In the mid 1980s the Waterboys took a sudden turn away from their climb up the ladder of UK rock stardom and headed out to Ireland--and eventually the rural West of Ireland--to record the remarkable Fisherman's Blues album. They drew together traditional Irish music; folk, gospel, and blues stylings; and a joyful sense of storied wonder. This tale of the rediscovery of an enchanted musical and lyrical kingdom serves as the framework for Richard Briggs to explore gospel re-enchantment, in dialogue with the worlds of myth and fairy. Drawing on C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and others, just as did the Waterboys themselves, Invisible Kingdom finds theological wisdom to the soundtrack of the rock band and the fiddle, in celebrating a life-giving Irish odyssey.

Richard S. Briggs is the principal of Lindisfarne College of Theology, in Durham and Newcastle in England's North-East.