Christ and Culture Revisited
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 64, No. 2 – Spring 2022
Editor: David S. Dockery
By Malcolm Guite. Baltimore, MD: Square Halo Books, 2021, 111pp., $18.99
Malcolm Guite is a rare combination—accomplished poet, Anglican priest, brilliant academic, and popular lecturer. In addition to recently publishing a collection of original sonnets on the Psalms (David’s Crown: Sounding the Psalms), he has penned this work on imagination and the kingdom of God which originated in a lecture series he delivered at Regent College in 2019.
Guite’s purpose is clearly stated: “This book is a defense of the imagination as a truth-bearing faculty, and more than that it is an appeal to artists, poets, sculptors, storytellers, and filmmakers to kindle our imaginations for Christ…” (p. 11). Thus, the book serves as both an apologetic for the imagination itself and an appeal to other artists to make use of their own imaginations. On both fronts, it succeeds.
In the opening chapter, Guite utilizes helpful quotes from figures such as Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shakespeare, and C. S. Lewis to demonstrate why the imagination should be trusted as a truth-bearing faculty. First, he explains how imagination helps to remove “the film of familiarity” from us so that we can see truth we might otherwise miss. In this way, imagination empowers the arts to fulfill its intended purpose, which is to provide us with unexpected ways of glimpsing and telling the truth. Second, he reminds us that reason and imagination are both valid modes of knowing and learning truth, diverse modes which find their reconciliation and harmony in Jesus Christ. Third, he argues that imagination helps us apprehend the hidden realities of the invisible world beyond those realities merely discerned in the visible. And fourth, he points out that Jesus unashamedly appeals to the imagination in his teaching, proving that “made up,” “fictional,” and imaginative stories can still teach profound truth.
The next three chapters detail three aspects of the imagination: the poetic, the moral, and the prophetic. In chapter two, “Christ and the Artistic Imagination,” Guite explores different ways that poets can “usher us further into the mystery of three essential truths about Christ: his Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection.” Drawing on Scripture, his own poetry, and the poetry of others, he shows how the poetic imagination clarifies, and even intensifies, our view of Christ. In chapter three, “Christ and the Moral Imagination,” Guite highlights the teaching of Christ, giving specific attention to the parables of the grain of wheat and that of the Good Samaritan. These parables appeal to the moral imagination, which he defines as “that exercise of imagination which enables you to stand in another person’s shoes…to imagine and even re-imagine the world from their perspective.” In chapter four, “Christ and the Prophetic Imagination,” Guite discusses how Jesus’ teaching about the Kingdom is both a prophetic critique of this world and a prophetic call to hope and action.
Throughout the book, Guite seeks to stir the imagination of other artists in hopes that they will respond to his appeal to make art for the sake of Christ. Thus, the book is one-part permission and one-part motivation. His defense of the imagination gives artists permission to use their creative gifts to proclaim the faith without feeling that they must apologize or justify their validity. Embedded in the book is also a wealth of motivation geared to kindle a burning desire in artists to use their imaginations to help us see Christ and his kingdom more clearly. Theologically speaking, Guite motivates artists via three doctrinal realities: (1) imagination is part of the image of God in us; (2) the mystery of the incarnation makes the imag- inative arts possible and meaningful; and (3) in Christ our imaginations have been renewed. Artistically speaking, Guite motivates by including numerous poems, paintings, drawings, and woodcuts throughout his work. He also explains the creative process behind some of his own poetry and encourages artists to go out and make new stories which are capable of embodying truth.
While the value of a work like this may seem obvious to right-brained “creative types,” I hope it finds a wide reading among left-brained “logical types,” too. Theologians and poets need to be in conversation for the good of the church, and Malcolm Guite serves as a stimulating conversation partner toward this end. As he himself reminds us, “When we seek to enter into the mystery of our faith we must call the poets to the table as well as the theologians.”
