Nadya Williams talks with theologian Kirsten Sanders about J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King, exploring its vision of good and evil, the tragic imagination, and the “faith of hobbits.” They discuss why classics endure, the theological depth of Tolkien’s world, the moral resonance of small acts of faithfulness, and the book’s bittersweet ending.
Chapters
00:03 – Tolkien’s life, The Hobbit, and the birth of The Lord of the Rings
02:44 – What makes a book a classic?
05:19 – A reluctant Tolkien reader finds unexpected resonance
10:53 – The quest, the ring, and the nature of evil
14:11 – Evil’s hunger and the metaphors of light and darkness
17:56 – Frodo’s smallness and the anthropology of humble creatures
20:49 – The tragic tone of The Return of the King
23:02 – Denethor’s despair and Gandalf’s call to do good
28:30 – The faith of hobbits and resisting nihilism
30:38 – Tolkien’s gift for character and detail
31:42 – Gandalf, Tom Bombadil, and the mystery of the unaffected
34:27 – Elves, tradition, and the long memory of history
36:46 – Everything is theological: why the story works
39:03 – Sanders’ current and future book projects
41:21 – The faith of hobbits in daily life
42:40 – The power of tangible care and the visible good
44:06 – The devastating beauty of Kristin Lavransdatter
44:59 – Rethinking feminist novels and facing “big books”
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