Tom Emanuel
@realtomemanuel.bsky.social
UCC minister. Theologian. Tolkien scholar. PhD on The Lord of the Rings and Post-Christianity @ University of Glasgow. Dad. He/him. All views my own.
Blog: queerandback.substack.com
Contact: thomas.emanuel(at)glasgow.ac.uk
Blog: queerandback.substack.com
Contact: thomas.emanuel(at)glasgow.ac.uk
Pinned
Tom Emanuel
@realtomemanuel.bsky.social
· Nov 20
What manner of man is this whom you have followed? Allow me to introduce myself with a short 🧵:
Hi! I'm Tom, a progressive Christian theologian, Tolkien scholar, and researcher with the Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic at the University of Glasgow.
Hi! I'm Tom, a progressive Christian theologian, Tolkien scholar, and researcher with the Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic at the University of Glasgow.
I've not read a single work of fiction not written by J.R.R. Tolkien since I started my PhD more than three years ago - all of my brain's available pore space has been saturated with scholarship. One great thing about submitting my thesis soon (!!!) is that I can finally start in on my TBR pile.
November 25, 2025 at 11:43 AM
I've not read a single work of fiction not written by J.R.R. Tolkien since I started my PhD more than three years ago - all of my brain's available pore space has been saturated with scholarship. One great thing about submitting my thesis soon (!!!) is that I can finally start in on my TBR pile.
Tolkien isn't in the business of giving final answers. If he was, he would've written a systematic theology, not a legendarium. His work is one giant thought experiment, a space where he—and we—can grapple with our biggest questions. If theology is Job's friends, Middle-earth is Job.
Death as the Gift of Men is so obviously Tolkien trying to square the brutal reality of loss with his Christian belief in Death as the wages of sin. For 60 years he wrestled with what might be humanity's greatest existential problem. He offers back, not a religious answer, but a religious question.
November 22, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Tolkien isn't in the business of giving final answers. If he was, he would've written a systematic theology, not a legendarium. His work is one giant thought experiment, a space where he—and we—can grapple with our biggest questions. If theology is Job's friends, Middle-earth is Job.
It's profoundly telling that the mythology Tolkien created in the wake of his parents' deaths, the loss of his beloved English countryside, and the slaughter of his best friends in WWI centers on the tension between mortals who wished they didn't have to die and immortals who wished they could.
"Fairy-stories are made by men not by fairies. The Human stories of the elves are doubtless full of the Escape from Deathlessness." (J.R.R. Tolkien, "On Fairy-Stories")
D&D elves: lol you die?? You die of old age?? After like 70 years? Lmao. You're like vermin to us. You're like a shitty animal
Silmarillion elves: you can "die"?? What the FUCK is that??? Where do you GO? Why can't I come??? *foaming at mouth* why the fuck do you get to go to 'Die' and not me
Silmarillion elves: you can "die"?? What the FUCK is that??? Where do you GO? Why can't I come??? *foaming at mouth* why the fuck do you get to go to 'Die' and not me
November 22, 2025 at 11:26 AM
It's profoundly telling that the mythology Tolkien created in the wake of his parents' deaths, the loss of his beloved English countryside, and the slaughter of his best friends in WWI centers on the tension between mortals who wished they didn't have to die and immortals who wished they could.
"Fairy-stories are made by men not by fairies. The Human stories of the elves are doubtless full of the Escape from Deathlessness." (J.R.R. Tolkien, "On Fairy-Stories")
D&D elves: lol you die?? You die of old age?? After like 70 years? Lmao. You're like vermin to us. You're like a shitty animal
Silmarillion elves: you can "die"?? What the FUCK is that??? Where do you GO? Why can't I come??? *foaming at mouth* why the fuck do you get to go to 'Die' and not me
Silmarillion elves: you can "die"?? What the FUCK is that??? Where do you GO? Why can't I come??? *foaming at mouth* why the fuck do you get to go to 'Die' and not me
November 22, 2025 at 11:06 AM
"Fairy-stories are made by men not by fairies. The Human stories of the elves are doubtless full of the Escape from Deathlessness." (J.R.R. Tolkien, "On Fairy-Stories")
I presented my research to a group of fantasy scholars who aren't Tolkienists yesterday and they asked brilliant questions, ones I've never had in Tolkien studies spaces before. It reminded me how important it is to get even one layer out of your scholarly bubble. Diversify your academic portfolio.
November 22, 2025 at 10:34 AM
I presented my research to a group of fantasy scholars who aren't Tolkienists yesterday and they asked brilliant questions, ones I've never had in Tolkien studies spaces before. It reminded me how important it is to get even one layer out of your scholarly bubble. Diversify your academic portfolio.
