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In this course, we will examine Tolkien’s theology of evil from many differing perspectives. We will see that Tolkien quite deliberately draws upon traditional Christian metaphysics, especially the concept of evil as privation or absence, in order to create a portrait of evil both powerful and orthodox.

In the first lecture, we will examine this metaphysical account directly, noting the details of the privation theory of evil and the necessary consequence that evil is decline and loss. This is the view of Augustine, Aquinas, and the church tradition as a whole. In the second lecture, we turn to the two Dark Lords of Tolkien’s fiction. First we read of Tolkien’s Satan figure, Morgoth. Then, more familiar to most readers, there is Sauron, and we follow his fall in multiple stages.

In the third session, we cover the two spiders, Shelob and Ungoliant, and the way in which Tolkien uses language to portray evil as monstrous while also conforming it to Christian diction. In session four, we examine Tolkien’s dragons, Smaug and Glaurung. After an introductory section on dragons in literature, we learn that the primary danger
of the dragon is its voice.

Our fifth lecture deals with the pawns of Tolkien’s Satan figure. This includes both Saruman, who Tolkien portrays as a serpent, and the Orcs as an entire race--including the theological problems with such a conception. The sixth lecture covers human beings and two of the three enemies of the soul: the world and the flesh.

The seventh lecture deals with the One Ring itself, as technological and demonic tempter. Following this, the eighth lecture analyzes the two most famous slaves of the Ring, Gollum and the Ringwraiths.

Lecture nine turns from evil characters to sin in the abstract. Here we take a whirlwind tour through Tolkien’s presentation of sins such as lust, envy, pride, despair, and idolatry. The course concludes with a discussion of theodicy, the way in which God conquers evil. This includes two forms of theodicy: the free will defense and the felix culpa defense.

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Austin Freeman is a Tolkien scholar with a passion for investigating the expressions of theology found in Tolkien's works. He earned his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Austin has a forthcoming monograph on Tolkien as theologian published by Lexham Press.

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