Modernism, Faith, and Intellectuals

In a Modernist* culture hostile to Christianity, how did T. S. Eliot, C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, and many more join the faith — and how did other intellectuals like Virginia Woolf react?

Learn more about the interaction of Modernist attitudes, Christianity, and intellectuals in Adam Schwartz’s article, “Swords of Honor: The Revival of Orthodox Christianity in Twentieth-Century Britain” from Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture (Volume 4, Number 1, Winter 2001, pp. 11-33).

Modernist writers T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf were friends who influenced each other's works.

Modernist writers T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf were friends who influenced one another’s works. T. S. Eliot; Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)
by Lady Ottoline Morrell

vintage snapshot print,
June 1924 (NPG Ax141646)
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Creative Commons License

At Project Muse, you may read an excerpt from the article, and you may be able to access the entire article for free through your local library, college, or university. (Libraries often have journal subscriptions that let their users freely access these materials; ask your librarian if you need help learning how to search for journals in the catalog.)

If you are unable to read the article at Project Muse, you may read it as a PDF from the University of St. Thomas (PDF).

*Modernism is a philosophical, literary, and artistic movement characterized by experimentation in the arts in Western society during the late 19th to mid-20th century, especially after World War I. To learn more, you may read the Outline of American Literature chapter on Modernism and Experimentation 1914–1945.

Dr. Timothy Bartel’s video on Modernism may also help you understand this movement:


Other EIL resources for authors mentioned above: