Philosophy & theology

It becomes clear during the collection of letters that Flannery O'Connor is rather well read in and interested in philosophy within and outside of a theological context. She refers to many of the European existentialists, particularly the French. She gives the impression that she even really has read Simone de Beauvoir. She shows the development of her thinking during the letters that she sends. For Flannery O'Connor, much of her philosophizing occurs within a theological context. She is actually a devout Catholic, and she reads up on many of the most popular writers within Catholic thought. One of her favorite thinkers is Teilhard de Chardin. She recommends one of his books to another late in the letters, during the early 1960s.

She writes about the matter of faith and the testing of faith and often the loss of it, either permanently or temporarily as a side effect...