You Tube Theology

Welcome to Episode Thirteen of our series entitled "Tolkien's Greatest Characters. Today's conversation features Dr. Michael Ward, discussing his fantastic essay Peak Middle Earth: Why Mount Doom is not the Climax of The Lord of the Rings, with a bonus discussion on the oft-overlooked Hobbit hero, Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger.

Michael Ward is Associate Member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, and Professor of Apologetics at Houston Christian University, Texas.

https://anunexpectedjournal.com/peak-middle-earth-why-mount-doom-is-not-the-climax-of-the-lord-of-the-rings/

He is the author of Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis (Oxford University Press) and After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man (Word on Fire Academic).

He co-edited The Cambridge Companion to C.S. Lewis (Cambridge University Press) and presented the BBC television documentary The Narnia Code.

On the fiftieth anniversary of Lewis’s death, Professor Ward unveiled a permanent national memorial to him in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, London. Dr. Ward's chief claim to fame is that he handed a pair of X-ray spectacles to 007 in the James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough.

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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction and Background of Professor Michael Ward
03:01 The Journey into Tolkien's World
06:04 Understanding the Climax of The Lord of the Rings
08:47 The Significance of Joy and Sorrow in Tolkien's Work
11:46 Exploring the Field of Cormallen
14:35 The Symbolism of Trees and Gold in Middle Earth
17:57 The Climax at Cormallen and Its Hidden Meanings
20:47 The Nature of Evil and Gold in Tolkien's Universe
28:18 The Subtlety of Tolkien's Message
31:16 Artistic Intelligence in Tolkien's Work
34:29 The Role of the Holy Spirit in Tolkien's Narrative
38:15 Eucharistic Symbolism in Tolkien's Writing
43:58 The Unsung Hero: Fatty Bolger
52:48 The Value of Humility and Overlooked Characters