This book takes Chesterton's 'natural theology' through fairytales seriously as a theological project appropriate to an intellectual attempt to return to faith in a secular age. It argues that Tolkien's fiction makes sense also as the work of a Catholic writer steeped in Chestertonian ideas and sharing his literary-theological poetics. While much writing on religious fantasy moves quickly to talk about wonder, Milbank shows that this has to be hard won and that Chesterton is more akin to the modernist writers of the early twentieth-century who felt quite dislocated from the past. His favoured tropes of paradox, defamiliarization and the grotesque have much in common with writers like T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and James Joyce and their use of the demotic as well as the 'mythic method'. Using Chesterton's literary rhetoric as a frame, the book sets out to chart a redemptive poetics that first decentres the reader from his habitual perception of the world, then dramatizes his self-alienation through the grotesque, before finding in that very alienation a sort of pharmakon through paradox and an embrace of difference. The next step is to change one's vision of the world beyond the self through magic which, paradoxically, is the means by which one can reconnect with the physical world and remove the fetishism and commodification of the object. Chesterton's theology of gift is the means in which this magic becomes real and people and things enter into reciprocal relations that reconnect them with the divine.
UK DELIVERIES
Standard delivery – Royal Mail 2nd Class/DPD – £ 2.95
Standard delivery is either by 2nd Class Royal Mail or next day DPD courier, depending on the size and value of the order, and in accordance with the Terms and Conditions of the respective carrier. Orders up to 2kg and valued at below £75 will be dispatched as 2nd Class Royal Mail. Orders above 2kg or valued above £75 will be dispatched by next day DPD courier (subject to stock availability).
Royal Mail 1st Class/DPD – £ 3.95
Delivery is either by 1st Class Royal Mail or next day DPD courier, depending on the size and value of the order, and in accordance with the Terms and Conditions of the particular carrier. Orders up to 2kg and valued at below £75 will be dispatched as 1st Class Royal Mail. Orders above 2kg or valued above £75 will be dispatched by next day DPD courier (subject to stock availability).
OTHER DESTINATIONS
St Pauls is sad to announce that we can no longer ship orders to EU countries, including the Republic of Ireland. Customers in the Republic of Ireland can visit our Irish website - www.stpauls.ie - for St Pauls located in Maynooth, Co. Kildare. You can also email enquiries to them at sales@stpauls.ie. With Great Britain's exit from the EU customs union, deliveries to the EU became increasingly unreliable to the point where we, reluctantly, had to cease trading with European customers. If you are located outside of the UK and EU and you are interested in our products, please email us at sales@stpauls.org.uk for a quote on posting to your destination. After receiving a quotation from us, payment will be taken over the phone or by bank transfer prior to shipping. We would like to thank all our Irish and EU customers for their support over the years and we hope one day we can return to serving you all again."
VAT
All prices as set out on the website are inclusive of UK VAT (where applicable). Please note that books are VAT zero rated in the UK. Customers outside of the UK will be responsible, where necessary, for the payment of local VAT, import duties and customs handling charges at point of import.
CUSTOMS CHARGES (VAT, IMPORT DUTIES, CUSTOMS HANDLING CHARGES)
If you are ordering goods for delivery outside of the UK, your consignment may be subject to import duties/taxes, customs handling charges/fees and import VAT. ST PAULS has no control over these additional charges in relation to customs clearance in the country of destination, and, by placing your order, you are accepting responsibility for the payment of any additional duties, taxes or fees once the goods have reached their country of destination. ST PAULS recommends that—prior to placing an order— you check with your local customs officials or postal service for more information regarding all importation taxes and duties that may be applied to the goods you are about to import. As the customer, you will be the importer of record and responsible for any import VAT, duties and handling fees that may require payment before a carrier releases any goods destined to you.
