The parrot, the peacock and the wood pigeon

This article by Jesuit priest Nicolas Steeves focuses on the role of imagination in Christian spiritual and theological life. Drawing on both a speculative and ascetic approach, it examines the ambivalent nature of imagination, conceived as a pharmakon capable of being both beneficial and harmful depending on the use the believer makes of it. The central idea is that imagination, far from being a secondary or suspect faculty, occupies a constitutive place in Scripture and in hymnography, and can be fruitfully integrated into theological and spiritual inquiry. The contribution of the article lies in its proposal of a framework for discernment that allows imagination to be valued as a vehicle for ecclesial creativity and witness in a contemporary culture dominated by images, without ignoring its potential pitfalls.