Joseph Pearce

Tolkien and Lewis

The first lecture of my 45-part course on Tolkien and Lewis is yours for free.
Joseph Pearce

Joseph Pearce, smiling, outdoors beneath spring blossom
Lecture One · freeOn allegory and applicabilityJoseph Pearce · about 20 minutes
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Dear Friends,

This is the first of forty-five lectures I gave on Tolkien and Lewis, and I am glad to give it to you freely.

We begin with a puzzle. Tolkien called The Lord of the Rings “a fundamentally religious and Catholic work”, and yet said he despised allegory in all its forms. Is he contradicting himself?

The second lecture turns to the literature which shaped them both. It lives in the Study of my Inner Sanctum, with the forty-three after it. If you would rather keep company with me at an easier pace, there is the Fireside.

Blessings,

Joseph Pearce, smiling, outdoors beneath spring blossomJoseph Pearce

P.S. If you would like to go further, my Inner Sanctum is now on Patreon. Lecture Two is waiting for you in the Study, just below.

Your next step

Join the Study to get Lecture Two

The Study

$20.83 a month

You get:

  • The Tolkien and Lewis lectures. 45 lectures, from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to all seven Chronicles of Narnia. Each week, one new lecture comes to you by email. This continues for as long as you are a member. Lecture Two is next.
  • Ask Me Anything. Each quarter, you send me a question. I answer it on camera. You keep the recording.
  • Everything in the Fireside:
    • Poem of the Week. I read a poem aloud. I tell you what it means and why I love it.Examples:Tennyson: Faith and Doubt
      Shakespeare: Life and Death
    • Revisiting Old Favourites. I return to a book I love. This includes some of my own writing that you will not find by browsing.Examples:Tolkien and the Holy Spirit
      Writers Who Became Catholics
    • Home is Where the Hearth Is. I talk with you as a friend talks by the fire: literature, the arts, and what is on my mind.Examples:The Christian Meaning of Narnia
      How Puddleglum Saves the Day
    • Community. A private Patreon community. Each piece has its own discussion.Example discussions:How Conversion Can Influence Others
      Suffering and Christian Imagination

Do these steps:

  1. Select “Join the Study”.
  2. Patreon opens. Sign in, or make a Patreon account.
  3. Pay $20.83 each month. Patreon can show the price in your currency.
  4. Look in your email. Lecture Two comes to you there.
Join the Study

The 45 lectures

How to Read Tolkien and Lewis

  1. 1Is Tolkien Contradicting Himself? Allegory in Middle-earth and NarniaFree, on this page
  2. 2Homer, Virgil and the Bible: The Old Epics Behind Middle-earthNext
  3. 3Beowulf, Dante and Shakespeare: The Christian Stories That Shaped Tolkien
See all 45 lectures
  1. 4The Night Walk With Tolkien That Made C.S. Lewis a Christian
  2. 5God the Poet: Lucifer, Melkor and the Music of Creation
  3. 6Chesterton’s “Ethics of Elfland” and the Fairy-Tale View of the World

The Hobbit

  1. 7Bilbo, His Comforts and the Hidden Hand of Providence
  2. 8Clever Goblins, True Kings and the Death of Smaug
  3. 9The Dragon Sickness, and How Bilbo Dies to Himself

The Lord of the Rings

  1. 10The Ring, Original Sin and the 25th of March
  2. 11Tom Bombadil: The Riddle Solved
  3. 12Strider, Lúthien and the Flight to the Ford
  4. 13Rivendell: Frodo, Fate and Providence
  5. 14Saruman, Radagast and St Francis at the Council of Elrond
  6. 15The Balrog, the Bridge and the Breaking of the Fellowship
  7. 16The Death of Boromir, and Why the Ents Are Like the Church
  8. 17Treebeard, Isengard and Gandalf Risen From the Dead
  9. 18Wormtongue, the Palantír and the Fall of Saruman
  10. 19Gollum, the Dead Marshes and the Power of Pity
  11. 20Faramir: The Man Who Would Not Take the Ring
  12. 21Sam, Shelob and the Light in the Dark
  13. 22Pippin, Minas Tirith and Why Man Is “He Who Looks Up”
  14. 23Aragorn and the Paths of the Dead
  15. 24Éowyn, Denethor and the Witch-king: The Despair and the Hope
  16. 25Lembas: The Eucharist in The Lord of the Rings
  17. 26Mount Doom: Frodo, Gollum and the Mercy That Saves
  18. 27The End of the Quest: The 25th of March and the Scouring of the Shire

The Chronicles of Narnia

  1. 28The Magician’s Nephew: Uncle Andrew and the Worship of Science
  2. 29Jadis, the Deplorable Word and the Sin of Pride
  3. 30Aslan Sings Narnia Into Being
  4. 31The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: Edmund, Turkish Delight and the Sons of Adam
  5. 32Edmund’s Betrayal and Aslan’s Sacrifice
  6. 33The Horse and His Boy: Pride Humbled With Mercy
  7. 34Prince Caspian: Old Narnia, Hamlet and the True King
  8. 35Trumpkin the Doubter, and the Breath of Aslan
  9. 36Macbeth, Miraz and the Lesson of How to Be a Man
  10. 37The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: Eustace and the Myth of Progress
  11. 38Eustace Becomes a Dragon
  12. 39Reepicheep Sails to the End of the World
  13. 40The Silver Chair: Jill, Puddleglum and the Four Signs
  14. 41Puddleglum, the Giants of Harfang and the Danger of Comfort
  15. 42The Witch Who Says There Is No Narnia, and Puddleglum’s Answer
  16. 43The Last Battle: Shift the Ape, Puzzle the Donkey and a False Aslan
  17. 44Emeth: The Good Man Who Served Tash
  18. 45“Further Up and Further In”: The End of Narnia and the Great Story

Or join the Fireside

$10 a month

  • Poem of the Week. I read a poem aloud. I tell you what it means and why I love it.
  • Revisiting Old Favourites. I return to a book I love. This includes some of my own writing that you will not find by browsing.
  • Home is Where the Hearth Is. I talk with you as a friend talks by the fire: literature, the arts, and what is on my mind.
  • Community. A private Patreon community. Each piece has its own discussion.

The Fireside does not include the Tolkien and Lewis lectures.

Join the Fireside