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
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!
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.
Happy 75th Birthday to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe! C.S. Lewis and I have enough beef to fill a Reuben, but there are more things in Narnia I like than I don't, and Lion is easily one of my favorites. (The other is The Magician's Nephew.)
October 16, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Happy 75th Birthday to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe! C.S. Lewis and I have enough beef to fill a Reuben, but there are more things in Narnia I like than I don't, and Lion is easily one of my favorites. (The other is The Magician's Nephew.)
Due to a series of travel snafus brought on by Storm Amy, a trip that should've included a hotel stopover turned into a 48-hour-long gauntlet. I could sort of deal with being awake for that long in my 20s, but now that I am old (read: 35) I never, ever, under any circumstances want to do that again.
October 5, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Due to a series of travel snafus brought on by Storm Amy, a trip that should've included a hotel stopover turned into a 48-hour-long gauntlet. I could sort of deal with being awake for that long in my 20s, but now that I am old (read: 35) I never, ever, under any circumstances want to do that again.
There will be revisions before I submit this sucker in December, but by God, I wrote a PhD thesis.
September 30, 2025 at 10:28 PM
There will be revisions before I submit this sucker in December, but by God, I wrote a PhD thesis.
Found it! Here's the quote, from a 1966 interview with Henry Resnick, reprinted in the fan journal Niekas in 1967. Thanks to @timbolton.bsky.social and @alas-not-me.bsky.social for directing me to the source!
![An excerpt from journalist Henry Resnick's interview with J.R.R. Tolkien, a transcript of which appeared in the fanzine Niekas in 1967.
Resnick: "How do you feel about the idea that people might identify Frodo with Christ?
Tolkien: Well, you know, there've been saviors before; it is a very common thing. There've been heroes and patriots that have given up [their lives] for their countries. You don't have to be Christian to believe that somebody has to die in order to save something." (page 43 in original)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:to3v26zpyqku3jypuvgkiqg5/bafkreiab6lbdildom4bm7v57qwkx4xdd7mpdyfwwkh3tysdgm4cafcr7za@jpeg)
September 10, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Found it! Here's the quote, from a 1966 interview with Henry Resnick, reprinted in the fan journal Niekas in 1967. Thanks to @timbolton.bsky.social and @alas-not-me.bsky.social for directing me to the source!
I rewatched the 1977 animated Hobbit for the first time in ages and loved it as much as ever. It would benefit from being half again as long (only 78 minutes!), but the music is fantastic, the cast mostly works for me, and the visuals are funky in that way you could only get away with in the 1970s.
September 9, 2025 at 10:46 AM
I rewatched the 1977 animated Hobbit for the first time in ages and loved it as much as ever. It would benefit from being half again as long (only 78 minutes!), but the music is fantastic, the cast mostly works for me, and the visuals are funky in that way you could only get away with in the 1970s.
Tim @fiduch.bsky.social shared this Bad Tolkien Take on FB. Quite apart from Luckey founding Anduril Industries, which makes *military drones and surveillance systems* (I'm sure Tolkien would have loved that), Lewis's take on "almost the central theme" of LotR is… not especially perceptive. 1/3
September 8, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Tim @fiduch.bsky.social shared this Bad Tolkien Take on FB. Quite apart from Luckey founding Anduril Industries, which makes *military drones and surveillance systems* (I'm sure Tolkien would have loved that), Lewis's take on "almost the central theme" of LotR is… not especially perceptive. 1/3
"Why do you draw, Fujino?"
Finally got around to seeing Look Back tonight. A beautiful, heartbreaking little film about art, and friendship, and the joy we bring each other. It does more in an hour than many movies do in three. Go watch it.
Finally got around to seeing Look Back tonight. A beautiful, heartbreaking little film about art, and friendship, and the joy we bring each other. It does more in an hour than many movies do in three. Go watch it.
September 6, 2025 at 11:04 PM
"Why do you draw, Fujino?"
Finally got around to seeing Look Back tonight. A beautiful, heartbreaking little film about art, and friendship, and the joy we bring each other. It does more in an hour than many movies do in three. Go watch it.
Finally got around to seeing Look Back tonight. A beautiful, heartbreaking little film about art, and friendship, and the joy we bring each other. It does more in an hour than many movies do in three. Go watch it.
52 years ago, on 2 September 1973, J.R.R. Tolkien left the circles of this world for whatever lies beyond them. He left to the living a world of his own, and I can never thank him enough.
