Online Class Series by Michael J. Kruger: Middle Earth and Narnia

For those interested, I recently found this online class series.  Michael J. Kruger, from Reformed Theological Seminary, did a 7 part series on the worlds of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, as a Wednesday night class with student interaction, in the fall of 2020.  This post has all of the mp3 downloads as well as powerpoint “handout” files showing the topic outlines for each session.  After the intro on the authors, each week takes a look at various Christian themes in Tolkien’s writings as well as in Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series:

• The Fall: Sin and Evil in Narnia and Middle Earth
• Redemption: Images of Christ in Narnia
• Redemption: Images of Christ in Middle Earth
• Sanctification: Duty, Honor and Courage
• Sanctification: Friendship and Loyalty
• Glorification: End Times in Narnia and Middle Earth

So far I’ve listened to the second lesson, and it’s a good general overview with some specific character examples.  He makes reference to The Silmarillion in addition to the Lord of the Rings, and mentioned that, though he would give examples from both Tolkien and Lewis, he tended to favor Tolkien and would likely have more teaching there, as he had more familiarity with Tolkien’s writings — plus, as he said, there’s more content to work with from Tolkien.  As just a minor criticism, I observe that Kruger must not have read the appendices after Return of the King, as he is off on his pronunciations.  (The word “Cirith” as in Cirith Ungol, in Tolkien’s world is pronounced with a “K” sound as Kirith, not Sirith, for example.)

Overall, though, Kruger’s series is interesting so far and worth listening to, or reading through the Powerpoint notes outlines.  I’ve previously listened to some of Kruger’s other teachings, including some of his study on the book of Hebrews.  I recall that Kruger from time to time has used illustrations from Narnia and Middle Earth in his other teaching series.  In the Hebrews series, for instance, he mentioned the character of Susan Pevensie as an example of an apostate, the one described in the book of Hebrews that had experienced and tasted the good things of God’s word, and then had rejected them — and thus unable to be restored to the faith.  I find that an interesting application of the story about Susan Pevensie — but I tend to disagree with that interpretation, especially since C.S. Lewis himself, the author, had a quite different view regarding the future of Susan Pevensie.  But that’s another topic, maybe for a future blog post.

Does anyone have further thoughts to share, on the topics mentioned here today?  Such as on Michael Kruger’s teachings?  Or the pronunciation of words in Middle Earth?  Or the fate of Susan Pevensie of the Chronicles of Narnia series?

 

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