"[Sartre is] not interesting. He's not to be compared with Albert Camus; HE was a thinker!" —Eric Voegelin "In Search of the Ground" CW
Well, that is certainly true. This piece also makes me wonder if it isn't true that, had he lived, Camus would have become Christian. I had always thought that a dubious proposition, but now I'm not so sure.
I'm not convinced that Camus would ever have become even nominally Christian. He was not very pro-institution, after all; nor was he very likely to be conventional in the ways many people are, he was too much the thinker. So I think that's probably wishful thinking.
ReplyDeleteBut I think a solid case can be made for Camus already having a deep spirituality in him, and for that coming more to the forefront, had he lived another 20 years. Anyone who has ever read The stories in "Exile and the Kingdom" or the "Lyrical Essays," which are full of almost panentheistic descriptions and experiences, would likely argue for Camus as being deeply spiritual.