Christianity in Middle-Earth: St. Augustine and J.R.R. Tolkien

The article is devoted to the analysis of motives and ideas in the epics of J.R.R. Tolkien, which he borrows from the texts of Augustine and from the texts of the Augustinian tradition. Main thesis of the paper is that the theological as­pects of Tolkien’s “Middle-earthic” works are close to the ideas that Augustine asserts in his writings. Tolkien’s and Augustine’s opinions are similar on many central Christian issues, such as the problem of the relationship between free will and grace, the problem of the relationship between good and evil, the problem of the Fall and the problem of sin. For example, for Augustine, as for Tolkien, the fall is a consequence of the free will of an intelligent being who wants to take a higher place in the Hierarchy of Creation. This desire is called “pride” by both Augustine and Tolkien; for them pride is the mother of all subsequent vices. Both Augustine and Tolkien call the creatures that have taken possession of vice “evil”, but evil itself in the writings of Augustine, as in the writings of Tolkien, is not an essence. Evil “parasitizes” on the created, which is originally good, and destroys it. Evil for Tolkien and Augustine is non-being, the denial of being. These individual aspects form the basis of the worldview systems of Augustine and Tolkien; therefore, they are given a special place in our article.

Erasmus versus Luther: A Contemporary Analysis of the Debate on Free Will

SummaryIn this article, we will use contemporary analytic tools to make sense of the main arguments in the classic debate on free will between Erasmus of Rotterdam and the Reformer Martin Luther. Instead of offering another exegesis of these texts, we put forward an analysis that links this historical debate with contemporary discussions on free will and grace in philosophical theology. We argue that the debate was ultimately about how three theological core claims are related to one another: the Anti-Pelagian Constraint (humans are incapable of willing any good, in order to come to faith), the Responsibility Principle (humans are morally responsible in the eyes of God) and human free will. Erasmus attacks Luther by arguing that the Responsibility Principle cannot be maintained without free will, while Luther responds by arguing that Erasmus must reject free will, because it is in conflict with the Anti-Pelagian Constraint. Luther is then left with the dilemma of justifying the Responsibility Principle without free will – a task, which in our estimation, fails. In the concluding section of the article, we point out some continuities and discontinuities between the contemporary debate and that of Luther and Erasmus.

Attitudes Toward LGBT+ People and Policies: Political Tolerance and Egalitarianism

Political tolerance and commitment to egalitarianism have long been examined as possible contributors to attitudes toward LGBT+ people and policies. Since the 1970s, American attitudes toward LGBT+ issues have changed drastically. During this period, public policy and measures of public opinion toward LGBT+ rights have focused on a variety of areas, such as nondiscrimination laws, gay military service, and family matters such as adoption and marriage. Interestingly, although support for equality has remained the same in the United States, individuals have become rapidly more supportive of LGBT+ people securing equal rights in a variety of domains. There are three primary reasons for this shift: elite messaging, attributions of homosexuality, and contact with members of the LGBT+ community, both direct and indirect. These factors have led to an environment in which the value of equality is more readily applied to LGBT+ issues, therefore increasing support for these rights over time. Elite messaging has played a key role in this shift. Across LGBT+ issues, equality frames are often countered with moral traditionalism, thus leading to an increased propensity for individuals to associate LGBT+ issues with these values. The effectiveness of equality frames has been bolstered by the growing belief that homosexuality is a fixed rather than chosen trait, which yields a greater reliance upon egalitarianism when evaluating LGBT+-related issues. At the same time, both direct and indirect contact with the LGBT+ community increased following the Stonewall Riots of 1969. Americans were first introduced to gay characters on television in the 1970s. LG characters gained more prominent roles throughout the 1990s on shows such as The Real World and Will and Grace. Following Stonewall, LGBT+ activist organizations also advocated that members of the community “come out of the closet” and reveal their sexual orientation to the people in their lives. Thus, the chances of Americans knowing—or at least feeling like they knew—an LGBT+ person increased. Consistent with Allport’s Contact Theory (1954) and Zajonc’s work on “mere exposure effects” (1968), affect toward LGBT+ individuals has generally grown more positive with greater interaction and familiarity. These various factors interacted with underlying predispositions to drastically move public opinion in favor of greater equality for LGBT+ people.

The Continual Cultural, Societal and Religious Relevance of Augustine’s City of God

In every culture and society there are basic fundamental, relevant aspects that are at the core of that society and culture. It is through one of Christianity’s greatest Bishops and writer, St. Augustine, and his work The City of God that his metaphor of the heavenly and the Earthly City examines some the most fundamentally profound aspects to a society and culture. It is through examining The City of God that one can see how profoundly and fundamentally influential and relevant these aspects of civil obedience, natural law, justice, virtue, free will and grace are in medieval history and religion. Furthermore in such an evaluation of The City of God it is evident that Augustine’s work of the City of God and these fundamentally influential and relevant cultural and societal aspects in medieval times are arguably equally as influential and revenant in modern times, society and culture as they were during St. Augustines day and Medieval times, culture and society.

Television and Domesticity

This chapter considers the representation of the straight girl and queer guy within television form, framing the notion of the glance rather than the gaze, relative to domesticity and female identity. Considering early and developing television representations within sit-com such as those within Love Sidney (Warner Bros 1981–83, US), Tales of the City (Channel 4 1993, UK and US), Ellen (ABC 1994–98, US), Will and Grace (NBC 1998–2006, US) and Gimme Gimme Gimme – (Channel 4, 1999–2001, UK), the notion of union and alliance is foregrounded, whilst also focusing on leisure and consumption. Besides this, the queer guy and straight girl are considered separately as minorities, within Sex in the City (HBO 1998–2004, US) and Girls (HBO 2012 to present, US), where the queer guy is minority to the main straight female cast, and in Queer as Folk (Showtime 2000–5, US) and Looking (HBO 2014–15, US), where the straight girl is minority to the main queer male cast. At the same time the context of bisexuality is explored in Russell T. Davies’s Bob and Rose (ITV 2001, UK) and Torchwood (BBC 2006–11, UK), highlighting the transformation of the queer male as vulnerable to the advances of the straight girl.

Straight Girls and Queer Guys

Exploring the archetypal representation of the straight girl with the queer guy in film and television culture from 1948 to the present day, Straight Girls and Queer Guys considers the process of the ‘hetero media gaze’ and the way it contextualizes sexual diversity and gender identity. Offering both an historical foundation and a rigorous conceptual framework, Christopher Pullen draws on a range of case studies, including the films of Doris Day and Rock Hudson, the performances of Kenneth Williams, televisions shows such as Glee, Sex and the City and Will and Grace, the work of Derek Jarman, and the role of the gay best friend in Hollywood film. Critiquing the representation of the straight girl and the queer guy for its relation to both power and otherness, this is a provocative study that frames a theoretical model which can be applied across diverse media forms.