Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Mythopoeic Awards Finalists Discussion, David Lenander, Grace Moone

Mythcon

General Discussion of the Finalists for the 2026 Mythopoeic Awards. We expect some committee members to offer their opinions and experiences and invite others to share their reactions to the books! Discussion of the awards process and suggestions for the future are also in order. Find out how to become involved for next year. What books did we miss?

Gondor Calls For Aid! Volunteering And Running For Office With The Mythopoeic Society, Janet Brennan Croft, Megan B. Abrahamson, Phillip Fitzsimmons, Alicia Fox-Lenz, Victoria Gaydosik, Tim Lenz

Mythcon

We often talk about volunteering and about serving as a Society officer at the membership meeting at the end of Mythcon. But this more intimate panel will give you the opportunity to hear from Stewards and Managers directly about their experiences as volunteers and ask questions about how you can get involved -- and why you should think about it! Panelists will talk about how they got started, how rewarding it is, what kind of time commitment it takes, the differences between being a Steward and a Manager, and other long and short term volunteer opportunities.

Illustrating Lothlórien As A Faerie Space In The Lord Of The Rings By J.R.R. Tolkien, Marie Bretagnolle

Mythcon

In The Fellowship of the Ring, when the travelers step in Lothlórien, their perceptions of their surroundings and of time are altered. Numerous papers have considered the literary devices used by J.R.R. Tolkien to convey the sense of otherness that makes this Elven realm an equivalent to Faerie in Middle-earth. In their turn, how do visual artists tasked with illustrating The Lord of the Rings transpose these effects in their pictures? In this paper I continue my research into Tolkienian illustrations by analyzing the visual devices used by Mary Fairburn, Alan Lee, and the duo formed by the Queen …

Glen Goodknight's International Narnia Collection, David L. Emerson

Mythcon

In 1975, Glen GoodKnight, founder of the Mythopoeic Society, began to take serious interest in translations of the Narniad, collecting editions from over 40 different countries. By 2004, he had begun to make his wonderful collection of non-English editions available to the world through his website, inklingsfocus.com. With his passing in 2010, the site was due to be shut down, but I participated in preserving the images of these foreign book covers, assisting Lewis fan Gordon Greenhill in reconstructing the gallery on his site called The Disordered Image.

This presentation will be a slide show of many of these …

Perception As A Gateway Of Faërie In Owen Barfield’S Philosophy Of Language, Sylwia Wilczewska

Mythcon

Since Verlyn Flieger showed the importance of Owen Barfield’s account of poetic language outlined in Poetic Diction for the metaphysical structure of Tolkien’s universe (cf. Flieger 33-44), Barfield’s writings have been an object of increased scholarly attention. While the point most often commented upon is the impact of Barfield’s vision of the evolution of language on Tolkien’s theory of sub-creation, the traces of Barfield’s influence can also be found in other Inklings. Here I would like to offer some speculations on the connection between Barfield’s idea of language and the way in which the writings of the Inklings depict discovering …

Remembering Lee Speth, Megan B. Abrahamson

Mythcon

Do you have memories of Lee Speth you want to share? Please join us as we remember a beloved Mythsoc member and Steward, and consider how best to memorialize his presence in the future of the Society.

Tel Iẓṭabba: The Flint Assemblage, Alla Yaroshevich

Qadum: Journal of Excavation Reports from Israel

Analysis of the flint assemblage from the single-period Intermediate Bronze Age/Early Bronze Age IV site of Tel Iẓṭabba indicates the coexistence of locally produced ad hoc debitage and tools alongside Canaanean blade products, the latter apparently imported as finished implements from specialized production centers. The Canaanean blade component exhibits considerable variability in backing, truncation, edge modification, gloss distribution and dimensions. This diversity suggests the presence of several harvesting implements and hafting solutions, including large blades with proximal modification and oblique or curved truncations, interpreted as probable reaping knives. Comparison with a smaller assemblage recovered in later excavations at Tel Iẓṭabba …

