By Kaci Schneidawind
If you think you know everything about T.S. Eliot, the influential 20th century poet, you might be wrong.
A talk given by English professor Dr. Robert Hanna on Feb. 26 focused on Eliot’s Christian faith, an aspect of his life that was shrouded in secrecy. The lecture was a part of Bethany’s In Depth circuit.
“The In Depth series tries to give an opportunity for some of our professors or other experts who come to campus to look at certain subjects a little more deeply than you might in a typical class,” said chaplain Donald Moldstad. “We love to have Dr. Hanna speak to us every once in awhile because he is so fun to listen to.”
Dr. Hanna began by stating that while Eliot is often labelled as British, he was actually born and raised in Saint Louis, Mo. His family practiced Unitarianism, but Eliot’s spiritual story did not begin until later in his life.
Because Eliot first wrote non-religious poetry before his Christian poetry and plays, literary critics have examined his religious upbringing to explain what led to his Christian faith.
“Now, this is no mystery to Lutherans. We come to faith through baptism or through Scripture with the Holy Spirit working in our hearts. I am still searching for an article or biography in which the author asserts that Tom’s Christian faith came from the Holy Spirit,” said Dr. Hanna.
Eliot did not officially become a Christian until 1927. However, Dr. Hanna noted it is easy to demonstrate that Eliot read enough Scripture to make allusions to it before then.
Examples of these references appear in Eliot’s 1920 poem “The Hippopotamus,” which begins with a quotation from Paul’s letter to the Colossians, and 1925’s “The Hollow Men,” in which Eliot included part of the Lord’s Prayer.
Thus, Dr. Hanna concluded, “there is no doubt that before becoming a Christian, Eliot read Scripture, which enabled the Holy Spirit to speak to him through the Word of God.”
Much of Eliot’s coming to faith was conducted out of the public eye. He privately enrolled in and completed a required series of confirmation classes. On June 29, 1927, Eliot was privately baptized and received into the Church of England. He had the front doors of the church locked and only invited witnesses were present. Even Eliot’s wife was unaware of his baptism.
Eliot also asserted that no Christian’s actions should attempt to convert anyone, as he saw Christianity as a personal and private religion.
“His views included that art of any kind should never attempt to convert anyone to Christianity. He insisted that he had adhered to this precept in all of his future works,” said Dr. Hanna.
“I do not go out to an early communion on a cold morning in order to convert my housekeeper, or to set a good example to the night porter on my block of flats. If this were my motive, I had better not, for my own sake, go at all,” Eliot has said.
His refusal to convert others led some scholars to try to look for a more subversive attempt to bring others to faith in Eliot’s writings.
“Some literary critics want to find evangelism in Eliot’s literature. What they are more likely to find is Eliot’s use of Christianity in allusions to support non-evangelical poetry and drama,” said Hanna.
While Eliot’s faith did not overtly appear in his literature, it can be argued that it inspired some of the shaping of his poetry.
“I think about what [Eliot] believed regarding the King James Bible – his view of the language as subtle and having a certain impact. I would argue that is how he uses language in his poems, and that he is consciously being subtle toward some kind of impactful message,” English professor Dr. Lars Johnson said on the influence of Eliot’s faith in his work.
T.S. Eliot was not on the level of someone like C.S. Lewis when it came to professing and integrating Christianity into his writing, but Eliot’s faith still played a formative part in his literature and his life. Sometimes, less is indeed more.
The Scroll 
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