Can one find God through literature? Father Celso da Silva, L.C., offers us the answer through the study of three great universal writers.
“The Art of Finding Deus Among Fantasies and Verses – Dante Alighieri, C. S. Lewis, and J. R. R. Tolkien” (title in Portuguese), is the new book by Fr. Celso Júlio da Silva, L.C., published by Dialética Publishing, one of the most recognized in the academic field in Brazil. The book is the result of a five-year study conducted by the author and is structured in two parts: Poetry– Dante in his Divine Comedy and Fantastic Epic: Imagination Takes Over Reality- Lewis and Tolkien. The book can be purchased in physical format, e-book, and audiobook at the following links.
A brief review of the work by the author:
“The reader holds in their hands a book that seeks to show the harmony between literature as a product of the human spirit and faith in Jesus Christ. By reading this book, you will perceive that literature is a path to reach the contemplation of God. The human path outlined in the title of this book is poetry and fantastic epic. Therefore, this book contains two parts. The first dedicated to poetry highlights the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, and shows us the signs and convergences between faith and reason, between God and man. The second part deals with two fantastic writers, C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, seeking in them—and not only in them—elements of Christian faith in a metaphorical and analogical way. My wish is that all who read this work learn that contact with literature, poetry, and what is beautiful must always lead us to what is useful and makes our soul grow, our spirit, that is, to become more human, so that what Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince lamented—’I see humans, but I do not see humanity’—does not happen in our world. May this not actually happen. Finally, I hope that by reading this book, you find God or perhaps it will be God who finds you within its pages. Happy reading!
Brief biography of the author:
P. Celso Júlio da Silva LC was born on March 7, 1992, in Candeias-MG, Brazil. He entered the Arujá Vocational Center in São Paulo on January 3, 2005, and completed his primary studies in 2009 at the Porto Alegre Vocational Center. He then began his Novitiate on March 7, 2010, in Arujá-SP. The following year, he was transferred to the Novitiate of Medellín, Colombia. He took his first religious vows on January 28, 2012, at the Medellín minor seminary. In the same year, he supported as a formator and teacher at the Arujá Vocational Center. He studied Classical Humanities in Salamanca, Spain, in 2012, and then graduated with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum from 2013 to 2016.
After completing philosophy, he did apostolic practices from 2016 to 2018 at the Mérida Vocational Center, Venezuela, as a formator and studies prefect. From 2018 to 2019, he was an instructor of formation and assistant of ECYD at the Cumbres School of Medellín, Colombia. In 2020, he began his bachelor’s in theology in Rome, and on January 3, 2021, he made his perpetual vows. During the summers of 2021 and 2022, he supported as an assistant philosophy professor at the Seminary María Mater Ecclesiae in Brazil.
He was ordained deacon on July 9, 2022, at the São Paulo Metropolitan Cathedral, Brazil, and priest on April 29, 2023, at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. His ministry has been dedicated to teaching, and he is currently studying a license in theology at the Augustinian Patristic Institute in Rome.
Image: Cathopic
