This class is a quest within a quest. In it, participants will seek to understand more fully the hidden theology embued with J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth, as narrated in The Lord of the Rings triology, The Hobbit and The Simarillion. At the end of the quest, it is hoped that members of this fellowship will more fully appreciate the interplay between Tolkien’s grand epic and the Master Epic—the Advent of God’s Son in the Age of Men.

Outline of Class Sessions

Wednesday, February 16
Finding God in This Lord of the Rings: A Misguided Quest?

Wednesday, February 23
Tolkien’s Creation Myth: The Simarillion

Wednesday, March 2
Evil rears its Ugly Head: The rise of Melkor, Sauron and the Ringwraiths

Wednesday, March 9
Vices and Virtues Great and Small: Developing Noble Hobbits

Wednesday, March 16
The Consummation of the Third Age: Dawn of the Age of Men

Suggested Secondary Sources

Wood, Ralph C. The Gospel According to Tolkien. London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003.

Bruner, Kurt and Ware, Jim. Finding God in The Lord of the Rings. Wheaton: Tyndale, 2001.

Smith, Mark Eddy. Tolkien’s Ordinary Virtures. Downers Grove, Ill: Intervarsity Press, 2002.