Tolkien Dogmatics, with Austin Freeman

Austin Freeman joins the show to discuss not just theology, not just Tolkien, but Tolkien's theology!

Austin Freeman

J.R.R. Tolkien is known as the language professor who created a fantasy world and constructed several languages for fun. However, those who get to know his writing and thought well discover that behind those seemingly frivolous projects lie deeply seeded theological ideas. And where better to discuss the intersection of theology and fiction than here on Mere Fidelity. Austin Freeman, author of Tolkien Dogmatics, joins Matt, Derek, and Alastair to delve into the wealth of thought hidden in Middle Earth.

Links Mentioned:

Lexham Press Book of the Month

Merrie Band

Austin Freeman at HCU

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. 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. For a limited time, Mere Fidelity listeners can get 40% off this work with the code MEREFIDELITYDEC22.

Timestamps

0:00
Theology & Literature
4:45
Imaginary World
10:37
Actual World
14:28
What Dogmas?
20:26
Gift of Death
27:13
Peer Comparison
35:08
Sub-Creation
42:39
The Bombadil Question

Follow Derek, Andrew, and Alastair for more tweet-sized brilliance. Thanks to Timothy Crouch for keeping us organized. Special thanks to Tim Motte for sound editing and show notes. And thanks to The Joy Eternal for lending us their music, which everybody should download out of gratitude for their kindness.

Literature Systematic Theology
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