I've been revising my own fantasy novel lately, and it's so lovely to spend time with this story and these characters who mean so much to me. It's very different from Middle-earth, but it does help me feel connected to Tolkien, that sense of getting to live inside this world you've helped create.
November 17, 2025 at 10:21 AM
I've been revising my own fantasy novel lately, and it's so lovely to spend time with this story and these characters who mean so much to me. It's very different from Middle-earth, but it does help me feel connected to Tolkien, that sense of getting to live inside this world you've helped create.
Reposted by Tom Emanuel
Excited this issue is out as well! I have a review of Tom Hillman’s excellent book (Pity, Power, and Tolkien’s Ring): muse.jhu.edu/pub/20/artic...
November 15, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Excited this issue is out as well! I have a review of Tom Hillman’s excellent book (Pity, Power, and Tolkien’s Ring): muse.jhu.edu/pub/20/artic...
I’ve now turned in the first round of revisions to this sucker. Mercifully minimal ones too - turns out that writing 14 hours a day for 6 weeks straight paid off. Now I have time to catch up on all the things I **should** have caught up on in October. 🙃
There will be revisions before I submit this sucker in December, but by God, I wrote a PhD thesis.
November 15, 2025 at 4:54 PM
I’ve now turned in the first round of revisions to this sucker. Mercifully minimal ones too - turns out that writing 14 hours a day for 6 weeks straight paid off. Now I have time to catch up on all the things I **should** have caught up on in October. 🙃
I hate reviews that are just a recitation of a book's contents. I want to engage critically with an author's ideas. But like Bart Simpson writing on a chalkboard, I constantly have to remind myself: "A review is not an article. A review is not an article. A review is not an article. A review—"
Tom, reviewing a work of Tolkien scholarship: "hmmmm, I think I need to revisit my notes on ritual theory from a couple years back and also read six new articles on liturgics and eucharistic theology"
Narrator: "he did not, in fact, need to do that"
Narrator: "he did not, in fact, need to do that"
November 15, 2025 at 2:39 PM
I hate reviews that are just a recitation of a book's contents. I want to engage critically with an author's ideas. But like Bart Simpson writing on a chalkboard, I constantly have to remind myself: "A review is not an article. A review is not an article. A review is not an article. A review—"
Tom, reviewing a work of Tolkien scholarship: "hmmmm, I think I need to revisit my notes on ritual theory from a couple years back and also read six new articles on liturgics and eucharistic theology"
Narrator: "he did not, in fact, need to do that"
Narrator: "he did not, in fact, need to do that"
November 15, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Tom, reviewing a work of Tolkien scholarship: "hmmmm, I think I need to revisit my notes on ritual theory from a couple years back and also read six new articles on liturgics and eucharistic theology"
Narrator: "he did not, in fact, need to do that"
Narrator: "he did not, in fact, need to do that"
Reposted by Tom Emanuel
Tom beat me to it! I'm thrilled this is out in the world 🎉 It's my first publication in a book, so I'm feeling very sentimental about it all. This is Sauron as biblical femme fatale paper. The VOD is still live, I think, but if you want to read the more polished version in print... you now can! 👁
Another new publication! Thrilled to receive my contributor copy of Númenor, the Frail and Mighty reach print, also featuring @clarelmoore.bsky.social, @mercuryreads.bsky.social, @aranelparmadil.bsky.social, @putriprihatini.bsky.social, and more. Mazel Tov to editor @willsherwood.bsky.social too!
November 15, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Tom beat me to it! I'm thrilled this is out in the world 🎉 It's my first publication in a book, so I'm feeling very sentimental about it all. This is Sauron as biblical femme fatale paper. The VOD is still live, I think, but if you want to read the more polished version in print... you now can! 👁
Another new publication! Thrilled to receive my contributor copy of Númenor, the Frail and Mighty reach print, also featuring @clarelmoore.bsky.social, @mercuryreads.bsky.social, @aranelparmadil.bsky.social, @putriprihatini.bsky.social, and more. Mazel Tov to editor @willsherwood.bsky.social too!
November 15, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Another new publication! Thrilled to receive my contributor copy of Númenor, the Frail and Mighty reach print, also featuring @clarelmoore.bsky.social, @mercuryreads.bsky.social, @aranelparmadil.bsky.social, @putriprihatini.bsky.social, and more. Mazel Tov to editor @willsherwood.bsky.social too!
The new issue of Tolkien Studies is finally out! I'm delighted to feature as the new contributor to the journal's annual bibliographic review, "The Year's Work in Tolkien Studies," in theology and philosophy - taking over from the esteemed @numenor.reunitedkingdoms.net is an honor.
