Dragons’ Keep

Once upon a time, there were dragons in the psalms, singing praises to God. 
And then the translators came along and declared the dragons to have been sea-monsters (or whales) 
and the mysteries that they guarded mere fantasies of the imagination. 
We, however, know that the dragons were real. 
This is a reading list for Christians who believe in dragons
and who want to learn to summon them again through poetry and art.

For background reading on Christianity and the history of the West, go to “What to Read?
For the battle-song of the Dragon, see “Dragon Song.”
For an introduction to our poetry work, see “Up, drakes! It’s time for tea—and prosody!
For advanced dragon training, visit Dragon Common Room.

Basic Toolkit

Gemstones

Keys to the Christian imagination

Flowers of the Christian Imagination

  • Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, trans. Mother Columba Hart and Jane Bishop (New York: Paulist Press, 1990)
  • Elisabeth of Schönau, The Complete Works, ed. Anne Clark (New York: Paulist Press, 2000)
  • Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival, trans. A.T. Hatto (London: Penguin Classics, 1980)
  • Hadewijch, The Complete Works, trans. Mother Columba Hart (New York: Paulist Press, 1980)
  • Gertrude the Great of Helfta, The Herald of Divine Love, trans. Margaret Winkwork (New York: Paulist Press, 1980)
  • Mechthild of Magdeburg, The Flowing Light of the Godhead, trans. Frank Tobin (New York: Paulist Press, 1997)
  • Mechthild of Hackeborn, The Book of Special Grace, trans. Barbara Newman (New York: Paulist Press, 2017)
  • Marguerite Porete, The Mirror of Simple Souls—many translations!
  • Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, trans. Suzanne Noffke (New York: Paulist Press, 1980)
  • Birgitta of Sweden, Revelations, ed. Bridget Morris, trans. Denis Searby, 4 vols. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006-2015)
  • Julian of Norwich, Showings, trans. Edmund Colledge and James Walsh (New York: Paulist Press, 1977)
  • Christine de Pisan, The Book of the City of Ladies, trans. Rosalind Brown-Grant (London: Penguin Classics, 2000) 
  • Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle—many translations!
  • Sor Maria de Jesus de Agreda, Mystical City of God, trans. Fiscar Marison, 4 vols. (Chicago: Theopolitan, 1914)
  • John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress—many editions!
  • Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe—many editions!
  • G. K. Chesterton, Father Brown Stories, The Man Who Was Thursday, The Man Who Knew Too Much
  • Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited
  • J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion, The Lord of the Rings
  • C.S. Lewis, The Space Trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia, Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold
  • Ursula K. Leguin, The Earthsea Cycle 
  • Vox Day, Summa Elvetica: A Casuistry of the Elvish Controversy (Castalia House, 2017)

Guides to the Christian Imagination

Work in progress—pardon our dust!




Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all ye deeps—Psalm 148:7

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