Details
In exploring the ideals of kingship – divine, human and mythological– in the work of the three writers, Scarf discovers a variety of ideas, some overlapping, of a Creator-King. Scarf explores the concept in depth seeking out evidence for His attributes, His perceived purpose in creating, and whether any such purpose is reflected in His creations. The book considers whether the Creator involved demiurges, or simply created ex nihilo. Scarf also considers the entry of evil into a perfect creation, a question at the heart of Christian theology.
As well as drawing on the works of the three authors, Scarf looks to their influences – Old English poetry such as Beowulf, the Arthurian Legends and Greek history, as well as scholarly exegesis of Old and New Testament ideas of Ancient Hebrew kingship, and its ultimate fulfilment in Christ the King.
This new work forms an inter-disciplinary approach to Kingship – literary, theological and historic– that offers the reader a key to a deeper understanding of the work of all three Oxford ‘Inklings’. Scarf ultimately claims that these ideas are important in the light of today’s Christian belief (or lack of it) in contemporary Britain, and that it is only in understanding these ideas and ideals that the three men’s true contributions to English Life and Literature can be fully appreciated.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Prologue: The Inkling's Ideals of Kingship
PART ONE
Monarchy and Republic
Chapter One Williams and the Historical Notion of Kingship
Chapter Two Williams and the Vicegerent
Chapter Three Williams and Life in the Kingdom
Chapter Four Williams and the Ideal of Kingship
PART TWO
The Monarch and God's Vicegerent
Chapter Five Lewis and the Historical Notion of Kingship
Chapter Six Lewis and the Experience of Joy
Chapter Seven Lewis and the Hierarchy
Chapter Eight Lewis and the Ideal of Kingship
PART THREE
Monarchy and Middle-Earth
Chapter Nine Tolkien and the Historical Notion of Kingship
Chapter Ten Tolkien and the Divine Court
Chapter Eleven Tolkien and the Ideal of Kingship
PART FOUR
Instituted Republic - Constitutional Monarchy - King in Council
Chapter Twelve The Inklings and the Place of Royalty
Epilogue: Abdication or Life-long Devotion?
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Reviews & Quotes
""History, myth, Christian theology and the poetic imagination are all drawn together in this unusual study of three very different literary figures. By focusing on kingship the author opens up new perspectives on hitherto relatively neglected aspects of the thought and writings of the Inklings.""
Dr Brian Horne, Chairman of the Charles Williams Society & Former Senior Lecturer of Theology at King's College, London
(2013)
""This is a knowledgeable and sympathetic study wich brings us closer to the outlook of three intriguing writers moulded by a world we have already left behind us. Dr Scarf is impressively familiar with the rich and varied cultural frame of reference within which the Inklings operated. Even more important, he is imaginatively responsive, as they were, to the traditions of kingship and Christianity and the connections between them. He is a helpful and reliable guide through the countries of their minds.""
Norman Vance, Professor of English Literature and Intellectual History (English), University of Sussex
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