Malcolm Guite on Re-Enchanting a Disenchanted World
About this episode
Malcolm Guite discusses the significance of myths and stories in understanding truth and identity in a disenchanted world.
Malcolm Guite and Russell meet in Andrew Peterson’s Chapter House–Guite’s pipe smoke billowing–on the occasion of Guite’s new book, Galahad and the Grail, the first volume in the Merlin's Isle trilogy from Rabbit Room Press. Guite argues that myths and old stories aren’t just relics of a pre-modern imagination, they’re carriers of truth we’ve forgotten how to see with modern eyes. From King Arthur to the Holy Grail, these stories don’t distract us from the real world, they reveal it. Guite suggests that our cultural moment—fragmented, distracted, and flattened by endless scrolling—has left us dismembered. We no longer see our lives as part of a coherent narrative. And without story, we lose not just meaning but identity. At the center of it all is a claim both strange and familiar: that the greatest story ever told is not one among many, but the one that gives meaning to all the others. Along the way, Russell and Malcolm talk about how Guite has found a new audience on his wildly popular YouTube channel hosted out of his home library, the definition and origins of chivalry, and even the role Guite played in Martin Shaw’s conversion (find Russell’s interview with Shaw, here). King…
People in this episode
Host: Russell Moore
Guest: Malcolm Guite
Topics covered
- mythology
- storytelling
- identity
- chivalry
- cultural commentary
- redemption
Keywords
- myths
- King Arthur
- Holy Grail
- chivalry
- storytelling
- identity
- redemption
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Rabbit Room Press
Books & works: Galahad and the Grail
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