This week, we read "Parker's Back" which is a reflection on the heresy of iconoclasm, the rejection of holy images of God and the saints.
Listen online [here]!
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Flannery
O’Connor
Session 9:
Parker’s Back
“The
truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”
Additional Readings: Everything that Rises Must Converge, and A
Late Encounter with the Enemy, The Geranium, and Judgment Day
Themes in Parker’s Back
A. Probably Flannery O’Connor’s
most explicitly “theological” story
B. Iconoclasm: The condemnation
of images of God and the saints – This is a heresy
C. Self-righteousness: Both in
Parker who doesn’t believe in sin, and in Sarah Ruth
D. Vanity and the morality of tattoos
E. Perhaps the only story focused
on a married couple
Themes in The Life You Save May
Be Your Own
A. Greed and bargaining
B. A brief reflection on marriage
and settling down
C. Dark humor
D. Hypocrisy and the abandonment
of grace
