THE LORE OF THE RINGS: J.R.R. TOLKIEN ON FAITH, MYTH & THE CHRISTIAN IMAGINATION
| This seminar explores how J.R.R. Tolkien’s deeply held Catholic faith shapes the imaginative world of The Lord of the Rings and his wider legendarium. Drawing on Tolkien’s own letters and contemporary scholarship, we will examine his rejection of allegory, his understanding of sub-creation and “true myth,” and the ways a Catholic sacramental vision and liturgical imagination permeate Middle-earth through themes of grace, mercy, providence, sacrifice, light, and eucatastrophe. |
| Through guided readings and discussion, students will discover how Tolkien’s fantasy offers a profoundly Catholic vision of reality—one that awakens wonder and illuminates enduring truths about the struggle between good and evil, the meaning of hope, and the quiet power of holiness. |