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Abstract
In the past twenty-five years, fantasy literature and media have exploded, capturing the imagination and gaining a following. Given fantasy’s history with religious writers like J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis and the dedication of fandom communities, scholars have attempted to explain the connections between fantasy and religion. This was an area of exploration for the first generation of Arts, Literature, and Religion scholars. Now, a second generation is addressing these genres to further define “religion” and its limits. I propose to explain fantasy’s connection with religion by putting it in conversation with the lives of Christian saints. This approach allows us to speak of fantasy as a serious religious practice, while still different from traditional conceptions of religion. Fantasy literature, thereby, becomes a “second hagiography” that ritually opens a liminal space for individuals to enter to shape and own identity through the religious imagination. My interpretation acknowledges that modern Americans, as the Pew data indicates, have left traditional religious movements, and over a quarter of Americans identify as “spiritual,” suggesting increasing disconnections to religious traditions. The devotion to fantasy, individually and in fan groups, however, acknowledges that there is spiritual hunger to engage with the religious imaginary. Young people, particularly, turn to fantasy to enter a religious frame of mind that mediates relationships with the world around them. Moreover, they claim ownership over these new hagiographic figures because they play a part in shaping the narrative that informs those relationships. This mirrors the ways scholars describe the participatory relationships between the cult of the saints and its devotees. Hagiography proves a fruitful comparison to fantasy due to their literary and functional similarities. In the space both genres create, we can speak about humanity’s relationship with God, relationships with other human beings, and a lived morality.