The Saint Benedict Institute will host speaker Dr. Bradley Birzer, professor in history at Hillsdale College and fellow of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, to speak on technological themes in the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. The talk will take place on Wednesday, March 11 at 7 p.m. in Winants Auditorium in Graves Hall at Hope College.

In all his writings as well as in his personal life, J. R. R. Tolkien held a deep antipathy toward modernity and especially what he termed, “The Machine.” In his fiction, magic served as a form of Machine—some of it humane, some of it inhumane. In the end, Tolkien remained an “Old Western Man” horrified by the direction of modern civilization. This talk will explore Tolkien’s thoughts on modernity, war, and ideology. 

The public is invited. Admission is free.

Bradley J. Birzer is Russell Amos Kirk Chair of American Studies and Professor of History, Hillsdale College, where he has taught for twenty-seven years. He is the author of several books, including J. R. R. Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth and Tolkien and the Inklings: Men of the West. He and his wife (also an academic) have seven kids, one dog, and five cats.

The talk is supported by a grant from the Lumen Christi Institute with funding from the John Templeton Foundation and is co-sponsored by Hope College Cultural Affairs Committee, Markets and Morality, the English Department, and the Religion Department.

Winants Auditorium in Graves Hall is located at 263 College Avenue, between 10th and 13th Streets.

For inquiries, please contact the Saint Benedict Institute at info@saintbenedictinstitute.org.