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Article: The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief.(Book Review)
- Article from:
- Church History
- Article date:
- December 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 American Society of Church History. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief. By Richard Barber Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2004. xiv + 464 pp. $27.95 cloth.
In The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief, Richard Barber sets himself the daunting task of "trac(ing) what we know about the Grail" from its original manifestation in Chretien de Troyes's Le Conte du Graal, through its various medieval incarnations and nineteenth-century revivals, and into the popular culture of the twentieth century (1). As he does so, he attempts to address the Grail's unique status as a "construct of the creative imagination" that "lays claim to the highest of religious ideals and experience" by eschewing ...