We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams.
- Willy Wonka
When I was a kid I loved the movie Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. Obsessed is perhaps a better word to describe my fascination with the 1971 classic.
My nephew Rio was also obsessed with the 2023 version with Timothee Chalamet, so much so that his 5th birthday was Wonka-themed. Now, why am I telling you this titillating Gomez family history?
Well, last week I took the 16 personalities test (apparently I am an ENFP-T). The website gives you a bunch of information and insights into your personality. You know strengths, weaknesses, what you look for in a partner or job and a list of popular figures who have the same bent. Guess which figure made the list?
WILLY WONKA!
For a second I was upset it wasn’t someone cooler. Then I started thinking what is it about this story that has captured the hearts? My theory is that the centre of this story - beneath the candy, colours, and catchy songs - is a reorientation of human imagination.
So I’m interested to know…. What comes to mind when you hear the words imagine or imagination?
Maybe you think that’s something kids do, or it’s the title of a popular song by a rich, aloof English rock star1, or maybe you’ve never given imagination a second thought.
But for a moment I’d like you to reconsider imagination as central to human dignity.2 I think what makes us human is our very capacity to imagine a world beyond.3 That imagination is thinking and moving toward a more hopeful reality.4
Penguins don’t think of becoming culinary artists or cartoonists (except for Cody Maverick in Surf’s Up, also a great movie) nor do trees ponder a better, brighter world I don’t mean to diminish the sanctity of animals or trees but simply to name the particularity of humanity amongst creation.
Imagination is unique to humankind and vital to our existence as individuals and as a society.
In his groundbreaking book Man’s Search for Meaning, psychologist Viktor Frankl theorised that the common thread of victims that survived the horrors of Nazi death camps was their ability to find purpose in and through their suffering.
It was those who maintained a capacity to envision or imagine a world beyond the present evils that kept them alive. As Frankl writes, “A human being is not one thing among others; things determine each other, but man is ultimately self-determining.”5
Put differently individuals and societies become what they behold in their imaginations. Think of the human imagination as the sandbox of the soul. A place to dream and build a world of wonder. But, what happens to a person or civilization whose imagination has atrophied or corrupted?
A Theology of Imagination
In the book of Genesis, we read of a unique divine Creator forming and shaping a world of beauty and wonder.6 This goes pear-shaped and the rest of the story is about humanity seeking to restore a world that, in the language of the poet-prophet Isaiah:
The wolf will dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard will lie down with the goat.
The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf will be together,
and a child will lead them.
The cow and the bear will graze,
their young ones will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like cattle.
An infant will play beside the cobra’s pit,
and a toddler will put his hand into a snake’s den.
They will not harm or destroy each other…7
That is a world of dignity for plants, animals, and human flourishing. Yet, human history is that of a world shaped and organized by broken creatures. From the Ceasar to Trump. From ancient Rome to modern-day Tokyo, our shared story has been marred by a lack of rightly ordered imagination.8
On an individual level, many of us have settled for a life of comfort when what is truly on offer is life, life, and more life. Jesus invites us to partner with him in the restoration of all things but we settle for a house and enough money in the bank to go to brunch with friends on the weekends (myself included).
On a corporate level, much of the Western church is in disarray because we have lost the capacity to imagine. Not all but many suffer from a stunted imagination. Instead of being active participants in life, we have exported our imaginations to presidents, celebrities or athletes.
We are the most entertained, overly stimulated, distracted and feeble people. And when imagination is stunted a person cannot grow or flourish. Put differently, tell me a person’s or society’s imagination and I will tell you their future. So what are we to do?
The Day the Revolution Began
Two thousand years ago a quiet revolution began on the outskirts of modern Israel. It was led by an unattractive, yet compassionate tradesman turned Rabbi by the name of Jesus from the small town of Nazareth.
He went around healing, teaching, laughing, crying, eating and telling parables of redemption, true justice, and hope. And unlike other revolutionary leaders, Jesus used stories, not swords to restore and begin the resurrection of the human imagination. Stories make up an imagination and imagination becomes our shared reality.
At the heart of the message of Jesus of Nazareth is that of a renewed imagination.
The same is true of the story of Willy Wonka. Most of the characters in the story are cranky, greedy, or annoyed at Wonka’s childlike wonder and whimsy. They have settled for a life defined by money, fame, and entertainment. Except for the poor and outcasts - Charlie and Grandpa Joe. They gladly accept Mr. Wonka’s glorious invitation and are in turn reinvigorated and transformed.
Perhaps the most well-known song from Willy Wonka is Pure Imagination. One line goes: There is no life, I know / To compare with pure imagination
As corny as it sounds - Jesus is pure and perfect imagination. And if we allow his story to shape the contours of our mind, soul, and heart then we very well may be able to recover our imagination.
Ultimately like Willy Wonka, Jesus wants to resurrect the parts of our imagination that have become cynical, anemic, and disillusioned so that we may truly live free and bring about a world of wonder.
In 2020, a few celebrities attempted to bring peace and hope during the COVID pandemic by singing Imagine by John Lennon people had mixed feelings about this. See: Pete Williams, “’Imagine’” is the Most Pretentious Song Ever Written: When you break down the lyrics, it’s actually hot garbage,” The Bad Influence, May 28, 2020, https://medium.com/the-bad-influence/imagine-is-the-most-pretentious-song-ever-written-b2918d6fd764, Jeffery Salkin, “Why John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ is actually not that great of a song,” Sojourners, October 9, 2015, https://sojo.net/articles/why-john-lennons-imagine-actually-not-great-song.
I am grateful for the work of Eugene Peterson who was the first to open my eyes to the importance of imagination. Peterson writes: “A major and too-little remarked evil in our time is the systematic degradation of the imagination. The imagination is among the chief glories of the human.” Eugene Peterson, Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 1992), 171.
Walter Brueggemann describes the work of the biblical prophets as pointing the people of God to a world “out beyond.” See: Walter Brueggemann, “What kind of a world do you want?: Acts of Imagination,” An Ongoing Imagination: A Conversation about Scripture, Faith, and the Thickness of Relationship, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2019), 53 – 55. For a more extensive study see also: Walter Brueggemann, Hopeful Imagination: Prophetic Voices in Exile (Pittsburgh, PA: Fortress Press, 1986).
I think hope and imagination are deeply tied, perhaps interchangeable. Hope is not childish daydreaming or blind, naïve optimism but consists of thinking and desiring of a life and world beyond and then seeking to live to make that a reality. See: Leisa Aitken, Rediscovering Hope. How we lost it. How we get it back?, podcast audio, Richard Johnson Lecture, 48:432023, https://richardjohnsonlectures.podbean.com/e/rediscovering-hope-how-we-lost-it-how-we-get-it-back/, Gavin Hopps, Trevor Hart, Jeremy Begbie, Art, Imagination and Christian Hope: Patterns of Promise, (New York: Routledge 2012), 1 - 6.
Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search For Meaning,
Some scholars make the case that Genesis is not about science or evolution but a case of “poetic doxology.” See: Marilynne Robinson, Reading Genesis, (London: Virago 2024), Walter Brueggemann, “Doxological Imagination: Creation, Science, and Truth”, A Conversation about Scripture, Faith, and the Thickness of Relationship, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2019), 39 – 41.
Isaiah 11:6 – 9 CSB.
Brueggemann, “What kind of a world do you want?”, 54.