Abstract
I have applied the work of Iris Marion Young (socialist theorist and political philosopher) and Walter Wink (New Testament scholar and Peace activist) to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, arguing that although Young and Wink provide similar descriptions of oppression, their forms of resistance are largely divergent because Wink's, while far more radical and compelling as a story, requires the existence of the Christian God to work. I have read their prescriptions forresistance through de Certeau’s concepts of strategy (concerted and active resistance) and tactic (reactionary resistance). The Lord of the Rings demonstrates the way that Wink and Young's theories of oppression go hand in hand. Both Wink’s (who theorizes about oppression on a cosmic scale) and Young’s (who discusses the specific oppressions present in Liberal welfare states) theories can make sense of the oppression in The Lord of the Rings, but Wink’s theory of resistance is preferred by Tolkien over Young’s.
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Recommended Citation
Jeffers, Gregory
(2013)
"Oppression and Resistance: Socialist Theory and Christianity in The Lord of the Rings,"
Conversations: A Graduate Student Journal of the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology: Vol. 1:
No.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/conversations/vol1/iss1/3
