The Use of Christian Humanism in Callaghan's The Loved and the Lost

摘要

The paper aims to elaborate Morley Callaghan's use of Christian humanism in his fiction creation, which is generally known as Callaghanese fiction. Influenced by Jacques Maritain's moral and political philosophy, Callaghan expresses his moral theme through "Integral Christian Humanism", a definition given by Jacques Maritain in one of his earliest political works. In the paper, his novel The Loved and the Lost is employed to exemplify his expression of Christian humanism through the analysis of human nature, the pursuit of human freedom and their moral and spiritual perfection of protagonists in fiction. Looking forward to social change and innovation against disorder, Callaghan always sets his story against an urban background to demonstrate his urban realism, and The Loved and the Lost is not an exception. Peggy Sanderson, the protagonist of the story, finds the contradiction between her set of value and the society. She choose to struggle with the sin but eternally redeemed, which the dignity of humanity is rooted in the incarnation this makes Callaghan believe that human beings have free will to sin but also the responsibility to seek public grace and forgiveness.