Some thoughts about the narrative of God's story and those of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien

I'm always interested in ways to connect with a post-modern, pop-culture mindset, and I recently came across an interview with a Father Barron on how C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien sought to prepare the imaginations of those in their generation to hear the story of Christianity.

 

Fa. Barron described Christianity primarily in terms of its narrative, not its theology; that we derive theology as a kind of distillation process FROM the narrative. It is primarily the story of how God created things in a perfect state (think of Narnia before the Witch, Middle Earth before Sauron), how that was damaged and corrupted through sin, and how God sent His Son to redeem it, and ultimately to restore the entire thing to newness.  That's the narrative.   That's what the world needs to hear.

Barron said, "They were trying to evangelize the imagination. They wanted to prepare the imaginations of their readers for the reception of this great story of Christianity."

Here is the link to that interview with Fa. Robert Barron:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlQuYXtkx0g&feature=youtu.be