Romantic and Imaginative
Theology

George Macdonald (1824-1905): Master of Christian Fantasy and Myth-Making

A romantic theologian does not mean one who is romantic about theology but one who is theological about romance, one who considers the theological implications of those experiences which are called romantic.

-- C.S. Lewis --

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C.S. Lewis and the Romantic Poets on Longing, Sehnsucht, and Joy 33K
Romanticism, Wagner, C.S. Lewis, Christianity, and Me 28K
The Relationship of Romanticism to Christianity and Catholicism in Particular 104K
Dialogue on Romanticism and Christianity (also, a discussion of "natural evil": diseases, hurricanes, drought, etc.) (Dave Armstrong and Keith Rickert, Jr.) 92K
EXTERNAL LINKS

Christian Fantasy, Folklore, Mythology, Imagination, and Romanticism

[Disclaimer: I emphatically do not endorse any pagan, occultic, Wiccan, New Age or other beliefs hostile to Christianity, which may appear on some of these sites unbeknownst to me. I am interested in mythology only insofar as it is consistent with a Lewis/Tolkien/George MacDonald sort of imaginative Christian Romanticism]

Now as myth transcends thought, Incarnation transcends myth. The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact . . . To be truly Christian we must both assent to the historical fact and also receive the myth (fact though it has become) with the same imaginative embrace which we accord to all myths . . . For this is the marriage of heaven and earth: Perfect Myth and Perfect Fact: claiming not only our love and our obedience, but also our wonder and delight, addressed to the savage, the child, and the poet in each one of us no less than to the moralist, the scholar, and the philosopher.

-- C.S. Lewis --

C.S. LEWIS

Fairy-tales are much more of a picture of the permanent life of the great mass of mankind than most realistic fiction.

-- G.K. Chesterton --

GENERAL

The Song of the Golden Horn: An Epic in Progess (Tim Kearns)
The Mythopoeic Society
Religion and the Romantic Movement (Christopher Dawson)
Christianity, Paganism and Literature (Steve Hayes)
International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts
Historical Imagination and the Renewal of Culture (Michael O'Brien)
Just a Fairy Story? (Michael O'Brien)
Religiously-Themed Science Fiction & Fantasy
Beowulf
DRAGONS!
Germanic Myths, Legends, and Sagas
The Nibelungenlied
The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga)
"Thou hast arrived at: Robin Hood on the Web"
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
KING ARTHUR
The High History of the Holy Graal
Arthur: the Matter of Britain
Arthur Of Britain
Arthuriana
THE CAMELOT PROJECT
Lancelot's Castle
Magical Glastonbury (G. Ashe)
A Quest for Arthur (G. Ashe)
The Quest: Arthurian Legend Studies
Gerald of Wales: The Exhumation of Arthur's Body
Catholic Encyclopedia: THE HOLY GRAIL
Catholic Encyclopedia: CHIVALRY
The religious element in Romanticism, whether Catholic or non-Catholic, goes much deeper than the superficial aesthetic appeal. It has its roots in the fundamental principles of the movement.

-- Christopher Dawson --

The Inklings & Other Friends and Influences on C.S. Lewis

GENERAL / VARIOUS

C. S. Lewis and the Inklings Home Page (Dr. Bruce Edwards)
The Inklings: The Other Oxford Movement (Walter Hooper)
Incredible Inklings (Andrew Ashcroft)
Introduction to the Inklings (Elesha Coffman)
The Inklings Site List
Harry Potter and the Inklings: The Christian Meaning of The Chamber of Secrets (John Granger)
Owen Barfield World Wide Website
"The Bird and Baby" (photo of the Oxford Pub where Lewis and the Inklings regularly met)
Seven: An Anglo-American Literary Review (devoted to C.S. Lewis, Chesterton, Tolkien, MacDonald, Williams, Barfield, Sayers)
The Mythopoeic Society

 Nature is not just something objective which exists outside us. Nature is speaking to us. It is a parable of life itself, a revelation of fearful symmetry.

-- Malcolm Muggeridge --

GEORGE MACDONALD

It is not difficult to imagine the peculiar excitment and joy that one would feel, if any specially beautiful fairy-story were found to be 'primarily' true, its narrative to be history, without thereby necessarily losing the mythical or allegorical significance that it had possessed . . . God is the Lord of angels, and of men -- and of elves. Legend and History have met and fused . . . The Evangelium has not abrogated legends; it has hallowed them, especially the 'happy ending'.

