Phil Ryken Lecturing @RTSCharlotte on “Messiah Comes to Middle Earth”
For our annual Harold O.J. Brown Lectures at RTS Charlotte, we are pleased to Welcome Dr. Phil Ryken, president of Wheaton College.
On Feb 11, 11AM-2PM, Dr. Ryken will be giving two lectures (with a provided lunch in between) on the theme of “Messiah Comes to Middle Earth: Images of Christ’s Threefold Office in the Lord of the Rings.”
Certainly this lecture will be of great interest to all J.R.R. Tolkien fans, but it will also be diving deeply into the three offices of Christ—Prophet, Priest, and King—and its relevance for our theology and ministry.
Dr. Ryken earned a master of divinity degree from Westminster Theological Seminary and a … Continue reading...
This Book Really Needed to Be Written and Finally Someone Has Done It
Every once in a while a book comes along that meets such an important need that it makes you wonder, “Why hasn’t someone done this before?” Richard (Dick) Belcher, OT Professor and Academic Dean at RTS Charlotte, has written just such a book: Prophet, Priest and King: The Roles of Christ in the Bible and Our Roles Today (P&R, 2016).
Of course, in the Reformed world, the idea that the work of Christ can be divided into his three “offices” (prophet, priest, and king) has a long lineage. Although it appears in a number of places in the early fathers, the Reformers were the ones who expounded on … Continue reading...
Preaching Christ Only as Frodo: Reflections on Christ-Centered Preaching
Although Tolkien was always quick to declare that The Lord of the Rings was not an allegory (like Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia), it is still evident that the figure of Christ is prevalent throughout the books. But, this raises the question, which figure is the Christ-figure? Frodo? Gandalf? Aragorn?
One of the wonderful complexities of Tolkien’s work is that the answer is: all three. Unlike Lewis, Tolkien does not take all of the characteristics of Christ and pour them into a single character, but rather spreads out those characteristics (albeit unconsciously) over what are arguably the three main characters.
And when you consider these three characters in tandem, … Continue reading...