기독교의 재주술화: 잉클링스의 신화적 상상력에 대한 연구 (Reenchantment of Christianity: A Study on the Mythic Imagination of the Inklings)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 연세대학교 한국기독교문화연구소
· 수록지 정보 : 신학논단 / 84권 / 163 ~ 192페이지
· 저자명 : 김진혁

초록

This study aims to explore the use of the mythic imagination by the Inklings, contexualizing it within a broader context of contemporary discussions on reenchantment. The Inklings were an informal literary group in Oxford, whose members shared common interests in English literature, enthusiasms about ancient mythology, and faith in Christianity. They began to meet in the early 1930s and continued their regular weekly meetings until the late 1940s.
Since Max Weber explained modernity’s cultural rationalization, technologization of life, and marginalization of the supernatural in terms of disenchantment, this concept has often been utilized to describe and/or diagnose varied social, intellectual, and cultural aspects of modern society. Within this disenchanted worldview, traditional religious thought and practice were devalued as superstitious, irrational, and even invalid. Seeing Christianity from this light, its central teaching on Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection risked being identified as one of ancient myths of dying-and-rising god.
It is noteworthy, however, that key members of the Inklings, including Owen Barfield, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis and others, began to propose a unique vision of reenchantment in the late 1920s. Analyzing their literary theories and creative writings, I will show that they suggested an attractive way to appreciate a myth-like history of Christ on the one hand, and that their fantasies still invite us to see the world from a Christologically reenchanted perspective on the other. Especially, this research will focus on their insight into the metaphorical nature of myth, romantic conceptualization of imagination, and creation of literary fictional worlds.

영어초록

This study aims to explore the use of the mythic imagination by the Inklings, contexualizing it within a broader context of contemporary discussions on reenchantment. The Inklings were an informal literary group in Oxford, whose members shared common interests in English literature, enthusiasms about ancient mythology, and faith in Christianity. They began to meet in the early 1930s and continued their regular weekly meetings until the late 1940s.
Since Max Weber explained modernity’s cultural rationalization, technologization of life, and marginalization of the supernatural in terms of disenchantment, this concept has often been utilized to describe and/or diagnose varied social, intellectual, and cultural aspects of modern society. Within this disenchanted worldview, traditional religious thought and practice were devalued as superstitious, irrational, and even invalid. Seeing Christianity from this light, its central teaching on Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection risked being identified as one of ancient myths of dying-and-rising god.
It is noteworthy, however, that key members of the Inklings, including Owen Barfield, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis and others, began to propose a unique vision of reenchantment in the late 1920s. Analyzing their literary theories and creative writings, I will show that they suggested an attractive way to appreciate a myth-like history of Christ on the one hand, and that their fantasies still invite us to see the world from a Christologically reenchanted perspective on the other. Especially, this research will focus on their insight into the metaphorical nature of myth, romantic conceptualization of imagination, and creation of literary fictional worlds.

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