Thomists and Tolkien

Two new podcast episodes

Photo by Aswin Karuvally on Unsplash

Greetings from Kobe, where I am on my final student camp of the summer. My chaplaincy duties have taken me to the north Philippines, the old Anglican mountain resort of Kiyosato, a choir camp in the valleys of Gunma and finally to this compact port city. Sorry, then, not to have posted any writing for a while. My journey to the declining village of Katashina with the choir has prompted some thoughts on evangelism by repopulation, which I mean to share very soon. I also have some inspiring news from my encounter with the very much alive Christian faith I witnessed in the Philippines. This is all to come.

But for now, by way of reminding you of my existence and thanking you for your subscription, I want to draw your attention to a couple of podcasts I listened to on the drive to Gunma prefecture and thought that readers may enjoy.

You may know that I’m rather fond of Tolkien, and indeed have written on him: see Life Without Mark or Measure – Covenant. I was therefore pleased to find, before hitting the motorway, episodes from two of my favourite podcasts devoted to the Lord of the Rings, both connected to my more illustrious namesake.

The first, titled with Matt Frad’s typical understated humility, is The one Lord of the Rings episode to rule them all on Pints with Aquinas. Despite the podcast’s name, it is the less Thomist episode of the two, though the Angelic Doctor does enjoy the odd cameo. Rather than its philosophical content, what I enjoyed about this episode was the encyclopaedic erudition of the guest speaker, the Anglo-Saxonist Dr Ben Reinhard. I thought I was well-informed on Tolkien’s Christian imagination, but it seems I have barely scratched the surface. It has also prompted me to read Leaf by Niggle, an allegory (despite Tolkien’s general distaste for that device) of his intuition that the greatest human work is “subcreation,” since we are “made in the image of the Maker.” I may even try again to brave the Silmarillion.

The second podcast is far more rigorously Thomist, which may surprise newcomers to the Theology Pugcast, since it comes broadly from Reformed and Lutheran traditions. The Thomist Tolkien takes a far more philosophical stance than the Pints episode. While the self-styled “Pugs” are sceptical of the recent more Platonic readings of Aquinas that I tend to favour, they are far more learned than I and say interesting, if challenging, things. It’s drier than the “one to rule them all” – Aquinas without the pints – but listenable nonetheless. Leaf, the Silmarillion and Tolkien’s lecture on fairy tales feature here, too.

Finally, as an unrelated bonus, if you have ever wanted to untangle the complex biblical imagery around death, heaven, hell and Hades, I recommend this episode from Ancient Faith Radio’s Lord of Spirits.

So, three podcasts, one Catholic, one Protestant and one Orthodox. Today’s post would seem to be an ecumenical matter.

I’ll be back soon with thoughts from the Japanese countryside on how (not) to convert a nation. God bless you! Please keep me and my family in your prayers. Dear readers, you will remain in mine. Eleni sílar antalyannar!