Abstract
Derick Thomson is frequently associated with writing about of Lewis, especially with intimate examinations of his own relationship to the native isle, but not so much with reflecting on its religious situation - perhaps with the exception of the famous anti-Calvinist poem "Am Bodach-rocais" (The Scarecrow). Almost all facets of Thomson's career can be described as neglected in terms of research.
Concerning the topic of religion, there are some insightful yet brief comments in reviews of and essays on Thomson's third collection An Rathad Cian (1977) and in Donald Meek's superb article "Saints and Scarecrows", but very little else. In this paper, I took the first step in filling this gap and presented a survey of this important sub-section in Thomson's Lewis poetry.
Thomson dwells on religious themes related to Lewis especially in An Rathad Cian and in the magnificent yet much under-researched sequence "Àirc a' Choimhcheangail" (The Ark of the Covenant) from Creachadh na Clarsaich (1982) and its "sequel" "Trì a fhuair a-mach as an Àirc" (Three that Escaped from the Ark), a trio of poems published in Smeur an Dochais / Bramble of Hope (1991). I also drew on Thomson's autobiographical essays and on interviews Christopher Whyte conducted with the poet in 1988, as these sources reveal much about Thomson's approach to religion in Lewis.