SOURCE: Linnér, Sven. “Literary Symbols and Religious Belief.” In Religious Symbols and Their Functions, edited by Haralds Biezais, pp. 117-25. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1978.

In the following essay, Linnér notes the religious language and imagery in Lagerkvist's work.

Of all the world's religions, I shall here only be dealing with Christianity; this is the religion I know something about. I also impose strict limitations in the matter of literary examples, which are taken predominantly from modern Swedish literature. But I naturally hope that the views presented here will also prove applicable to other religions and literatures.

Characteristic of the modern situation I have in mind is the lack of any distinction between the languages of belief and non-belief. Thus, over a wide area, a believer on the one hand may use symbols which are in no way recognisable as specifically Christian, and may do so even...