‘The Gospels contain a fairy-story, or a story of a larger kind which embraces all the essence of fairy-stories. They contain many marvels—peculiarly artistic1, beautiful, and moving: “mythical” in their perfect, self-contained significance; and among the marvels is the greatest and most complete conceivable eucatastrophe2. But this story has entered History and the primary world; the desire and aspiration of sub-creation has been raised to the fulfillment of Creation. The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man’s history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy.’
-J. R. R. Tolkien, 'On Fairy Stories'
1 Tolkien’s footnote: ‘The Art is here in the story itself rather than in the telling; for the Author of the story was not the evangelists.’
2 The ‘good catastrophe’ or Happy Ending
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