The Romantic Theology of the Inklings: Williams, Lewis, Barfield, Tolkien, and Fellow Literary Conspirers by Paul R. Rovang

Description

This book is the first attempt since Charles Williams’s uncompleted Outlines of Romantic Theology comprehensively to define Romantic Theology, and it is the only one to do so through the writings of Williams, Tolkien, Lewis, Barfield, and some of their important predecessors and influences, namely George MacDonald, G. K. Chesterton, and medieval, Renaissance, and Romantic authors.  Williams’s statement that his Romantic Theology would “probably affect profoundly the whole thought of the Universal Church” concisely expresses the need for such an in-depth yet accessible treatment of this underexplored branch of theology as this work attempts.

“Finally, a full treatment of Romantic Theology, not only as a subclass of the Queen of Sciences, but an imaginative, living, open and relational theology in its own right.  If the Divine is immanent in creation, then approaching God from ‘below’ through nature, art, stories, poetry, myth and metaphor, and not just from ‘above’ through dogma, is an authentic and reliable way to study God as Creator.  Paul Rovang, an expert in medieval literature and philosophy, delivers the first definitive treatment of the Oxford Inklings’ Romantic Theology to date.”

—Michael J. Christensen, Professor of Theology, Northwind Seminary

“Paul Rovang’s study of the Romantic Theology of the Inklings, the most remarkably holistic book of criticism I have ever read, interweaves literary criticism and theology, epistemological exploration and aesthetic play. . . . Rovang doesn’t just reveal fascinating ideas but also shows us a method based on those ideas—an approach to theology and literature that marries reason and imagination.”

—Charlie W. Starr, Professor of English and Humanities, Great Lakes Christian College, Professor of Inklings Studies, Northwind Seminary