Arthuriana

Pastor’s Epistle—August 2026

This month, I’d like to make a book recommendation. Consider it a home-stretch supplement to your summer reading list.

I’ve known of Malcolm Guite (pronounced like “kite”) for some years now. An Anglican priest and poet, he’s been the featured speaker at the Canadian Rockies Theological Conference, which several of my Order—the Society of the Holy Trinity—have attended and enjoyed. I own some of his books of liturgical poetry, and often share his sonnets online, especially for Michaelmas.

This year saw the release of the Rev’d Guite’s magnum opus, an Arthuriad entitled Merlin’s Isle. Rabbit Room Press published the first of its four volumes, Galahad and the Grail, in April, with a second tome, The Coming of Arthur, due out in November. The action starts in media res, with the arrival of the Grail Knight, the achievement of the Holy Grail, and the subsequent healing of the Fisher-King and his Wasteland kingdom.

Rev’d Guite retells the tale in epic English ballad form, which he requests that we read aloud. Miracles, magic, and monsters abound, from dryads and naiads to a clockwork sorcerer-knight. He returns, moreover, to the deeply Christian roots of the ancient story, so often overlooked or left out of modern Arthurian novels. The Grail, after all, is the Sacrament, Holy Communion—the sacred Blood of Christ through which God works the salvation of this and every world.

When I came to the end of the story, with the quest complete and the Wasteland redeemed, I found myself overwhelmed by a bittersweet beauty and sorrow, the sort of literary experience of the sacred that I’d previously undergone only with such works as The Lord of the Rings. I actually had to read the last few pages silently, for fear my voice might crack.

And while I realize one oughtn’t judge a book by its cover, the physical publication of Galahad and the Grail proves a work of art in and of itself: cloth hardcover, embossed dust jacket, ribbon bookmark, lavishly illustrated throughout with woodcuts by the artist Stephen Crotts. The whole package makes for a handsome addition to any shelf, and worthy gift to a loved one.

Many lament, and many more celebrate, the current state of the Church in the West: dwindling congregations, vanishing clergy. But truly I tell you, some of the best Christian thought of my lifetime is being produced right now; from the brilliant theology of David Bentley Hart, through new English translations of Sergius Bulgakov, to the deeply spiritual poetry of Malcolm Guite.

I used to envy that generation which saw the careers of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and G.K. Chesterton. Future generations, I am sure, shall envy us in much the same way.

In Jesus. Amen.