![]() ![]() On the surface, this relationship is obvious-both rise from humble beginnings, reject false opportunities for power, miraculously heal others, and pass through a death/rebirth cycle to achieve their apotheosis. Ryken’s third lecture, “The Coronation of Aragorn son of Arathorn,” explores the duties of a king in relation to Christ’s fulfillment of this office. The lack of specific connection between the good deeds of the hobbits and the duties of a priest complicate this section of the argument. Without this clarity, it is difficult to ascertain what the hobbits do that we should consider ¨priestly,¨ other than function in a community and fight in the face of danger. Ryken does not supply a sufficient definition of priest that differentiates the priestly office from that of any other member of the church. The other hobbits, Ryken notes, also sacrifice to bring successful conclusion to the quest. ![]() Frodo as priest, according to Ryken, carries the One Ring and experiences his own Passion in the fires of Mount Doom. Ryken appeals to Martin Luther’s philosophy that all people are called to be priests-not just the formally anointed-and as such argues that every character in The Lord of the Rings may rightly be considered a priest. ![]() The next lecture in the series, “Frodo, Sam, and the Priesthood of All Believers,” is a more-problematic argument. Gandalf also respects the freedom of the individual to choose, and does not coerce as Saruman does. Ryken also notes that Gandalf, like Christ, rejects the temptation of power by refusing to take the One Ring when Frodo offers it. Ryken gives several examples of Gandalf performing these actions, even when they are ill received-such as by Denethor and a hypnotized Theodin. This is the strongest part of Ryken’s argument for the significance of Christ’s threefold office in The Lord of the Rings, as he effectively demonstrates that Gandalf fulfills the prophetic duty by giving wisdom to influence the decisions of others, leading groups such as the Fellowship through danger, seeing the future, and providing people with information and instruction sothat they can complete their quests. First, Ryken establishes the history of the threefold offices of Christ by hearkening back to Eusebius-who first described the munus triplex-and proceeds to note that prophecy is the first form of leadership in the Old Testament. Ryken’s first section, “The Prophetic Ministry of Gandalf the Grey,” delineates the similarities between Gandalf and Christ in terms of their prophetic function in society. Tolkein’s trilogy, and includes responses from academics familiar with Ryken and Tolkein. The book is a compilation of Ryken’s three lectures regarding the prophetic, sacerdotal, and kingly functions of the characters in the J.R.R. The Messiah Comes to Middle Earth: Images of Christ’s Threefold Office in the Lord of the Rings is the printed version of a series of three lectures delivered by Philip Ryken, President of Wheaton College, upon the establishment of the Hansen Lectureship Series. ![]()
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