeps coming back?

BOES: I love the perspective on Christian desire in Jane Eyre. It is a really profoundly Christian book in a lot of ways because Jane Eyre is like, how do I be true to myself, so to speak.

Of course, being true to one’s self is used to justify all kinds of horrible behavior today. Grove City College professor Carl Truman says in his book Strange New World that that goes back to thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau who overemphasized inner feelings. Still, Trueman reminds us–quoting here– “We do have feelings.” He says, “Historically, while Rousseau is developing his notion of the self as rooted in inner sentiments, so Jonathan Edwards is writing Religious Affections and exploring that space from an explicitly Christian perspective.”

Boes thinks Jane Eyre grows into that mature Christian perspective.

BOES: Christianity is not erasing your personality, but it is also not worshiping the idol of romance, which I think is like that really beautiful alive place for a Christian to be.

That doesn’t mean the book is perfect. Jane’s love interest, Mr. Rochester, has some major flaws. Boes says we don’t have to feel shy about criticizing Mr. Rochester when he gets things wrong.

BOES: I think it's fine to say we do not treat the mentally ill people and, and people of other races this way.

We should also note Bronte’s theology wasn’t always Biblical. At times, she seems to express a universalist view that everyone will be saved—regardless of whether they have faith in Christ.

Ultimately, though, WORLD’s Classic Book of the Month for June, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, can help Christians think rightly about romantic love—not as an idol to worship, but a great gift when God gives it within his intended design.

BOES: I’m gonna live in that tension, that space between, I really want things, but I have to deny myself sometimes. So I feel like that Jane is a beautiful and timeless person to learn from in that way. And you do not have to like Mr Rochester and you don't have to like St. John. You just have to like Jane. That's all I'm saying you just gotta like her. She's a good friend.

I’m Emily Whitten.

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