Victorian Doubt Fosters Modern Faith In Literature

Victorian Doubt Fosters Modern Faith Literature is a window that shows all aspects of society. The Victorian literature provides audiences with the connection between doubt and faith. The Modern literature showcases the results of faith in relation to doubt. Stephen Greenblatt also allows audiences with clear evidence and reports of this critical connection in the anthologies. The works within the anthologies served the purpose of bringing the connection between faith and doubt together.

The Victorian age was heavily influenced by the industrial change that the society was undergoing. Tennyson allows audiences to see this in his poem, In Memoriam. The poem illustrates a bitter life forgotten and bitter from change. The industrial revolution

As Jesus said in Mark 11:23, “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (King James Version Holy Bible. Mark 11:23). Doubt is the obstacle of greatness. Audiences read in various literary works how faith is restored once doubt has been addressed and conquered.

In Memoriam exemplifies this aspect. Later in the poem the speaker states, “But when the heart is full of din, / in doubt beside the portal waits, / they can but listen at the gates, / and hear the household jar within” (Tennyson 1219). The stanza here explains how the heart finds peace once doubt is settled and put away. The message Tennyson is persuading audiences to understand is that bitterness will last longer when doubt of the world and of the people surrounding one another

The article, “Feeling the Great Change: Conversion and the Authority of Affect”, by Maureen Moran begins by discussing the important traits that the Victorian Age possessed. The Modern Age is the result of the elements the article discussed. Moran notes that “Crisis and transformation are key themes in the Victorian ‘spiritual quest’ plot where self-development is characterized by progress from ignorance to enlightenment, and thence salvation” (Moran 2).

The Victorian Age focused on enlightening themselves in order to stray from ignorance. The Modern Age is the period of enlightenment. Society is learning and adapting to more changes in religion. Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses was one of many conflicts that allowed groups to form and strengthen their faith. The branches, once called Nonconformists or Dissenters, are still active after undergoing obstacles and trials.

Protestant churches such as the Baptist Church continue to reach thousands of Christians through evangelism. Knowledge and doubt continue to plague believers just as doubt plagued Thomas, a disciple of Jesus Christ. Much like Thomas, the writers of the Victorian Age had to discover the censored pieces of Christianity in order to strengthen their belief. Thomas had only to see and touch to have a renewed sense of faith. His doubt led to one of the strongest beliefs in the New