In his honor, I took a crack at recreating this classic photo at Merton College, Oxford. I think I did okay.
In his honor, I took a crack at recreating this classic photo at Merton College, Oxford. I think I did okay.
September 2, 2025 at 8:32 AM
52 years ago, on 2 September 1973, J.R.R. Tolkien left the circles of this world for whatever lies beyond them. He left to the living a world of his own, and I can never thank him enough.
In his honor, I took a crack at recreating this classic photo at Merton College, Oxford. I think I did okay.
In his honor, I took a crack at recreating this classic photo at Merton College, Oxford. I think I did okay.
Ok, hear me out. A Lord of the Rings remake, but with these two taking the One Ring to Mordor:
August 31, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Ok, hear me out. A Lord of the Rings remake, but with these two taking the One Ring to Mordor:
I've wanted to get this specific image of Sophie and Howl as a tattoo for ages. I'm feeling that it's about time - not quite yet, but soon.
August 23, 2025 at 11:45 AM
I've wanted to get this specific image of Sophie and Howl as a tattoo for ages. I'm feeling that it's about time - not quite yet, but soon.
A good day for the Lord of the Rings musical OST. I never saw the original London production, but the 2023 revival at the Watermill Theatre was an utter delight. I wished there were a cast recording, I love the trad-folk rearrangements of the songs for a smaller ensemble.
July 28, 2025 at 2:55 PM
A good day for the Lord of the Rings musical OST. I never saw the original London production, but the 2023 revival at the Watermill Theatre was an utter delight. I wished there were a cast recording, I love the trad-folk rearrangements of the songs for a smaller ensemble.
22nd read (4th listen) of 2025: Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat.
As someone with a fair bit of woo in his bloodstream: absolute banger. Indispensable if you want to understand how an antivax loon like RFK Jr. came to head up Health and Human Services.
As someone with a fair bit of woo in his bloodstream: absolute banger. Indispensable if you want to understand how an antivax loon like RFK Jr. came to head up Health and Human Services.
June 25, 2025 at 1:54 PM
22nd read (4th listen) of 2025: Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat.
As someone with a fair bit of woo in his bloodstream: absolute banger. Indispensable if you want to understand how an antivax loon like RFK Jr. came to head up Health and Human Services.
As someone with a fair bit of woo in his bloodstream: absolute banger. Indispensable if you want to understand how an antivax loon like RFK Jr. came to head up Health and Human Services.
21st read of 2025: Cities and Strongholds of Middle-earth (ed. Cami Agan)
Reviewing for a journal so I won't say too much, but it was good to read essays a topic that doesn't get enough play in Tolkien criticism. We all know JRRT loved nature, but he didn't hate all cities—just, you know, bad ones.
Reviewing for a journal so I won't say too much, but it was good to read essays a topic that doesn't get enough play in Tolkien criticism. We all know JRRT loved nature, but he didn't hate all cities—just, you know, bad ones.
June 18, 2025 at 12:58 PM
21st read of 2025: Cities and Strongholds of Middle-earth (ed. Cami Agan)
Reviewing for a journal so I won't say too much, but it was good to read essays a topic that doesn't get enough play in Tolkien criticism. We all know JRRT loved nature, but he didn't hate all cities—just, you know, bad ones.
Reviewing for a journal so I won't say too much, but it was good to read essays a topic that doesn't get enough play in Tolkien criticism. We all know JRRT loved nature, but he didn't hate all cities—just, you know, bad ones.
June 17, 2025 at 12:37 PM
#TolkienTuesday #TolkienTrewsday "Fan Art"
So hey! I'm looking for some cool art to use for the cover of an upcoming book on Tolkien and Religion/Spirituality. I'd be especially curious to see some non-Western, non-Christian iconography. Whatcha got for me, Bluesky?
So hey! I'm looking for some cool art to use for the cover of an upcoming book on Tolkien and Religion/Spirituality. I'd be especially curious to see some non-Western, non-Christian iconography. Whatcha got for me, Bluesky?
June 3, 2025 at 3:08 PM
#TolkienTuesday #TolkienTrewsday "Fan Art"
So hey! I'm looking for some cool art to use for the cover of an upcoming book on Tolkien and Religion/Spirituality. I'd be especially curious to see some non-Western, non-Christian iconography. Whatcha got for me, Bluesky?
