This is preeminently the case with the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. George Santayana wrote a little book called Three Philosophical Poets in which he described Lucretius as the poet of Naturalism, Dante as the poet of Supernaturalism, and Goethe as the poet of Romanticism. He argued that it would be absurd to seek in poets the kind of discourse we expect of the philosopher. He believed, however, that poets worldview and their great background conception of reality was one that had been previously reached by philosophical means. The Western tradition of art, now fallen on evil days, once embodied the Christian outlook.
Religious art can make one cringe when it attempts to edify and preach.
Doubtless this is why so many novelists who are Catholic refuse the title of Catholic novelist. The phrase suggests that they are apologists for the faith, writing subtle or not so subtle works of polemic. Graham Greene does not want his readers to pick up The End of the Affair as if it were a handbook of Christian dogma, a disguised catechism. Religious art, in the best sense, is theological in the way that Santayana s poets are philosophical. Lucretius, Dante, and Goethe do not argue for the worldviews their works assume.