released 10/30/2024
In a world of globalization, bureaucratization, and loneliness, it is fantasy that might help restore a vision of and a hope for human flourishing. So Alison Milbank argues in this April 2019 lecture, using examples from J. R. R. Tolkien’s world of Middle-earth and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Milbank says that fantasy is a revolutionary act, but one of true patriotism to humankind, as it shows us another way to live and to see. Fantasy can break us out of the fatalism of the view that there are only warring perspectives in a meaningless, chaotic world. It can, Milbank says, restore a clear view and a sense of the significance and mystery of the cosmos.
This lecture is provided courtesy of the Center for Christian Study.
43 minutes
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