Beauty and Loss: Tolkien\u27s Eucatastrophe as a Mandate for the Church

In his writings, Tolkien affirms the presence of loss and longing, beauty and despair and analyzes the function they serve in both the secondary world of Middle-earth and the primary world. This thesis will explore his theories of the eucatastrophe and the dyscatastrophe, and his insistence that the joy and hope which are expressed by the eucatastrophe are dependent upon the dyscatastrophe—the presence of sorrow and despair. This thesis will also examine how Christians’ knowledge of Tolkien’s philosophy can better equip them to cope with the brokenness of a fallen world as well as provide motivation for developing and engaging a secular culture

Just a Fool\u27s Hope : J.R.R. Tolkien\u27s Eucatastrophe as the Paradigm of Christian Hope

In his essay titled “On Fairy-Stories,” J.R.R. Tolkien uses the term “eucatastrophe” to describe the unexpected, fortunate turn of events for the protagonist in a fantasy story. Tolkien applies the word beyond its literary context to signify the Christian’s experience of joy, especially resulting from the Incarnation and Resurrection. Such an explicit link between fiction and theology seems absent from his more well-known work, The Lord of the Rings. Yet both Tolkien himself and critics of his writing have labeled the novel a modern-day classic of Christian literature. This thesis will defend the Christian label of The Lord of the Rings by exploring the thematic occurrence of eucatastrophe in both the book and in biblical meta-narrative

Tolkien Among the Moderns (2015), ed. by Ralph C. Wood

Book review by Robin Anne Reid of Tolkien Among the Moderns (2015) ed. by Ralph C. Woo

Ofermod and Aristocratic Chivalry in J.R.R. Tolkien\u27s The Lord of the Rings

This paper explores connections between J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1953 Essays and Studies publication The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son and representations of ofermod and aristocratic “chivalry” in The Lord of the Rings. Focusing on the motivations and leadership-related decisions of Denethor and Faramir in The Lord of the Rings, this paper argues that Faramir\u27s behavior and motivations, despite Denethor’s implications to the contrary, cannot be described in terms of ofermod regardless of the risk that his choice to reject the Ring appears to pose to Gondor. By contrast, Denethor and his son Boromir represent the pride-motivated decision-making and rash heroics that Tolkien ties to ofermod and aristocratic “chivalry” in Homecoming. This becomes particularly apparent through close linguistic analysis of Denethor’s speeches to Faramir and Gandalf in The Return of the King. Ultimately, this paper argues that Denethor’s behavior leading up to and during the siege of Minas Tirith draws out a prominent danger of ofermod in Tolkien’s literature: the ability of the privileged leader to abandon hope on behalf of subordinates. By contrast, Tolkien’s protagonists represent the opposite impulse: they embrace hope on behalf of others, setting the stage for Tolkien’s eucatastrophic interventions

Tolkien and the Deadly Sin of Greed

Tolkien’s genius as a writer and insight as a philosopher and theologian (of sorts) are reflected in his subtle yet impactful interweaving of the consequences of greed within the lives of the peoples of Middle-Earth. He shows readers that greed is not simply the love of money. Greed is the root of all evil, and it takes a variety of forms, as represented by Sauron’s desire to possess power over and control others, Saruman’s imitative desire, and Feanor’s over-possessiveness of his sub-creative acts. Tolkien also reveals that a proper relationship with nature can provide recovery from the drab familiarity which the appropriation of nature can cause. Ultimately, Tolkien shows that in relinquishing possession of the things and people we most desire, we can find a greater sense of personhood, relationality, and peace within the world

The Great Tower of Elfland: The Mythopoeic Worldview of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton and George MacDonald (2017) by Zachary A. Rhone

Book review by Mike Foster of The Great Tower of Elfland: The Mythopoeic Worldview of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton and George MacDonald (2017) by Zachary A. Rhone

It Is \u27About\u27 Nothing But Itself : Tolkienian Theology Beyond the Domination of the Author

There is a broad stream of Christian interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fiction, especially The Lord of the Rings, which views it as the intentionally, essentially Christian work of an intentionally, essentially Christian author. This reductive, exclusivist approach does not do justice to the complex, generative interactivity between Tolkien’s faith, the faith of his readers (or lack thereof), and the text itself. Building on work by Veryln Flieger, Michael Drout, and Robin A. Reid, this paper interrogates how Christian Tolkien scholarship drafts Tolkien the human sub-creator to perform Foucault’s author-function by suppressing his contradictions and painting a figure whose life and works speak with a single, authoritative voice. Then, drawing on progressive Christian and Jewish hermeneutics and Tolkien’s own writings on intent and the freedom of the reader, it proposes a hermeneutics of Tolkienian inspiration that honors Tolkien’s Roman Catholic foundations, the sub-creative integrity of his secondary world, and the religious diversity of the readers who draw such deep wells of meaning from it. In so doing, it intervenes in ongoing conflict in the field of Tolkien Studies and Tolkien fandom more broadly over diverse interpretations of his fiction and the control of Tolkienian meaning

Commedia as Fairy-story: Eucatastrophe in the Loss of Virgil

Analyzes Dante in terms of Tolkien’s theory of the Fairy-story. Sees the loss of Virgil and recovery of Beatrice as a significant eucatastrophe

The Arch and the Keystone

The growing body of writing both by and about Tolkien insures that not only can we no longer read the unknown book I discovered in 1956, we can\u27t even all read the same book in 2019. We have too many opinions based on too much information from too many sources to come to a consensus. In spite of his fame, in spite of his position at the top of the heap, in spite of The Lord of the Ring\u27s established position as Waterstone\u27s Book of the Century, the world has and probably will continue to have trouble agreeing on who/what he is

Truth and Reality in Tolkien’s Middle Earth: The Role of Fantasy in the Christian’s Life

Fantasy literature can express truths found in the physical world and in the Christian faith. J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy, The Lord of the Rings is one example of fantasy that does so. In his essay, “On Fairy-Stories” Tolkien introduces four traits of fantasy: subcreation, recovery, escape, and consolation. Beginning with a defense of fantasy, this paper identifies the presence of these traits in the trilogy and how they correlate truth between the Primary and Secondary Worlds. A careful examination of how Tolkien’s worldview is evident in his works follows with a detailed analysis of the portrayal of human nature shown most through the creature Gollum. Finally, a connection between consolation and the beauty of the Gospel reveals how fantasy can attest to the joy of Christianity and how Tolkien’s world is sweetened by the Gospel