Moral Formation & Fantasy Lit

Catalog description

Taught by GTU. Moral formation for many begins in the pages of fables and fairy tales. As children empathize and relate to the characters in their fictional stories, they learn to form a moral script for their lives. This course will explore the historical timeline of children's fantasy literature, modern titles by J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L. Engle, Lois Lowry, and J.K. Rowling, as well as the religious education and moral formation that these texts provide to their readers. Alongside the literature, this course will also explore the illustrations and film adaptations of these famous texts. The course will require reading a book a week, critical engagements of texts through group discussions, and a final project that creatively explores ways that these texts could be used or incorporated in religious communities. Course taught by PhD student Michaela Eskew with a Newhall Award, under the supervision of Kathryn Barush.