REL 2000 FAIRY TALES & SACRAMENTS
Fairy Tales predate the institution of Sacraments in the Catholic Church by thousands of years. Often associated with children, they universally contain the intricacies of ancient beliefs. Fairy Tales allow us to isolate, suspend and consider particular realities that further explore the mysteries of our origin, meaning, and destiny. In their timelessness, they dazzle us with the supernatural potential deeply embedded in the human soul – ancient realities that need only be reawakened in us. The Sacraments in the Catholic Church convey these timeless realities, each restoring a particular mystery of man’s unique identity, while bringing us into the immediate living reality of union with the Supernatural.
Fairy Tales from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, in particular, attempted to recapture the imaginations of Christians, and the whole world, within the message of the Scripture and the Gospels. This course is an intensive study of the Fairy Tales of George MacDonald, author of The Princess and the Goblin, and the primary source of inspiration for the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis. Reinvigorating a study of the Church’s Sacraments, students will gain a lasting impression of how to enter deeply into the realities and mysteries of Heaven through the study of Eschatology.
Prerequisite
Students in the major should complete foundational courses: 1011, 1300, 1050, and 2010.