So hey! I'm looking for some cool art to use for the cover of an upcoming book on Tolkien and Religion/Spirituality. I'd be especially curious to see some non-Western, non-Christian iconography. Whatcha got for me, Bluesky?
If you're near Oxford, I'm giving the talk "Tolkien the Post-Christian? A Proposition" for the monthly Oxford Tolkien Seminar this Friday 6 June at 5pm! Free and open to the public in the Sophia Sheppard Room of Magdalen College. (More details at the link below.)
I am, in a word, psyched.
I am, in a word, psyched.
June 2, 2025 at 2:36 PM
If you're near Oxford, I'm giving the talk "Tolkien the Post-Christian? A Proposition" for the monthly Oxford Tolkien Seminar this Friday 6 June at 5pm! Free and open to the public in the Sophia Sheppard Room of Magdalen College. (More details at the link below.)
I am, in a word, psyched.
I am, in a word, psyched.
When so much of life and work happens on a laptop, it's cool to hold a thing you wrote in your literal hands! The most recent issue of Mythlore (@mythsoc.bsky.social) finally made it across the pond to Glasgow, including my article "An Aspirational Cultus? Tolkien Fandom at the Borders of Belief."
May 14, 2025 at 2:26 PM
When so much of life and work happens on a laptop, it's cool to hold a thing you wrote in your literal hands! The most recent issue of Mythlore (@mythsoc.bsky.social) finally made it across the pond to Glasgow, including my article "An Aspirational Cultus? Tolkien Fandom at the Borders of Belief."
This is an excellent interview about the idiot tech billionaires who buy their own hype. This gets at what I think is a driving factor behind technosoteriology: the belief that our machines will save us. Tolkien called it the quest for limitless serial longevity, and that's a Ring of Power my guys.
May 11, 2025 at 9:39 AM
This is an excellent interview about the idiot tech billionaires who buy their own hype. This gets at what I think is a driving factor behind technosoteriology: the belief that our machines will save us. Tolkien called it the quest for limitless serial longevity, and that's a Ring of Power my guys.
(Letter #131 to Milton Waldman)
May 4, 2025 at 10:31 AM
(Letter #131 to Milton Waldman)
8. My Tolkien and Undertale tattoos are in pretty obvious places (my forearms), so fewer people are aware that I also have an Earthbound tattoo.
(Technically the Mother series, since we've never had an official release of Mother 3 and that's my favorite of the trilogy.)
(nerd detected)
(Technically the Mother series, since we've never had an official release of Mother 3 and that's my favorite of the trilogy.)
(nerd detected)
May 2, 2025 at 2:51 PM
8. My Tolkien and Undertale tattoos are in pretty obvious places (my forearms), so fewer people are aware that I also have an Earthbound tattoo.
(Technically the Mother series, since we've never had an official release of Mother 3 and that's my favorite of the trilogy.)
(nerd detected)
(Technically the Mother series, since we've never had an official release of Mother 3 and that's my favorite of the trilogy.)
(nerd detected)
Democracy does not die in darkness. It drowns in a flood of the dumbest people on earth, asking the dumbest questions on earth, in the most prestigious newspapers on earth. (see also: trans panic)
April 25, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Democracy does not die in darkness. It drowns in a flood of the dumbest people on earth, asking the dumbest questions on earth, in the most prestigious newspapers on earth. (see also: trans panic)
6th read of 2025: Finding the Numinous: An Ecocritical Look at Dune and LotR (Willow Wilson DiPasquale)
Reviewing for a journal so I'll save most thoughts for then. Short version: it's perfectly cromulent. One bit of (genuinely) friendly advice though: don't cite David Day if you can help it.
Reviewing for a journal so I'll save most thoughts for then. Short version: it's perfectly cromulent. One bit of (genuinely) friendly advice though: don't cite David Day if you can help it.
April 20, 2025 at 10:16 AM
6th read of 2025: Finding the Numinous: An Ecocritical Look at Dune and LotR (Willow Wilson DiPasquale)
Reviewing for a journal so I'll save most thoughts for then. Short version: it's perfectly cromulent. One bit of (genuinely) friendly advice though: don't cite David Day if you can help it.
Reviewing for a journal so I'll save most thoughts for then. Short version: it's perfectly cromulent. One bit of (genuinely) friendly advice though: don't cite David Day if you can help it.