Project MUSE - The Year's Work in Tolkien Studies 2021
muse.jhu.edu
November 15, 2025 at 11:11 AM
The new issue of Tolkien Studies is finally out! I'm delighted to feature as the new contributor to the journal's annual bibliographic review, "The Year's Work in Tolkien Studies," in theology and philosophy - taking over from the esteemed @numenor.reunitedkingdoms.net is an honor.
My supervisors' thesis revisions for this month are mercifully brief - I guess that feverishly writing for 16 hours a day, every day, for the entire month of September paid off! Thank goodness, now I might even have time to finish all the other things I need to get done... #PhDLife
November 9, 2025 at 11:23 AM
My supervisors' thesis revisions for this month are mercifully brief - I guess that feverishly writing for 16 hours a day, every day, for the entire month of September paid off! Thank goodness, now I might even have time to finish all the other things I need to get done... #PhDLife
I just spent nearly a week trying to fly from the U.S. to the U.K. The shutdown meant my flight got cancelled and rebooked FOUR TIMES. I was stranded in NYC one night, then Chicago the next! I eventually got fed up and went back to my kids in NY State until I could get a direct flight. Bloody hell.
November 7, 2025 at 11:38 AM
I just spent nearly a week trying to fly from the U.S. to the U.K. The shutdown meant my flight got cancelled and rebooked FOUR TIMES. I was stranded in NYC one night, then Chicago the next! I eventually got fed up and went back to my kids in NY State until I could get a direct flight. Bloody hell.
I should say, favorite explicitly *romantic* couple. If we include the love story of Sam and Frodo—and theirs is without question a love story, even if not *necessarily* a romantic one (let the reader decide)—then Howl and Sophie must accept a tie.
Howl isn't far behind her. "He may be selfish and cowardly, and sometimes he’s hard to understand. But his intentions are good! He just wants to be free!"
The vain, childish, melodramatic, playful, daring, noble, selfless wizard of my heart. The two of them are my favorite couple in fiction.
The vain, childish, melodramatic, playful, daring, noble, selfless wizard of my heart. The two of them are my favorite couple in fiction.
I’ve said this before, but my 3-year-old is mad for Howl’s Moving Castle, and Sophie Hatter remains undefeated as my favorite character in anything ever. The shifting back and forth between old Sophie and young Sophie is perfect: two distinct characters but still the same person.
October 27, 2025 at 2:34 AM
I should say, favorite explicitly *romantic* couple. If we include the love story of Sam and Frodo—and theirs is without question a love story, even if not *necessarily* a romantic one (let the reader decide)—then Howl and Sophie must accept a tie.
Howl isn't far behind her. "He may be selfish and cowardly, and sometimes he’s hard to understand. But his intentions are good! He just wants to be free!"
The vain, childish, melodramatic, playful, daring, noble, selfless wizard of my heart. The two of them are my favorite couple in fiction.
The vain, childish, melodramatic, playful, daring, noble, selfless wizard of my heart. The two of them are my favorite couple in fiction.
I’ve said this before, but my 3-year-old is mad for Howl’s Moving Castle, and Sophie Hatter remains undefeated as my favorite character in anything ever. The shifting back and forth between old Sophie and young Sophie is perfect: two distinct characters but still the same person.
October 27, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Howl isn't far behind her. "He may be selfish and cowardly, and sometimes he’s hard to understand. But his intentions are good! He just wants to be free!"
The vain, childish, melodramatic, playful, daring, noble, selfless wizard of my heart. The two of them are my favorite couple in fiction.
The vain, childish, melodramatic, playful, daring, noble, selfless wizard of my heart. The two of them are my favorite couple in fiction.
I love that Sophie doesn’t have any special powers. She’s not a Chosen One. She is, by turns, a feisty old lady and a shy young woman who learns how to be brave. What makes her a hero is her kindness.
That’s it. She’s kind. She sees the best in people, and she’s willing to fight for them.
That’s it. She’s kind. She sees the best in people, and she’s willing to fight for them.
I’ve said this before, but my 3-year-old is mad for Howl’s Moving Castle, and Sophie Hatter remains undefeated as my favorite character in anything ever. The shifting back and forth between old Sophie and young Sophie is perfect: two distinct characters but still the same person.
October 27, 2025 at 1:54 AM
I love that Sophie doesn’t have any special powers. She’s not a Chosen One. She is, by turns, a feisty old lady and a shy young woman who learns how to be brave. What makes her a hero is her kindness.
That’s it. She’s kind. She sees the best in people, and she’s willing to fight for them.
That’s it. She’s kind. She sees the best in people, and she’s willing to fight for them.
