The ‘Romantic’ Theology of the Inklings

Pure “Northernness” engulfed me: a vision of huge, clear spaces hanging above the Atlantic in the endless twilight of Northern summer …and almost at the same moment, I knew that I had met this before, long, long ago….” --C.S. Lewis in Surprised by Joy

North is the first of the four Cardinal points of the compass to which all others are related. Symbolically, northernness is an orientation in life, a quality of character in literature, an image and metaphor in mythology and poetry, and one of the quadrants of the wheel of life. For C.S. Lewis and the Inklings, the way to God lies to the North, embedded in the images and stories that point to the “regions of the summer stars.”

The name of the seminary in which I teach Romantic Theology is Northwind Seminary--pointing to the breath of God and dynamic movement of the Spirit to orient the compass of our lives to true North. The Northwind Doctoral Program in Romantic Theology seeks to capture this twilight notion found in Norse mythology and Celtic spirituality, and embodied in the imaginative writings of the Oxford Inklings. 

Romantic Theology is a term coined by Charles Williams and carried out collaboratively by C. S. Lewis and “our little literary club” known as the Oxford Inklings. In their shared vision and love of Greek and Norse mythology, Arthurian legends, Celtic sagas, and romantic poetry, they produced an enduring treasure of theological fantasies and spiritual writings reflecting the romantic spirit in theology. Through the portal of what Lewis called the “baptized imagination” Romantic Theology was born.  The Inklings, through their writings, have inspired generations of Christians and people of goodwill to read and write with the “feeling intellect” of the heart, and not just analyze and abstract propositional truths with the discursive reasoning of the mind.

As a literary scholar and orthodox Christian, C. S. Lewis felt that “if the real theologians were doing their job” there would be no need for lay theologians like him.  Lewis and his fellow Inklings championed the creative conjunction of Logos and Mythos (Reason and Story) to produce compelling works of theological fiction.  JRR Tolkien, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams and others, joined Lewis in employing mythopoetics–the language of myth, metaphor, poetry and narrative–to point to religious experience and theological truths in aesthetic and concrete ways. 

The Inklings met regularly in Oxford pubs and University rooms to converse and read aloud to each other their works in progress in the 1930-40’s. Williams referred to this chivalrous and fantastical enterprise as the “theology of romantic love” and tried to express its main elements in his posthumously published Outlines of Romantic Theology.  Owen Barfield’s autobiographical attempt to capture the romantic vision of the Inklings is published as Romanticism Comes of Age. And C.S. Lewis in his Essays Presented to Charles Williams gave the notion a tentative definition: 

“A romantic theologian does not mean one who is romantic about theology, but one who is theological about romance, one who considers the theological implications of those experiences which are called romantic.”—C.S. Lewis

For the most part, however, the Inklings were content to perform romantic theology without the need to over-define the term or systematically develop the field. “What we have instead is a cross-current of Theology and Literature focused on creative imagination, romantic religious themes, and the collaboration of the Inklings to produce a body of work worthy of the name,” according to Dr. Michael Christensen who directs the program. 

For more on the rational and romantic roads to truth, see my essay on “Lewis: The Rational Romantic” in the Appendix to my C.S. Lewis on Scripture, and in the book Gaining A Face: The Romanticism of C.S. Lewis by Donald T. Williams, and Romantic Religion by R. J. Reilly.  

For information on taking academic courses on the Romantic Theology of the Inklings, or applying to a degree program in Romantic Theology, visit www.NorthwindSeminary.org 

Direct Link to Romantic Theology Program:  https://www.northwindinstitute.org/copy-of-romantic-theology-degree 

The Brokenness of Jean Vanier—In his own Words

After the terrible, shocking news sank in of Jean Vanier's sexual abuse of six women at L'arche, I re-read his book-- The Broken Body: Journey to Wholeness (1988)--to understand something more about his confessed brokenness, and about his charismatic mentor Pierre Thomas Phillippe, and their faulty doctrine that clearly led them over the edge into the dark side of erotic mysticism.

https://www.larcheusa.org/findings-of-larche-internationals-inquiry-into-jean-vanier/

A Faulty Doctrine of Jesus and Mary as the new Adam and Eve?
From The Broken Body: Journey to Wholeness (1988)

“Adam loved Eve; Eve loved Adam.

They were one body, one love, one spirit

Each one could give to the other,

Gentle communion,

gentle passion flowing one from another.

And this communion rose up as incense to God.” (p. 19)

At a particular moment

Adam and Eve said ‘no’ to God.

They turned away,

Blocking off the energy of love…

And then they discovered they were empty,

Naked, alone, and in despair.

It is this severing act which is the source

of all our experience of inner conflict.” (p. 20)

The yearning for, the memory of,

the original wholeness and communion

may at times come alive, in all of us. (p. 21)

Yet brokenness is pervasive,

it takes on a life of its own

and becomes an opportunity for the Evil One

to exercise his powers. (p. 22)

Yet God had a marvelous plan

to reveal the love that burns within the Trinity,

and to bring men and women

to an even fuller unity and glory. (p. 30)

At the center of that plan

is God’s desire to become flesh,

to take on our human condition,

to put on human nature,

so that our Creator would be touched and heard and loved,

so that our brokenness could be healed into a new wholeness,

so that we could become again one perfect body.

And the fulfilling of this plan

involved a woman

who would mother the Word made flesh…

He would become the new Adam

rejoicing in the new Eve—

Jesus, rejoicing in the woman Mary.

