註釋 This thesis engages in contemporary debate about the relation of the revelation of God in Christ to human cultural productions with specific reference to the thought of Karl Barth and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Chalcedonian Christology is taken to be the benchmark for an adequate theology of the arts, and this is developed, especially by consideration of the works of James Dunn and Jürgen Moltmann, so that it is not applied primarily in terms of static ontological categories but in personalistic, eschatological, and epistemological terms also. Jerry Gill demonstrates an adequate theological approach to the arts using this method. The thesis then introduces Post-liberal theologians, Hans Frei and George Lindbeck, noting the importance to them of literary and linguistic categories. It notes the dependence of these thinkers upon Barth, and also their divergences at some points, particularly in reference to questions of incommensurability and anti-foundationalism. Barth's approach is elucidated by reference to a passage from the Church Dogmatics addressing questions of myth and history, demonstrating the utility of literary categories. The thesis then turns to Tolkien and especially his essay 'On Fairy Stories'. His poetics and theological concomitants are shown to bear significant similarities to that of the Post-liberals and Barth. Michael Polanyi is adduced to demonstrate the validity of Tolkien's epistemological assertions and there is some consideration given to the relationship of the natural sciences to literary and theological truths, with reference to Tolkien's poem 'Mythopoeia'. His use of occult figures is considered in the light of recent controversy around Joanne Rowling's Harry Potter stories leading to discussion of 'magic' and the meaning of this for an understanding of what it is to be human in relation to both the natural and the supernatural. Finally, we examine Tolkien's claim that it is the gospel itself that justifies the discovery of Christian forms in non-Christian literature. This claim is examined in relation to Barth's well-known 'nein' to Natural Theology, but Barth is then shown to have reversed his emphasis in later years to allow for God's revelation to appear in non-Christian cultural productions. In the end the thesis notes the importance of provisionality for both these thinkers as they looked towards the eschaton. 