Do you ever feel like you need to just get out of town? From time to time I think most of us do. Whether you prefer to take a hike in the woods, go kayaking, or just take in a scenic vista; there is something inherently satisfying about being in nature.
During the first half of the nineteenth century in Europe poets, painters, and composers inspired by the lure of nature began a cultural movement we now refer to as Romanticism. And although we now live in Postmodern times the desire to get “back to nature” remains with us.
Although most of us find experiencing the beauty of nature satisfying in and of itself, recent research indicates that it also contributes to our overall well-being. An interesting article in The Huffington Post entitled, Experiences Of Art, Nature And Spirituality May Help Prevent Disease, Study Finds, suggests that our desire to experience nature holds value for us beyond simply escaping the hustle and bustle of city life.
In Parts II and III of my House of David in Middle Earth posts, I will explore more deeply how Tolkien is telling the story of the return of king. There are 24 times throughout the New Testament where the Greek word “parousia” is used, but perhaps the most important reference is from 1 Corinthians 15:23 where Paul says, “But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.” The English word “comes” is translated from the Greek “parousia” which has wider (and better) translations such as “appearance,” “coming,” and even “presence.” No one in ancient Israel expected anyone to be raised from the dead until the end of history, which the Jews refer to as the “ha-olam-ha-ba,” or the “age to come.” This brings me to another well-quoted passage, John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Here, the phrase “eternal life” is interesting. The Greek word for “eternal” is “aionios” and doesn’t just mean outside of our space and time, but also inside. It doesn’t mean that we get it after we die, but it also refers to the quality of the age which it describes. It isn’t just futuristic, but it is very much of the present tense. In other words, it is something we presently possess. According to the scholar N.T. Wright, “eternal life” is better translated as “life in the age to come.” It is very much something we can begin experiencing now and will only fully experience at some unknown point in the future as well. A different age does not mean a different world or place–quite the opposite, in fact. An age is like a period of history. According to John 3:16, then, we are currently–already–experiencing the “life of the age to come” that we will–yet–know more fully. This is something which Jesus himself also makes quite clear in Luke 17:21: “Nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” We are living between two moments. We are living between two “ages.” The Jews believe we are living in the “ha-olam-hazeh,” or the “present age,” which is also an age of great good and terrible evil. But as Paul continues on in 1 Corinthians 15:24-28:
“Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.”
We are living between the present and future consummation of the “kingdom of heaven” which Jesus spoke so much about, a kingdom of “already, but not yet.” What does J.R.R. Tolkien have to do about this? I believe that his great sweeping story is telling a parable, not an allegory, of the return of the king. And what do parables do? They restore sight to those who have been spiritually blind to all that is happening around them.
Last Fall, a student in one of my humanities classes classes, Evan Hildreth, did an interview with me about my teaching experience and academic background. The student’s article, A professor doing what he loves was published in The Sandbox, St. Petersburg College’s online student newspaper.
One of the things my former student mentions in the article is my academic expertise and research interests. He mentions my book in progress called The House of David in Middle-Earth which explores the themes of monarchy and the return of the king (in ancient Greek, the word parousia meaning “appearance” or “return”) in both the Bible and J.R.R. Tolkien’s books The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. I will be presenting about this topic at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCA/ACA) national conference in New Orleans this April and have already posted Part I of my research Part I of my research to this blog. I encourage all of you to check it out! I am working on Part II, which should be going up soon. Thank you for reading!
The Golden Gate, Jerusalem, Israel, photo taken by the author.
I’d like to briefly introduce who I am and what I research, write, and teach on at Saint Petersburg College (Gibbs campus). I am Michael Jahosky, and I have two bachelor’s degrees (History and Humanities) plus one master’s degree in Humanities from UCF and USF, respectively, and currently teach Western Humanities from Ancient to Renaissance (HUM 2210) and East/West Synthesis (HUM 2270) at the Gibbs campus. I’ve been teaching collectively at SPC for nearly 5 years and specialize in Greco-Roman and Biblical studies and the Italian Renaissance, though my interests and research is more far-reaching than just that. I’m a voracious reader and avid writer and am also a lifelong J.R.R. Tolkien book fan (although I do love the movies, too)! You could say I “minored” in Tolkien Studies in college–and still do! I possess a working knowledge of ancient Greek and Latin and am well-traveled. I recently created and led SPC’s first trip to Israel this past June to great success. I think that does it! Read on for my first post, and welcome to Saint Petersburg College!
It’s that time of year again! The Holiday season always seems conducive for reflection and has always been a special time of year when many of us settle down with a great book. For me, since I was little, it is always Tolkien’s books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In this inaugural post, I’d like to share some of my writing project with fellow faculty and students. Next April, I will be presenting a version of this at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference in New Orleans, and I know that many of my students have been interested in what I’m writing. I also have plans to publish this material. I hope that both faculty and students will take an interest in the applicability of Biblical themes to Tolkien’s novels and that the “veil of familiarity,” as C.S. Lewis wrote in the “Dethronement of Power” will be pulled back from this subject. Fans of the upcoming Hobbit film will also be interested.
“The King beneath the Mountains, the King of carven stone, the lord of silver fountains shall come into his own!” “Renewed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king!” Tolkien’s poems about the return of the exiled kings Thorin Oakenshield and Aragorn resembles God’s promise to his servant Israel to always put a king on the throne of David in Psalm 89:3-4: “I have sworn to David my servant, I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm through all generations.” However, God states that if David’s “sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes,” that He will “punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging” (Psalm 89:31-32).
As Christians will testify, much of the Old Testament tells of the faithfulness of God in one day becoming king again through his Son in the appearance of the Davidic messiah. In the New Testament, however, Jesus makes clear in Matthew 12:42 that “Something greater than Solomon is here.” The origin of God’s faithfulness is the great covenant that He made with David in 2 Samuel 7:16: “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” But this is a theme that many Christians (and others), however, have forgotten or simply overlooked. According to N.T. Wright, the true story of the Gospels is the story of “how God became King,” but this usually causes most to scratch their heads! Furthermore, Wright and others have pointed out that we have asked questions of the Gospels that they were not, and are not, equipped to answer. What if we could, as C.S. Lewis states, understand “the value of myth” which is that “it takes all the things we know and restores them to rich significance” and apply it to our understanding of the Bible? Behind the “veil of familiarity” that Lewis talks about, lay a wonderful revelation: like the Bible, Tolkien’s books are telling the story of the return of the king!
(Attentive viewers and readers will notice the presence of Biblical themes, but not necessarily allegories in Tolkien’s material, for he himself “cordially disliked allegory.” For those who do not know, Tolkien was Catholic and was deeply devoted to God as many, if not all, of his letters will attest to)
Over the next few weeks, I will post excerpts from my writing project. To be continued!
