The Divine Invitation: An Examination Of The Philosophies Of Grace In The Writing Of J.R.R. Tolkien, Flannery O'Connor, And Walker Percy

Abstract

This study, then, will examine each of these authors in his or her utilization of Augustinian or Thomistic grace as they attempt to reach an audience deaf to the conventional words of the Gospel. It will also examine the dominant motif for grace that each author chooses to use, in keeping with the theology of grace present in that piece. In the case of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, the dominant symbol of grace is that of a gift. As mentioned previously, Walker Percy presents grace in the lives of his characters as a cure for their malaise of modernity in the novels The Moviegoer and The Thanatos Syndrome. The short stories of Flannery O'Connor's anthology A Good Man is Hard to Find consistently present grace as a sudden flash of truth to a character veiled in a world of dark illusions.