Christian Faith In John Updike’s In The Beauty Of The Lilies

As a well-known contemporary American writer, John Updike writes about religionsubjects and expresses religion complex consciously. All of these have made great influenceon his creation of the novel In the Beauty of the Lilies.In the Beauty of the Lilies, Updike’s17thnovel, demonstrates the history of fourgenerations of the Wilmots. This thesis analyzes people’s attitude toward faith by exploringthe lives and religious faiths of the Wilmots in the20thAmerica. The first generation Clarencebegins to suspect of God under the changes of the outside world and emergency of variousideological trends，which marks the beginning of the faith crisis in the20thcentury America.The second generation Teddy’s and his siblings Jared and Esther’s stories stretch from1915to1930. In Teddy’s mind, his father is abandoned by God, so Teddy refuses to attend churchor pray. Meanwhile, Jared and Esther lead a hedonic lifestyle, which is inconsistent withPuritanism. The second generation’s attitude reveals spiritual state of American people in the1920s and1930s. The third and fourth generations begin to seek for their faiths in their ownway, which reflects religious changes of American society in the1940s to1990s.In In the Beauty of the Lilies, Updike explores the religious changes of20thcenturyAmerican society. With the rapid development of society, people’s Christian faith undergo thetransformation from guarding God to doubting God, to discarding God against traditionalChristian faith. People, who fall into the mental difficulties, have to seek for ways to get outof them. Christian faith can be considered as one of the ways, but it needs to be exploredcontinuously.