The inexhaustibility of the Church in Graham Greene’s The Power and The Glory

Dr Chung Chin-Yi

Research scholar. National University of Singapore

The priest is likened to Christ as Julius Caesar’s initials like Jesus Christ are J.C. and there is the reference to the feeding of the five thousand with the references to fish and their multiplication. Hence despite all evidences to the contrary, the lieutenant has failed to eliminate faith from Mexico as the priest lives on in the boy’s mind and seems to be resurrected as an image of martyrdom and sacred magic. The priest has come alive perhaps not mortally but as an image of sacred mystery and miracles in the imagination of the young boy and hence as Christ does is resurrected in the hearts and minds of his followers as an indwelling leader through the holy spirit which lives on in the minds of the followers of Christ even though he is not physically present on earth. Thus Greene has examined the nature of the inexhaustibility of the Church though the lieutenant has strived to eliminate all physical traces of the church the church is ultimately transcendental and lives on as a spiritual presence and an image of Christ that lives on in the minds and hearts of his followers even though Christ is no longer physically present on earth.

Keywords: Graham Greene, salvation, mortal sin, redemption, persecution