The Return of the King

Today we’re publishing a wonderful event we held last week with Resonant Man member, Tolkien scholar and minister Stephen Winter.

We explored the interface of Robert Bly’s ideas on ‘the loss of the sacred king’ in Western culture, with the mythology of the ‘Return of the King’ within Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

It was a poignant discussion, characterised by a collective draw to the energy of fellowship that comes to life in the discussion and sharing of this story.

Among many threads discussed was the challenge of reconnecting with a sense of nobility where it may have been lost for many generations. In this aspect, we face a similar challenge to Aragorn, who is deeply reluctant to take up his true path because of the ‘sins of the father’ presented by the corruption of his ancestor Isildur. The challenge facing men today is to reforge the sword of masculine wholeness, and be prepared to take up its weight.

Notably, Tracy Gawley’s contribution drew us to the idea of a collective kingship: that like the fellowship, we each call forth the king from one another, and that kingship in Tolkien’s work is akin to a spirit or energy which moves through and is visible in different characters at different times. The fellowship holds a kind of collective intelligence that allows power and leadership to move intelligently among the company under different challenges.

Seth Dellinger raised the point of the necessity for kingship to stand in the face of tyranny as exhibited in the fellowship’s readiness to move against the daunting and growing power of Sauron. Jacob Kishere built upon the example of Gandalf’s exorcism of King Theoden to suggest that it is not just radical which challenges tyranny, but the authority and magic of the elder.

We look forward to continuing this enquiry with Stephen and many of you during the Month of the Return of the King in the Resonant Man on Sundays at 7pm UK.

If you are intending to join us and haven’t done so already reach out promptly so that your onboarding can be completed before the start of the month this Sunday.

We are also pleased to share about our anticipated Lord of the Rings Reading Journey in the nwe year. This new course will be an opportunity to journey through the text in fellowship with other men and women over several months. Stephen Winter will be leading us in a deep exploration of the text each week with Jacob Kishere facilitating a space of live and emergent dialogue.

Expected to begin in the New Year.