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Fantasy that lights up the real world
A revealing study of two literary lions of the Church, says Andrew Davison
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| Chesterton and Tolkien as Theologians: The fantasy of the real Alison Milbank
T. & T. Clark £60 (978-0-567-04094-7) Church Times Bookshop £54 BOTH CHESTERTON and Tolkien were devout Catholics; both were theologically aware, and steeped in the liturgy. For Chesterton the convert, the faith is rarely far from explicit mention. For Tolkien, raised a Christian (and influenced by Chesterton), faith is the bedrock on which everything else is built, stable enough not to need constant reference. Theological studies of Tolkien are not short on the ground. This five-chapter volume from Alison Milbank distinguishes itself on several counts, not least that it is properly theological and properly literary. Christian enthusiasts for either of these writers, looking for a more considered treatment than the usual devotional fare, should be delighted — although they will surely wish for a paperback edition. Theological interpretation of Tolkien’s stories often amounts to little more than a search for Christian allegories. Milbank is not satisfied with this method, and demonstrates the importance of theology at the far deeper level of fundamental philosophical convictions. It is to be found, for instance, in the commitment of both writers to the goodness of reality, and their sense of evil as a privation. Tolkien follows Chesterton’s lead in seeing salvation as the arrival of a transfiguring grace: the good news of the “happy catastrophe”. Milbank makes a particularly compelling case for the centrality of mediation and “gift” for both of these writers. It is precisely as writers that Chesterton and Tolkien emerge as theologically creative figures. It is not, primarily, that they sought to pass on Christian doctrines dressed up in literary form. Their expertise was in writing and criticism; consequently, their most significant theological contributions are to be found in their sense of how stories work, and what writing can achieve. It is here that Milbank’s primary specialism in English literature is all-important. She argues that these authors share a similar aim: to de-familiarise our perception of everyday human life and the created world. Both present a fantastic vision so as to open our eyes to the world around us — natural and social — as itself “fantastic”. This book is full of thought-provoking insights: who would have thought of Tolkien as an economic theorist, or either of them as modernists? It is also likely to send the reader back to the stories themselves. To both Chesterton and Tolkien, this would have seemed right. Summarising their common conviction, Milbank argues that tales are complex, worthwhile things in themselves, never mere ciphers standing in for ideas. They are like the world itself: not transparent, but radiant. The Revd Dr Davison is Tutor in Christian Doctrine at St Stephen’s House, and Junior Chaplain of Merton College, Oxford. To order this book, email the details to Church Times Bookshop (please mention "Church Times Bookshop price") |
