Theologians today exercise almost zero public influence. And yet, through the medium of children’s literature and fantasy literature generally, a public theological debate of a kind continues to be conducted.
From George MacDonald in the Victorian era through G.K. Chesterton to the Inklings, an attempt has been made to re-present Christianity in the mode of what MacDonald already called “the fantastic imagination.” If one judges by book sales figures, the avid readership of this literature must extend well beyond the numbers of those who go to church, although the latter group also have been perhaps much more profoundly shaped by this literary mode of reflection than by the work of conceptual theologians.