Tel Iẓṭabba: An Intermediate Bronze Age Settlement In The Beth Shean Valley / תל אצטבה: יישוב מתקופת הברונזה הביניימית בעמק בית שאן, Eli Yannai

Qadum: Journal of Excavation Reports from Israel

A salvage excavation conducted west of Tel Iẓṭabba revealed a single-period settlement dating to the Intermediate Bronze Age. This settlement comprised three architectural complexes, each consisting of one or more central courtyards surrounded by rooms. Most of the walls followed a north–south or east–west orientation, suggesting a planned settlement layout. A wide street, oriented northeast–southwest, continued between the complexes. The finds from the complexes indicate an agricultural economy. Ceramic vessels found crushed in situ on the floors, together with grinding implements, basalt artifacts and other domestic assemblages left at the site, suggest that the settlement was violently destroyed and subsequently …

Between The Unexpected And The Unknown: The Liminal Transformation Of Bilbo Baggins And Travelers Along Route 66, Logan O. Uber

Mythcon

Much like Bilbo Baggins in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit travelers along Route 66 knew where their journey would take them, but not how it would change them. Applying liminal theory this paper demonstrates that Route 66 and Tolkien’s road function as transformative threshold spaces where travelers leave behind familiar identities to enter landscapes marked by uncertainty, danger, and possibility. Dust Bowl Migrants—individuals and families fleeing the Depression for better opportunities—and Bilbo all set out to find a better, if not different future. Their journeys transform and change them, making them more than what they once were. Route 66 exists as …

Mythic Roads: Tolkien's Literary Network And Cosmopolitan Imagination, Hayden Bilbrey

Mythcon

Journeys and roads are central to J.R.R. Tolkien's stories in Middle-earth, but the significance of these pathways extends beyond physical landscapes. This paper argues that Tolkien's legendarium constructs a network of texts, cultural traditions, and temporal frameworks. Drawing on concepts from Caroline Levine's concept of literary networks, this paper examines how Tolkien integrates elements of Christianity, Norse, and other mythological systems to create a cohesive mythopoetic structure. Not merely just coexisting; these influences form interconnected nodes with a larger network that readers traverse through the narrative. Thus, Middle-earth becomes not only a setting but a cosmopolitan mythic space shaped by …

No Body, No Sacrament: Tolkien’S Route From Children Of The Valar To Marriage As An ‘Association’ In The History Of Middle-Earth Drafts, Nicole Duplessis

Mythcon

Rather than overt religious symbolism or over-reliance on the trappings of Catholicism, like Marian or Eucharistic imagery, that also appear in his works, Tolkien infused Middle-earth with his own sacramental imagination, possibly through both conscious and sub-conscious creative choices. This sacramental imagination helps explain how obvious pagan influences and seemingly contradictory readings of Tolkien’s works can coexist with his assertion that the work is fundamentally Catholic. One area in which this sacramental imagining can be followed, as a route through his drafts, is in his development of the Valar as non-corporeal beings alongside his alteration of their marriage relationships from …

Spacing Out Of The Shire: Spatiomagus And Spatial Nomadism In The Lord Of The Rings, Kieran Strand-Leeds

Mythcon

As a text, The Lord of the Rings is obsessed with the natural and the magical in the mundane. However, what is often neglected in Tolkien studies is the idea of the space in which the natural and the magical exist. Here, I present the theory of spatiomagus to help us understand space in fantasy literature. Building off the Deleuzoguattarian theory of smooth/striated space, spatiomagus asserts that space in fantasy texts is influenced physically and/or created virtually by the magical “light” and “dark.” This intersection of magic and space can create, destroy, and alter places via metaphysical means, and spatiomagus …

Eucatastrophe: J.R.R. Tolkien As A Christian Apologist, Donald T. Williams

Mythcon

Williams will explore the ways Tolkien defined eucatastrophe, and also provided numerous examples of eucatastrophe in his legendarium. In doing so, Tolkien develops a Christian apologetics.

