The Christian Worldview in the Writings of J.R.R. Tolkien with Dr. Donald Williams

There is a lot of discussion right now about the spirituality of Middle-Earth. Neopagans and secularists insist that the spirituality of Tolkien’s world can be legitimately be read as neopagan or spiritual, and there is increasing hostility in the fandom to Tolkien’s own actual beliefs. When you examine not only Tolkien’s own statements about the matter but also (more importantly) the texts of the stories, however, it is clear that the spiritual and philosophical underpinnings of Middle-Earth are not generic or pagan or anything else, but explicitly Christian.

Donald Williams holds a BA in English from Taylor University, an M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and a PhD in Medieval and Renaissance Literature from the University of Georgia. An ordained minister in the Evangelical Free Church of America with many years of pastoral experience, he has spent several summers doing pastoral training in East Africa and India for Church Planting International. A past president of the International Society of Christian Apologetics and an internationally known Inklings scholar, he is the author of several books, including Deeper Magic: The Theology behind the Writings of C.S. Lewis, An Encouraging Thought: The Christian Worldview in the Writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, and he has contributed to numerous articles, poems, and reviews.