And they would lead a multitude

into the knowledge of the Father,

into the heart of the Trinity aflame in ecstasy,

into the wedding feast

God would repair the brutal damage

of the first Adam and the first Eve

as they turned away from communion…

Even within our brokenness

lie the seed that will lead us back to wholeness.

The plan of God is to heal and repair the damaged body,

to bring it to a new and fuller beauty,

to a new and deeper fecundity. pp. 30-31

The Dark Side of Mysticism?

The danger in Romantic Theology is the dark side of  mysticism. 

In 1946, the Dominican priest, Fr. Thomas Philippe, created l'Eau Vive as an unauthorized "Wisdom School" and a program of [sexual?] initiation into contemplative life.  The young Jean Vanier arrived there in 1950 and, it seems, quickly fell under Philippe's spell and became his “spiritual son,” according to L'Arche's report.

Both Phillippe and Vanier used allusions to Marian theology, erotic poetry in the Song of Songs, and other Scriptures to justify their sexual initiation/abuse of women (nuns and community assistants):  "This is not us, this is Mary and Jesus. You are chosen, you are special, this is secret" [a special grace]. Apparently, they thought or pretended to believe that the spiritual intimacy and erotic behavior they enacted was a symbolic, even sacramental, "manifestation" of the pure love between the New Adam and the New Eve (Jesus and Mary).  This, I think, was a rationalization of self-deception, unhealthy sexual repression, unintegrated shadow side, and a sign of human brokenness.  This is a dark side of erotic mysticism... which finally was exposed to the Light:
https://www.larcheusa.org/findings-of-larche-internationals-inquiry-into-jean-vanier/ 

https://www.larche.org/en/web/guest/news/-/asset_publisher/mQsRZspJMdBy/content/inquiry-statement-test    

Also, I know that we all have shadows of unintegrated wounds and weaknesses, and as Henri Nouwen and others say: "Nothing human is alien to me."  Beyond naming the consequences--that Jean Vanier did harm... to six women and maybe more--I am not his judge. 

Friends of Jean cannot quite believe it:

“This is not the Jean I knew and I believe it vital to remember that … his brokenness was the wellspring for enormous good, and that the message and indeed the miracle of L’Arche is precisely the fruitfulness of brokenness. As Mother Teresa always used to say, the extraordinary achievements of ordinary, imperfect human instruments is evidence of the involvement of God.” (Kathryn Spink)

"Jean may have been close to this eccentric priest, but he had left that behind...and maybe someday the full truth will come out..."

"Hard to put together the man we knew and the man who abused the women.  It’s something I can only ‘carry’ in my heart, since my head simply cannot reconcile the two things at all.  I love the prayer of St. Teresa of Avila:

Let nothing disturb you,
Nothing frighten you,
All things are passing,
It is love that never changes, etc…

Truth Before Reconciliation

According to the L'Arche Report and Historical Timeline, leaders reviewed a credible testimony from a woman who accused Jean of abusive conduct in May, 2016. Jean acknowledged the relationship, which he had believed to be ‘reciprocal’ and initiated a request for forgiveness...  Inquiries and investigations continued. The following year, 2017, Jean seems to have made a written, general confession (but note the lack of specificity required for a full confession, absolution and amends):


"During my entire existence, I also had to struggle with myself, I have lived a large part of my life with injured people, but also with my own weaknesses and mistakes. I have my own sensitivity and needs to love and be loved. I am a person like any other, who can experience empathy for some... and who can also rule over others. I was able to hurt some people. At the end of this book and at the end of my life, I want to ask them for forgiveness from the deepest of my heart. In Calcutta, at the last General Assembly of the Ark where I went, in front of so much beauty from the Ark, beauty that amazed me so much, I felt the need to ask forgiveness for all my weaknesses and mistakes [2008] Again, at the big night of my life, I ask forgiveness.[2017]. Sometimes I was humbled by my own weaknesses. Yes, I feel pride in myself when I look at my life, struggling to fully accept my mistakes, my mistakes. I believe in the mercy of God who has led so many events in the history of the Ark, through my own weaknesses. I give thanks to God for his faithfulness, for my poverty have not stopped his work from being accomplished. I realize more and more that the Ark, with its development and the deepening of its spirituality, springs from the mercy of God who chooses the weak and the fools for the realization of his plan. " (Jean Vanier, "A scream is being heard", 2017. Computer-generated rough translation from French)

Reconciliation Beyond Death's Door?

“What happens to us after we die?” a reporter in England asked Jean Vanier. Without hesitation, and with bold confidence, here's what he said:



“When you die, you fall asleep. And you wake up, and there’s a very gentle peace. You feel well. And then you discover the face of God coming through that ‘wellness’. Of course, we are outside of time, so it’s not sequential. Seeing Jesus’s face we suddenly have a feeling of having hurt him—we realize we could have done much better, we’ve done wrong. We are not being judged; we judge ourselves. But then comes the realization that we are loved just as we are, in our darkness. So, there’s a meeting with God, who loves us in our poverty—and this we can hardly believe. That meeting brings an immense desire to be closer. That desire becomes a place of desire—I think of Purgatory as “the place of desire”—and its painful. When you have desire and not the object of desire, it’s very painful. But then the desire augments, and there is a moment of explosion, and then we are in communion with God.”


“But what about Hell?” asked the reporter.


“I can’t speak about hell, but wasn’t it John Paul II who said that, even it hell exists, it may be empty… When we die, it’s not a question of what we’ve done, but how we’ve loved.”


(Interview with John Vanier by Maggie Fergusson, pp. 6-7, The Tablet, 26 August 2017)

John Vanier (1928-2019)—May he find, even in Purgatory, the true Object of his intense desire...