Amon Sûl

Richard Rohlin discusses everyone’s second least-favorite chapter of the Silmarillion with John Wayne Coatney. Along the way, they discuss camel husbandry and shower genealogies.

Steven “Yay!” Christoforou returns to the podcast to talk with Fr. Andrew about using Tolkien and other imaginative fiction in ministry, about what it means to live (and not live) in Sarumanic fashion, and how confronting monsters is at the core of the Christian life. Thrill as Steve can’t remember not to call him Sauron, Fr. Andrew badly pronounces Old English, and both make a plethora of allusions to the Ancient Faith Cinematic Universe.

Richard interviews “The Tolkien Professor” and Signum University president Corey Olsen, and they discuss the Silmarillion in its various conceptions and whether it really even exists. Richard also vents his spleen.

Fr. Anthony Cook returns to the podcast to take a deep dive with Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick into the Ainulindalë, Tolkien’s myth of how the creation is sung into being, including the origin and problem of free will and evil, as well as the making of the Tolkienian divine council. They wrap up with a new segment, looking at the Finnish epic The Kalevala, a highly influential piece in Tolkien’s formation and legendarium.

Fr. Andrew and Richard Rohlin introduce “The Last Homely House,” a new series of episodes hosted by Richard, and discuss “Of Aule and Yavanna” from The Silmarillion. And Fr. Andrew shockingly uses an Elvish pejorative.

Tolkien scholar and history professor Bradley Birzer joins Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick to discuss his Tolkien books, legend-making, Tolkien in culture and as a Christian humanist, and the Nativity of Christ as the eucatastrophe of human history.

AFR station manager Bobby Maddex (finally!) joins Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick to geek out about the Peter Jackson film trilogy, and how it compares with the books, the good and bad unique to the films. And of course the hobbits get taken once more to Isengard, courtesy of fan-submitted quiz questions.

Michael Haldas returns to the podcast to talk none other than the great Frodo Baggins with Fr. Andrew. Along the way, they talk about what sailing from the Grey Havens really means, where in Middle-earth they’d love to live and visit, as well asking: Why introduce other people to Tolkien?

Tolkien scholar Dr. Lisa Coutras joins Fr. Andrew to talk the theology of beauty in Tolkien’s legendarium, including deep dives into the tales of Beren and Luthien and Turin Turambar. They wrap up with your indispensable wishlist items for a Hobbit birthday.

Fr. Andrew welcomes iconographer, artist, and author Jonathan Pageau of “The Symbolic World” to talk dragons in Tolkien’s legendarium and in the traditions that inform and surround it. Do dragons almost exist? The answer is yes.

Having cut it from the hand of Fr. Andrew, Prof. Cyril Gary Jenkins takes up the Podcast of Power and hosts fellow history professor William Tighe to talk teaching Tolkien to college and high school students, as well as giving a critic’s eye to the Tolkien biopic.

Fantasy author and Orthodox Christian deacon Nicholas Kotar returns to the podcast to talk wizards -- Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast and those two mysterious Blue Wizards! Along the way, they discuss a fake Slavic god, story-telling (what else?) and the difference between angels and Maiar, wrapping up a fascinating episode by digging a dusty heap of old mathoms out of Fr. Andrew’s hobbit hole.

Sarah, a combat veteran of the Iraq war joins Fr. Andrew to co-host an episode talking about the experience of war and what it means to come home after, whether one is a hobbit or human, including an in-depth exploration of Eowyn as a warrior and wrapping up with a roaring charge into the legend of the most famous hobbit warrior of them all.

Fr. Stephen De Young joins Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick to talk about monsters, myth and mythology in the Tolkien legendarium, especially as they relate to Biblical narrative and the historical background of the Ancient Near East. Watch out for giants, wraiths, Atlantis, flood, fire, the sword and the answer to the burning question: Shouldn’t Aragorn be taller?

For International Tolkien Reading Day, Dr. Cyril Jenkins joins Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick to talk March 25 in the Tolkien legendarium -- Atonement, Annunciation and our Lady the Theotokos. They wrap up with reading from some of their favorite non-legendarium Tolkien tales.

Celebrating the first anniversary of the podcast, Germanic philologist Richard Rohlin joins Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick to talk Tolkien as a philologist, medievalist and inventor of languages. The Corn King, cellar doors and hijinks abound.

Michael Haldas speaks at DoxaMoot 2019 at St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Emmaus, Pennsylvania.

Deacon Nicholas Kotar speaks at DoxaMoot 2019 at St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Emmaus, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Alfred Kentigern Siewers speaks at DoxaMoot 2019 at St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Emmaus, Pennsylvania.

Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick speaks at DoxaMoot 2019 at St. Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Emmaus, Pennsylvania.