The Battle for Middle-earth

A theological reading of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, published by Eerdmans in 2004. Rutledge, who presents herself as an amateur of Tolkien rather than a scholar of him, argues that beneath the surface story lies a "deep narrative": a three-sided conflict between God, the peoples of Middle-earth and a hostile power. Rather than arranging the book by themes, she follows the story in its own order and comments on nearly every major scene, drawing out what she takes to be its biblical shape. Reviewers, among them the Christian Century's, found the central claim persuasive and the readings perceptive. The book stands apart from her sermon collections as her one extended work of literary interpretation, though its picture of a cosmic struggle against an enemy power echoes the apocalyptic theme of her preaching and of her later study The Crucifixion (2015).