SMCE4027 F26 Faith and Fantasy: Christian Mythopoeia in J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis

• Duration: 6 weeks
• Day of the Week: Wednesdays
• Date: October 7th to November 11th, 2026
• Time: 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
• Location: TBC (on campus at the University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto)
• Cost: $345 (includes HST) 

Since their composition, the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis have enchanted the hearts and imaginations of millions of readers of all ages and shaped the fantasy genre in immeasurable ways. This course engages with the Christian orientation of both authors, exploring how a faith-based perspective illuminates the themes, characters, plots, and deep substructures of their work. Through lecture, discussion, and creative reflection, students will investigate the theologically rich worlds of Middle Earth and Narnia, uncovering their spiritually formative power.

Learning Outcomes:  

• Explore the theology and spiritual worldview at the heart of the Tolkien and Lewis’s fantasy fiction.
• Interpret symbols, images, characters, plots, and themes through a Christian lens.
• Engage with theological concepts of good and evil, love and sacrifice, hope and transcendence in Tolkien and Lewis’s respective “legendaria.”
• Contrast allegorical and applicable approaches to Christian fantasy.
• Discuss “mythopoeia” (mythmaking) and the reading of fantasy fiction as propaedeutic for the Christian imagination and the life of faith through the recovery of wonder.

Dr. Christina Labriola

Dr. Christina Labriola holds graduate degrees in sacred music and in pastoral theology from the Toronto School of Theology at the University of Toronto. As a musical theologian at home in the Roman Catholic tradition, her academic work focuses primarily on the intersection of music and the arts with Christian spirituality, theological aesthetics, and liturgy. She is passionate about embracing a sacramental worldview and exploring mystical theologies, especially those that engage the imagination and heart through creative and holistic approaches, and bring music, literature, and art into the realm of prayer, religious experience, and the spiritual life. Labriola’s monograph, The Sacramentality of Music, was recently publishedby Bloomsbury (2024). In addition to liturgical music ministry, academic engagement and lecturing, Christina is Director of Music in the Office of Campus Ministry at the University of St. Michael’s College, in which capacity she serves as artistic director of the St. Michael’s Schola Cantorum.

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