Malcolm Guite pt. 1: Does Theology Need an Imaginative Spark to Grasp God's Mystery?
Good Faith
Good Faith
4.8 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 27 April 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Imagination Combined with Reason Can Build a Sturdier Faith.
Malcolm Guite invites us to recover a "baptized imagination," showing how poetry can do real theological work by carrying truth through image, beauty, sacrament, and story. Rather than replacing reason, imagination helps us perceive meaning—opening Scripture, creation, and the mystery of Christ in ways analysis alone cannot reach.
00:00 - A Sonnet for Saint Peter
01:16 - Introduction to the Episode
03:32 - Can Poetry Do Theology?
09:02 - What Is the Baptized Imagination?
11:09 - Reason, Imagination, and Meaning with C.S. Lewis
17:24 - The Eternal Act of Creation
20:07 - Conclusion and Preview of Part 2
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Mentioned In This Episode:
- Malcolm Guite's Galahad in the Grail
- Malcolm Guite's Parable and Paradox
- William Shakespoeare's Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
- George Herbert's poem The Agonie
- C.S. Lewis's Bluspels and Flalansferes
- C.S. Lewis on Imagination and Reason in Christian Apologetics
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Biographia Literaria
Scriptures Referenced In This Episode:
- 1 Corinthians 2 (ESV)
- Luke 22:19-20 (NJKV)
- Luke 10:27 (NKJV)
- John 1:1 (NIV)
- Psalm 19:1 (KJV)
More from Malcolm Guite:
- Malcolm Guite's website and blog
- Malcolm Guite's Youtube channel
- Malcolm Guite's books
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, who's out there listening in the Good Faith audience? |
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| 0:39.5 | Let us know who's on the other side of these microphones. |
| 0:46.0 | So you got St. Peter or baptism? |
| 0:49.3 | Yeah, I love St. Peter. |
| 0:50.8 | So here's a sonnet about St. Peter. |
| 0:55.3 | Impulsive master of misunderstanding, you comfort me with all your big mistakes. |
| 1:02.3 | Jumping the ship before you make the landing, placing the bet before you know the stakes. |
| 1:07.9 | I love the way you step out without knowing, the way you sometimes speak |
| 1:12.6 | before you think, the way your broken faith is always growing, the way he holds you, even when you |
| 1:21.2 | sink. Born to a world that always tried to shame you, your shaky ego vulnerable to shame. I love the way that |
| 1:31.2 | Jesus chose to name you before you knew how to deserve that name. And in the end, your |
| 1:39.9 | Savior let you prove that each denial is undone by love. |
| 2:09.7 | Welcome to the Good Faith podcast, where friends who follow Jesus help each other make sense of the world. |
| 2:14.8 | I'm D.T. Sloughman, Good Faith's producer and director of content. Our podcast is produced by a 501C3 nonpartisan organization. |
| 2:22.3 | This is the first episode of a two-part short series with Malcolm Gite. |
| 2:28.6 | Anglican priest, life fellow of Gerton College in Cambridge, |
... |
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