-- J.R.R. Tolkien --

J.R.R. TOLKIEN

J.R.R. Tolkien: Truth and Myth (Joseph Pearce)
Finding Frodo's Faith  (Joseph Pearce)
A Catholic Poem in Time of War: The Lord of the Rings (Ken Craven)
The Lord of the Rings as a Defense of the Freedoms of Western Civilization (John West, Jr.)
Christianity and Middle-Earth
Heeding Tolkien's Words (Terry Mattingly)
J.R.R. Tolkien: Lord of the Imagination  (The Irish Family)
The Fellowship of the Ring (Steven Greydanus)
Mara and Galadriel:  MacDonald’s and Tolkien’s Vehicles for Spiritual Truth  (Betsy Matthews)
Remembering J.R.R. Tolkien (Theresa Carson)
Is Tolkien Actually Any Good? (Andrew Rilstone)
Gazing Upon Everlasting Day
Taruithorn, The Oxford Tolkien Society
The Tolkien Society
Tolkien Online - The One Ring | The Lord of the Rings Source
The Grey Havens - The Ultimate J.R.R. Tolkien Resource Web Page
A Tribute to J.R.R. Tolkien
The World of J.R.R. Tolkien
JRR Tolkien Biography
The Halls of Tolkien
The HoBBiT Site
One Ring: The Complete Guide to Tolkien Online
The J.R.R. Tolkien Page
Tolkien Encyclopedia: Interactive Edition
Tolkien Atlas Home Page
Tolkien's Haven
Steuard's Tolkien Pages
A Chronological Bibliography of the Writings of J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien: The Scrolls of Orthanc
The World of JRR Tolkien
Tolkien's Grave (Photo)
In poetry the words are the body and the 'theme' or 'content' is the soul. But in myth the imagined events are the body and something inexpressible is the soul.

-- C.S. Lewis --

CHARLES WILLIAMS

The Web of Exchange: The Charles Williams WWW Page
The Charles Williams Society
Charles Williams Biography
Amazon.com : Author Spotlight: Charles Williams
The Novels of Charles Williams (Glen Cavaliero)
Book Review by Eric Rauscher: Charles Williams (edited by David Llewellyn Dodds)
Amazon.com: buying info: Descent into Hell
Amazon.com: buying info: War in Heaven
Amazon.com: buying info: Many Dimensions
Amazon.com: buying info: Charles Williams : Essential Writings in Spirituality and Theology
DOROTHY L. SAYERS
The Dorothy L. Sayers Society
Dorothy Sayers (Carl Olson)
Dorothy L Sayers: Description of Books (James E. Kiefer)
Book Review of Creed or Chaos? by Dorothy L. Sayers (Joseph McCleary)
Amazon.com: buying info: Creed or Chaos? Why Christians Must Choose Either Dogma or Disaster
Amazon.com: buying info: The Mind of the Maker
Amazon.com: buying info: The Man Born to Be King: A Play-Cycle on the Life of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

I do not think the resemblance between the Christian and the merely imaginative experience is accidental. I think that all things, in their way, reflect heavenly truth, the imagination not least.

-- C.S. Lewis --

General Romanticism and Christian-Influenced Romantic Poetry Links

The Period of the French Revolution (The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, vol. 11)
Internet Modern History Sourcebook: Romanticism

CHATEAUBRIAND

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand

COLERIDGE

The Samuel Taylor Coleridge Archive
Selected Poetry and Prose of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

DRYDEN

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: John Dryden
Selected Poetry and Prose of John Dryden (1631-1700)

HOPKINS

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Gerard Manley Hopkins
Hopkins, Gerard Manley. 1918. Poems

NOVALIS

 Novalis

PATMORE

Coventry Patmore (1823-1896)
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Coventry Patmore

SCHLEGEL

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Friedrich von Schlegel

THOMPSON

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Francis Thompson
Selected Poetry of Francis Thompson (1859-1907)

VARIOUS

Classical Christian Poetry

WORDSWORTH

William Wordsworth: Complete Poetical Works
The William Wordsworth Page

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Uploaded by Dave Armstrong. Thorough URL Revision: 8 March 2004. Updated on 3 March 2004.