Orc Road Trip; Or, We’Re Taking The Hobbits To Isengard!, Robert T. Tally Jr.

Mythcon

“Leg it!” Ever wanted to “foot it through the Horse-country” with Uglúk? Cross the Great River with Grishnákh? Travel with goblin messengers “to and fro between all their cities, colonies, and strongholds,” by “tunnel or under dark,” to “Gundabad of the North,” their “capital”? Or perhaps you can “slip off” with Gorbag and “a few trusty lads” to places “where there’s good loot nice and handy, and no big bosses”? It might be enough to join those who’ve just “come all the way from the Mines” to “avenge our folk” and “then go back north”? And if you’re feeling a …

Fundamentally Linguistic, John Rosegrant

Mythcon

We know that although Tolkien wrote that his legendarium was “fundamentally linguistic in inspiration. . . To me a name comes first and the story follows”, in fact legendarium content preceded Tolkien’s invention of Elvish languages. I will argue that nevertheless the first part of the quotation is true: the legendarium was fundamentally linguistic in inspiration. Tolkien used symbolic language to access the musical and body-related aspects of language that the symbolic has distanced us from, simultaneously uniting two aspects of our nature while recognizing their inevitable separation. When we as children master the symbolic function of language we lose …

Fangorn Forest As A Rerouting To The Ecological Contemplative In The Two Towers, Nicholas Birns

Mythcon

In The Two Towers, Fangorn Forest initially appears as an uncanny diversion when Merry and Pippin flee into its shadowy depths to escape Saruman’s Uruk-hai. Their encounter with Treebeard awakens the Ents, providing unexpected and devastating flow to the power of Saruman the White. Far from actually being scary or horrifying, though, the forest is actually the gateway to two very important qualities in The Lord of the Rings: a sense of deep psychology, of caring for the land so much that sentient being has become actually bound up with natural entities, and of contemplation, as Treebeard Who …

Continuing Christopher Tolkien’S Work In A Digital Age, James K. Tauber

Journal of Tolkien Research

Christopher Tolkien’s 12-volume History of Middle-earth is a remarkable achievement, yet Christopher repeatedly acknowledged how difficult the material was to present in print form and that “that there was no really satisfactory solution”.  This paper contends that a printed book is not scholarship but just one way of presenting its results. It explores how digital philology can overcome some of the limitations of print, giving examples from the Digital Tolkien Project. It shows how structural markup, version alignment, parallel reading environments, and other approaches can make relationships between drafts and published texts clearer. Importantly, these methods do not replace Christopher’s …

Local & Experiential: Exploring Embodied Ethnogeomythology Through Ttrpg, Gregory Fields, Teagan Brady, Dakota Dalota, Claira Hickman, Gina Manygoats, Donovan Mcbride, Ryan Pillmore

Mythcon

The panel will focus on an interdisciplinary pedagogical approach anchored to research applications of AAC&U High Impact Practices in integrative learning, learning communities, place-based writing, project-based learning, and gamification studies (Chou). Framed through a synthesis of ethno-geology and mythology, I developed a collaborative assignment that asked my intro to mythology students to develop their own mythologies based on Arizona specific cultures or geological features and oddities. After conducting their own background research, undergraduate students developed locally-based mythologies that answered at least one of the four big questions of existence. Then, they anchored those mythologies within one of the more readily …

The Future Of The Mythopoeic Society, Megan Abrahamson, Mythsoc Stewards

Mythcon

As technology and membership patterns change, what do you want to see in the future of the Mythopoeic Society? What do you want to get out of your membership? How do we want to bill ourselves to younger generations? This panel, made up of the Stewards, will be a discussion for members of the Society or those looking to become members and will serve as a preliminary conversation to the Members Meeting on Monday. The Society’s new AI policy will also be discussed.

