DOGMATICS
Theology through Mythology with the Maker of Middle-earth
Austin M. Freeman
Tolkien Dogmatics: Theology through Mythology with the Maker of Middle-earth
Copyright 2022 Austin M. Freeman
Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225
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Print ISBN 9781683596677
Digital ISBN 9781683596684
Library of Congress Control Number 2022941648
Lexham Editorial: Todd Hains, Liz Vince, Jessi Strong, Cindy Huelat, Mandi Newell
Cover Design: Joshua Hunt, Brittany Schrock
Glossary of Names and Terms from Tolkien’s Fiction
This book took a long time to complete. It has been with me, to varying degrees, for almost half a decade now. As such, I’d first like to thank all of my family, friends, coworkers, and brief acquaintances for putting up with my shoehorning Tolkien into every conversation. Note well that I am thankful, not apologetic.
My wife, Mandi, has been my chief advocate in this as in all things. My editor, Todd Hains, saw the potential in this book long before there was any reason to give me a chance to write it. The other scholars of Tolkien I’ve met, and with whom I’ve collaborated, also deserve thanks here, but there are too many to mention by name, aside from Carl Hostetter who probably helped the most. The staff at the Rolfing Library in Deerfield, Illinois, deserve mention for their assistance in obtaining scans of material I couldn’t otherwise have used, primarily from the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton. Finally, thanks go to Christopher Tolkien for the Tulkasian effort of collating, editing, and publishing his father’s manuscripts, without which this book would be substantially slimmer.
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About Tolkien Dogmatics: Theology through Mythology with the Maker of Middle-EarthTheology through mythology. J. R. R. Tolkien was many things: English Catholic, father and husband, survivor of two world wars, Oxford professor, and author. But he was also a theologian. Tolkien’s writings exhibit a coherent theology of God and his works, but Tolkien did not present his views with systematic arguments. Rather, he expressed theology through story. In Tolkien Dogmatics, Austin M. Freeman inspects Tolkien’s entire corpus—The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and beyond—as a window into his theology. In his stories, lectures, and letters, Tolkien creatively and carefully engaged with his Christian faith. Tolkien Dogmatics is a comprehensive manual of Tolkien’s theological thought arranged in traditional systematic theology categories, with sections on God, revelation, creation, evil, Christ and salvation, the church, and last things. Through Tolkien’s imagination, we reencounter our faith. |
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