Memoirs and Confessions
The title Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner takes its reference from a theological belief, particularly the central reformation doctrine of "justification by faith". It concerns a strangely tormented character, Robert Wringhim, who believes he is one of the elect, but eventually murders his brother and finally takes his own life. To say that this novel has a multiplicity of interpretations is a literary commonplace. For the purposes of this paper I wish to suggest that it may be read as a warning not against intolerance, but against excessive rationalism.The novel is written in three parts. The Editor's narrative is written by a member of the Edinburgh Enlightenment literati and suggests to be the objective, rational account of Robert Wringhim and the strange events of his life. The Sinner's Confessions are Robert Wringhim's own subjective, irrational account of these same events. Robert, being an 'elect and justified person', believes that he cannot lose his Christian id
Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, written in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, clearly shows how deeply Christianity informed the intellectual and imaginative processes of James Hogg. This novel confronts issues concerning politics, statecraft, history, philosophy and religion, which are all discussed with reference to Christianity. Hogg also uses the narrative to make the obvious point that excessive rationality may distract from a proper attention to behavior. Robert Wringhim is a clear example of a man who speaks a Christian rhetoric but whose behavior is the antithesis of the gospel. Less obviously, however, the novel may also warn against the common but miserable emotional reaction to the rationalism of Reformed Christianity - spiritually unhealthy habits of morbidity and introspection which lead to self-obsession and self-absorption - habits which disrupt, worry and unsettle the processes of grace and faith in the life of the believer. entity by any ac
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Approximate Word count = 673
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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