Opening Ceremonies / Scholar Guest Of Honor Keynote - The Rhetoric Of The Road: The Romantic Journey As A Map Of Myth, Memory, And Majesty, Joe R. Christopher

Mythcon

OPENING CEREMONIES and SCHOLAR GUEST OF HONOR KEYNOTE ADDRESS: The Rhetoric of the Road: The Romantic Journey as a Map of Myth, Memory, and Majesty

“I’Ll Cry Tomorrow”: The Heroism Of Anti-Alcoholism Advocate Lillian Roth, Elizabeth Gritter

Heroism Science

Lillian Roth (1910–1980) is remembered primarily for her bestselling autobiography I’ll Cry Tomorrow and its successful film adaptation, yet her broader significance as a social hero has received little scholarly attention. This article examines Roth’s transformation from celebrated entertainer and alcoholic to influential public advocate whose confessional storytelling helped reshape public attitudes toward alcoholism during the mid-twentieth century. Drawing on Roth’s autobiographies, contemporary media coverage, and historical sources, the article argues that her willingness to publicly disclose trauma, addiction, and recovery represented an act of social courage that challenged prevailing stigma. By leveraging celebrity to promote compassion, recovery, and public …

I Never Thought I'D Be The Professor!, Kayko Driedger Hesslein

Consensus

Tracing progress and persistent challenges regarding women in church leadership, this reflection examines how structural barriers, societal caregiving expectations, and a lack of mentorship affect female clergy and seminary professors in the ELCIC. Highlighting the transformative impact of feminist Lutheran theology, the analysis calls for intentional structural support, financial resources, and institutional shifts to cultivate female scholars.

Come And See What I Have Found, Brent Krysa

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Following The Lead Of Jesus, Michael N. Poellet

Consensus

No abstract provided.

The Road To Emmaus, Lisa Smith

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Ordination Of Deacons, Trinity Sunday, Lisa Wang

Consensus

No abstract provided.

The Perfectly Imperfect God, Grace Van Hooydonk

Consensus

Moving beyond traditional, masculine, and flawless depictions of the divine, this reflection integrates visual art and theology to present a "perfectly imperfect" God. Exploring symbols of disability, communal response to suffering, brokenness, feminine divinity, and ongoing learning, the analysis affirms a fluid, inclusive divine presence.

Mixed Messages, Moms, Nuns, And Missionaries: Women In Christian Higher Education In Canada, Ellen Duffield

Consensus

Addressing institutional gender disparities in theological education, this study employs Participatory Action Research at a Canadian seminary to foster culture-shaping change. Anchored in a relational Trinitarian theology, the paper presents a model for institutional transformation focused on Kenotic Community, Connected Learning, and Collaborative Leadership to create environments where women and men thrive.

The Fiftieth Anniversary Of The Ordination Of Women In Canadian Lutheranism, Kyle K. Schiefelbein-Guerrero

Consensus

Commemorating fifty years of women’s ordination in Canadian Lutheranism, this editorial grounds the evolution of female church leadership in Confessional Lutheran theology and the ELCIC’s *Reimagining Our Church*. By framing ministry as functional and Christocentric, the author addresses persistent systemic challenges facing female clergy while introducing a collection of female-authored perspectives on adaptive, Spirit-led leadership for the future.

A Brief History Of Canadian Pentecostal Women: How Did They Overcome The Obstacles?, Carmen Ramirez

Consensus

The rise of Canadian Pentecostalism created unique opportunities for women to navigate structural patriarchy and achieve leadership. Tracing historical developments from early twentieth-century origins to an ethnographic study of a female-led Latina congregation in Toronto, the analysis demonstrates how Holy Spirit empowerment, pneumatological authority, and practical theological adaptations enable women, particularly marginalized Latinas, to overcome institutional obstacles.