I’ve said this before, but my 3-year-old is mad for Howl’s Moving Castle, and Sophie Hatter remains undefeated as my favorite character in anything ever. The shifting back and forth between old Sophie and young Sophie is perfect: two distinct characters but still the same person.
October 27, 2025 at 1:01 AM
I’ve said this before, but my 3-year-old is mad for Howl’s Moving Castle, and Sophie Hatter remains undefeated as my favorite character in anything ever. The shifting back and forth between old Sophie and young Sophie is perfect: two distinct characters but still the same person.
As I’ve written elsewhere, choices in LotR, like Frodo accepting the burden of the Ring, ”carry all the existential force of a religious conviction without explicit religious motivation.“ It’s an incredible literary achievement for a man as devout as JRRT and it absolutely fucking rules.
I’m a Christian, but one of my favorite things about this moment and so many others in LotR is that Frodo doesn’t do this out of religious obligation. A sense of duty, even vocation? Absolutely. But his decision has everything to do with the good of this world and nothing to do with the next.
October 25 is the date of the Council of Elrond and, therefore, the date on which Frodo utters one of my favorite lines in all of literature.
“I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way.”
That’s all we can ever do, I think: decide what to do with the time that is given us.
“I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way.”
That’s all we can ever do, I think: decide what to do with the time that is given us.
October 25, 2025 at 1:33 PM
As I’ve written elsewhere, choices in LotR, like Frodo accepting the burden of the Ring, ”carry all the existential force of a religious conviction without explicit religious motivation.“ It’s an incredible literary achievement for a man as devout as JRRT and it absolutely fucking rules.
I’m a Christian, but one of my favorite things about this moment and so many others in LotR is that Frodo doesn’t do this out of religious obligation. A sense of duty, even vocation? Absolutely. But his decision has everything to do with the good of this world and nothing to do with the next.
October 25 is the date of the Council of Elrond and, therefore, the date on which Frodo utters one of my favorite lines in all of literature.
“I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way.”
That’s all we can ever do, I think: decide what to do with the time that is given us.
“I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way.”
That’s all we can ever do, I think: decide what to do with the time that is given us.
October 25, 2025 at 1:24 PM
I’m a Christian, but one of my favorite things about this moment and so many others in LotR is that Frodo doesn’t do this out of religious obligation. A sense of duty, even vocation? Absolutely. But his decision has everything to do with the good of this world and nothing to do with the next.
October 25 is the date of the Council of Elrond and, therefore, the date on which Frodo utters one of my favorite lines in all of literature.
“I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way.”
That’s all we can ever do, I think: decide what to do with the time that is given us.
“I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way.”
That’s all we can ever do, I think: decide what to do with the time that is given us.
October 25, 2025 at 12:49 PM
October 25 is the date of the Council of Elrond and, therefore, the date on which Frodo utters one of my favorite lines in all of literature.
“I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way.”
That’s all we can ever do, I think: decide what to do with the time that is given us.
“I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way.”
That’s all we can ever do, I think: decide what to do with the time that is given us.
My furloughed father is so bored, he’s started rebuilding my busted old GameCube so that he can play Star Wars flight sims. This government shutdown must end.
October 21, 2025 at 11:35 AM
My furloughed father is so bored, he’s started rebuilding my busted old GameCube so that he can play Star Wars flight sims. This government shutdown must end.
I wished more Christian sacred music were like this poem of desperate, painful, erotic longing for God by St. John of the Cross. Loreena McKennitt's setting is perfect.
I'd love to hear Loreena's take on something like Galadriel's Song of Eldamar or, even better, Namárië.
I'd love to hear Loreena's take on something like Galadriel's Song of Eldamar or, even better, Namárië.
October 20, 2025 at 8:00 PM
I wished more Christian sacred music were like this poem of desperate, painful, erotic longing for God by St. John of the Cross. Loreena McKennitt's setting is perfect.
I'd love to hear Loreena's take on something like Galadriel's Song of Eldamar or, even better, Namárië.
I'd love to hear Loreena's take on something like Galadriel's Song of Eldamar or, even better, Namárië.
This explains the Dark Lord Paradox of immeasurably powerful demon-gods who can be also dumb as a box of rocks at critical moments.
Apropos of nothing going on in the Primary World at the moment.
Apropos of nothing going on in the Primary World at the moment.
For Tolkien fans, a timely passage for No Kings Eve, from WH Auden’s review of Lord of the Rings.
October 18, 2025 at 11:46 AM
This explains the Dark Lord Paradox of immeasurably powerful demon-gods who can be also dumb as a box of rocks at critical moments.
Apropos of nothing going on in the Primary World at the moment.
Apropos of nothing going on in the Primary World at the moment.