Malcolm Cowley on Faulkner re: TRP

[Bekah]

On Dec 3, 2012, at 2:48 AM, Matthew Cissell <macissell at yahoo.es> wrote:
> 
> 	And as for Grace, well I'm happy to see that we have revisited its types in RC and Calvinism etc, but is this not a more secular Grace? Is it not a correlate of the anarchy miracle and thus detached to some degree from its religious moorings? I agree with Mark that this line is very carefully weighted. Pynchon clearly states, in one of his letters in the Harry Ransom collection, that he is "big on last lines."


Yes,  lots of meanings for  the term "grace."   And I'm not accusing TP of having a  "religious" meaning in mind.   I think secular Grace is very similar to what the Catholic site describes as "Actual Grace"  - it's the supernatural type one.   This is not the kind that gets you to heaven or prepares your soul or whatever.  This is the kind that's just a little "kick in the pants."     It's not "irresistible" like the Calvinist.   

My bad  -  I  put in the quotes and forgot the links: 
Actual Grace is  "a supernatural push or encouragement.  It's transient.  It … acts on the soul from the outside, so to speak.  It's a supernatural kick in the pants.  It gets the will and the intellect moving so we can seek out and keep sanctifying grace."   
http://www.catholic.com/tracts/grace-what-it-is-and-what-it-does


and 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevenient_grace
"… prevenient grace allows persons to engage their God-given free will to choose the salvation offered by God in Jesus Christ or to reject that salvific offer."


There are lots (!) of sites with little definitions.  

Bekah
whose g'daughter is named Grace -