My Imagination Was Baptized
Last fall, I had the opportunity to attend a lecture by Malcolm Guite–one of my favorite living poets. He was teaching on the role of beauty and imagination in the life of faith, and in so doing he shared a bit of his own spiritual autobiography. After leaving the Christianity of his childhood, he was eventually drawn back to faith chiefly by reading poetry: Keats and Coleridge and Gerard Manly Hopkins.
As he shared his life’s story, at one point he said with a gravelly chuckle: “My imagination was baptized, and the rest of me just took a little longer to catch up.”
Guite’s story has stuck with me. It’s a picture of the vital role imagination plays in Christian faith, knowing, and life. Imagination opens our eyes to God, teaches us to attend to the world God has made, enables us to experience the holy mysteries of God’s creating and rescuing acts in Christ.
That’s why I think spaces like the Reformed Journal matter so much. This journal is a place that seeks to cultivate Christian imagination: helps us to see, delight in, and ponder life through the lens of an expansive Gospel faith.
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* But Wait…There’s More — three new books from Reformed Journal Press in 2025
- The Traveler’s Path by Doug Brouwer, early 2025
- Green Street in Black and White: A Chicago Story by Dave Larsen, late winter 2025
- Grounded by Christy Berghoef, spring 2025
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