The Impact of the Religious Vision on Western Literary Criticism

Abstract

This research discusses an important dimension in the methodology of Western literary criticism, which is the impact of the religious vision in shaping the modern and contemporary critical mind. It is a vision that exists throughout the history of Western literary and critical sectarianism and was subject to its cultural, civilizational and religious roots. Christianity, along with the narratives of the Old Testament, witnessed a great presence in the visions and critical practices of critics, as was evident in creative works of all kinds. The research was divided into an introduction and two chapters. The first chapter discusses the impact of religious vision on the perspective of Western centralism and cultural bias through the concept of Western civilizational centralism. The second chapter discusses the relationship of the Christian religion with Western literary criticism, tracing the roots of that relationship. The research concluded that Western literary criticism came out in its first references from theology along with the ancient Greek philosophical and literary heritage. This explains the permanent critical work on the texts of the Bible (Old or New Testament).