A Protestant aesthetics of plainness now legitimizes prejudice against Islam’s visible ritual.

Evidence

We should note, however, that aesthetic concepts are not simply theological but have political implications, too. Jo Carruthers reinforces this point in her book England’s Secular Scripture, which traces the development of a Protestant-derived quintessential English aesthetic valuing simplicity and directness as set against more demonstrative or ritualistic traditions. Beginning with the iconoclasm of the Reformation and its rejection of Catholic pomp and ritual, theological doctrine became transposed into a moral and aesthetic register and wedded to the emergent English nation. The canon of English literature forms what Carruthers calls a “secular scripture” in its hallowed preference for the transparent “style-less” style of realism and its emphasis on directness and moral seriousness. Moreover, as in the case of Leavis’s criticism, “valued aesthetics are rendered natural, so that aesthetic judgements are considered equivalent to moral ones.” In our present age, this script has become combative, aligning itself with expressions of prejudice against Islam as a publicly performed religion. — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 93

Categorization

• DEFINE: ‘Secular scripture’ names the mechanism by which theological doctrine silently becomes moral-aesthetic judgment.
• XREF: Directly usable for the reader’s hinge with Hamid and Naqvi — the plain-style realism value system that frames Naqvi’s or Hamid’s style choices.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: does the realist plain-style aesthetic actively shape how contesting novels must be written to be heard as serious?