Narrative: Reaching Out to the Spirit Within

   The power of narrative has always fascinated me. Ever since I was young, I was captivated by a story's ability to have an impact on a person's life. As I began my studies at Southeastern, I found myself growing increasingly passionate about the importance of story after spending some time learning about Jesus' use of parables. To this day, I am convinced that God can and does use storytelling on multiple levels to speak to the whole of Creation. The universe is a beautiful patchwork creation of story folded into story, and as beings made in God's image I believe that we try and use story ourselves to understand its mysteries.

   I believe that fantasies allow us to gain an understanding of the Spirit in ways that our own logic doesn't. In his article,"Theology and Imagination: From Theory to Practice,"Michael Gallagher says that “imagination translates what is inevitably unreachable into what is existential and energizing" (87). I believe this is in agreement with Tolkien's idea of a eucatastrophe. Fantasy and imagination force us to look past the reality of a fallen world and into a place where grace is right around the corner. Granted, it does come with its fair share of trials as we make our way "into-the-woods," but that is to be expected. I think Tolkien makes a good point about the journey of the Christian when he mentions that the eucatastrophe, "is not only 'consolation' for the sorrow of this world, but a satisfaction..."(387). The reward that the protagonist receives through the eucatastrophe is not to meant to just ease the pain of his or her trials, but is meant to celebrate the new creation that comes out of the flames to proclaim victory.

   C.S. Lewis helps the reader understand the spirit when he differentiates between the various kinds of castle building. He helps us see what I consider to be the "snake in the garden." Satan is always trying to find ways to pervert the means by which truth operates, and the idea or "Morbid Castle Building,"seems to be a way in for him to influence our drive and imagination. I also think Lewis teaches an important lesson about intrinsic beauty within stories when he says, "A story which introduces the marvelous,  the fantastic, says to him by implication ' I am merely a work of art. You must take me as such— must enjoy my beauty, my irony, my construction, and so forth." (56) True fantasy allows us to recognize Beauty, and it turn that should call us to action instead of losing ourselves within the narrative. I think it stirs us to a type of evangelism that seeks to awaken the wonder that goes hand-in-hand with God, but that many of us seem to abandon. We either turn away from it entirely or we numb ourselves with a ridiculous number of "escapisms" that don't come close to the Escape and rest offered in Christ Jesus.

As we continue our journey this semester, I hope we all nurture and/or rekindle the sense of wonder that comes when we come in contact with the Spirit. We may be reading stories about the impossible, but we serve a God who brings us from the Perilous land and into the abundant grace of our own eucatastrophe every day.