Long Live the Good King: A Niebuhrian Analysis of Arthur’s Ethical Kingship in The Once and Future King

Authors

• Camille Bewley, Harding UniversityFollow

Publication Date

Spring 2026

Subject Area

Section 4: Kingship & Resistance

Abstract

The classic The Once and Future King, written by T.H. White, is a selection of four fantasy novels with one, linear plot: the story of Arthur, the mythological King of England. Reinhold Niebuhr’s book Moral Man and Immoral Society details the Christian realism of a world in need of justice without the ability to achieve perfect application. Through good education, Arthur is well endowed with Niebuhr’s requirements for a functional society: knowledge, honor, wisdom, and compassion. Such king-like qualities make him one of the most influential mythological characters in history, and a grand exemplar for maintaining ethical goals and personal ideals in the reality of a broken world. This essay establishes such political ideals of virtue in the face of realism from Reinhold Niebuhr’s Moral Man and Immoral Society; identifying themes of ethical support for a focused analysis of kingship as it relates to Arthurian Legend.

About the Author

Camille Bewley is a senior interdisciplinary studies and theological studies major from Carrolton, Texas. She is an officer of the American Studies Institute and a member of the Sigma Tau Delta international English honor society, the Omicron Delta Kappa national honor society, the Alpha Chi national honor society, and the Harding Honors College. She intends to pursue a career in law.