Tolkien’s Theology of Beauty

Tolkien’s Theology of Beauty PDF

Author: Lisa Coutras

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-08-03

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 1137553456

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In this book, Lisa Coutras explores the structure and complexity of J.R.R. Tolkien’s narrative theology, synthesizing his Christian worldview with his creative imagination. She illustrates how, within the framework of a theological aesthetics, transcendental beauty is the unifying principle that integrates all aspects of Tolkien’s writing, from pagan despair to Christian joy. J.R.R. Tolkien’s Christianity is often held in an unsteady tension with the pagan despair of his mythic world. Some critics portray these as incompatible, while Christian analysis tends to oversimplify the presence of religious symbolism. This polarity of opinion testifies to the need for a unifying interpretive lens. The fact that Tolkien saw his own writing as “religious” and “Catholic,” yet was preoccupied with pagan mythology, nature, language, and evil, suggests that these areas were wholly integrated with his Christian worldview. Tolkien’s Theology of Beauty examines six structural elements, demonstrating that the author’s Christianity is deeply embedded in the narrative framework of his creative imagination.

Tolkien’s Theology of Beauty

Tolkien’s Theology of Beauty PDF

Author: Lisa Coutras

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Published: 2016-07-06

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781137553447

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In this book, Lisa Coutras explores the structure and complexity of J.R.R. Tolkien’s narrative theology, synthesizing his Christian worldview with his creative imagination. She illustrates how, within the framework of a theological aesthetics, transcendental beauty is the unifying principle that integrates all aspects of Tolkien’s writing, from pagan despair to Christian joy. J.R.R. Tolkien’s Christianity is often held in an unsteady tension with the pagan despair of his mythic world. Some critics portray these as incompatible, while Christian analysis tends to oversimplify the presence of religious symbolism. This polarity of opinion testifies to the need for a unifying interpretive lens. The fact that Tolkien saw his own writing as “religious” and “Catholic,” yet was preoccupied with pagan mythology, nature, language, and evil, suggests that these areas were wholly integrated with his Christian worldview. Tolkien’s Theology of Beauty examines six structural elements, demonstrating that the author’s Christianity is deeply embedded in the narrative framework of his creative imagination.

Creation and Beauty in Tolkien's Catholic Vision

Creation and Beauty in Tolkien's Catholic Vision PDF

Author: Michael John Halsall

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2020-01-02

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 1532641109

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This book invites readers into Tolkien’s world through the lens of a variety of philosophers, all of whom owe a rich debt to the Neoplatonic philosophical tradition. It places Tolkien’s mythology against a wider backdrop of Catholic philosophy and asks serious questions about the nature of creation, the nature of God, what it means to be good, and the problem of evil. Halsall sets Tolkien alongside both his contemporaries and ancient authors, revealing his careful use of literary devices inspired by them to craft his own “mythology for England.”

The Philosophy of Tolkien

The Philosophy of Tolkien PDF

Author: Peter Kreeft

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 2009-09-03

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 1681495317

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While nothing can equal or replace the adventure in reading ; Tolkienಙs masterwork, The Lord of the ; Rings, Peter Kreeft says that the journey into its ; underlying philosophy can be another exhilarating ; adventure. Thus, Kreeft takes the reader on a voyage ; of discovery into the philosophical bones of Middle earth. ; He organizes the philosophical themes in The Lord of the ; Rings into 50 categories, accompanied by over 1,000 ; references to the text of Lord.Since many of the great ; questions of philosophy are included in the 50-theme ; outline, this book can also be read as an engaging ; introduction to philosophy. For each of the philosophical ; topics in Lord, Kreeft presents tools by which they can be ; understood. Illustrated.

J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth

J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth PDF

Author: Bradley J. Birzer

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2023-08-29

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 1684516242

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With a new introduction by the author Peter Jackson's film version of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy - and the accompanying Rings-related paraphernalia and publicity - has played a unique role in the disemmination of Tolkien's imaginative creation to the masses. Yet, for most readers and viewers, the underlying meaning of Middle-earth has remained obscure. Bradley Birzer has remedied that with this fresh study. In J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle-earth, Birzer reveals the surprisingly specific religious symbolism that permeates Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He also explores the social and political views that motivated the Oxford don, ultimately situating Tolkien within the Christian humanist tradition represented by Thomas More and T.S. Eliot, Dante and C.S. Lewis. Birzer argues that through the genre of myth Tolkien created a world that is essentially truer than the one we think we see around us everyday, a world that transcends the colorless disenchantment of our postmodern age.

Tolkien's Worlds

Tolkien's Worlds PDF

Author: John Garth

Publisher: White Lion Publishing

Published: 2020-05

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 0711241279

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An expertly written investigation of the places that shaped the work of one of the world's best loved authors, exploring the relationship between worlds real and fantastical.

Tolkien and Philosophy

Tolkien and Philosophy PDF

Author: Roberto Arduini

Publisher:

Published: 2014-07-25

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 9783905703320

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"Tolkien and Philosophy" is a theme that has not yet been studied with the "philological" accuracy and the textual knowledge that are required to avoid squeezing the Professor's works inside conceptual frameworks that, rather than exposing their intrinsic value, risk losing both their profound meaning and their inherent beauty. What is the relationship between Tolkien's work and Philosophy? The question, if taken seriously, is by no means trivial. For these reasons we wish this book to become, in both method and content, an essential point of reference for anyone interested in better understanding the significant elements that sometimes link, sometimes divide, the "philologist" Tolkien from proper speculative philosophy.

The Nature of Middle-Earth

The Nature of Middle-Earth PDF

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 467

ISBN-13: 0358454603

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It is well known that J.R.R. Tolkien published The Hobbit in 1937 and The Lord of the Rings in 1954-5. What may be less known is that he continued to write about Middle-earth in the decades that followed, right up until the years before his death in 1973. For him, Middle-earth was part of an entire world to be explored, and the writings in The Nature of Middle-earth reveal the journeys that he took as he sought to better understand his unique creation. He discusses sweeping themes as profound as Elvish immortality and reincarnation, and the Powers of the Valar, to the more earth-bound subjects of the lands and beasts of Númenor and the geography of the Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor.

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