Tolkien: Gods, Monsters & Myth

Session information

SESSION 1: The True Myth: How J. R. R. Tolkien Introduced Me to Orthodox Christianity

SESSION 2: Tolkien’s Gods: The Divine Council of Arda – Pagan or Christian?

SESSION 3: The Giants of Númenor and Isengard: Genesis, Atlantis and Beowulf in Tolkien’s Tales of Giants and Gigantomachy

SESSION 4: The Enchanting Orc: Incarnating the demonic in The Story of Kullervo and “Of Túrin Turambar” and Why the Hero Kills Dragons Alone

SESSION 5: Harrowing the Barrow: The descensus ad inferos in “Fog on the Barrow-downs,” as seen through Ancient and Classical Religious Sources

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Course Description

Author and Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien was steeped in the legends and lore of the Bible, Christian history, and pagan mythology. Millions have enjoyed his fantastic fictional world, with scholars and fans pointing out its Christian themes, yet some say that the professor was secretly or at least sympathetically pagan. What light can insights from Orthodox Christianity shed on this question? Just where does Tolkien’s mythology come from?