Flesh, World, Devil: The Nature of Evil in J.R.R. Tolkien

Abstract

This article examines the nature of evil in Tolkien's work in light of Tom Shippey's well-known assertion that Tolkien struggled between two poles: a ‘Manichaean’ or dualist position and the Catholic Augustinian or ‘Boethian’ position which views evil as an absence. After noting that subsequent respondents to Shippey take this distinction for granted and often seem to misread Shippey himself, the author argues that in fact the whole discussion is ill-founded. New frameworks for reading Tolkien's views on evil should be sought. The article then presents a new proposal: dividing Tolkien's evils into the tripartite distinction of flesh, world, and devil long present in theological discussions.