"Religion in The Lord of the Rings" by Peter Kreeft

On December 6, 2002, Boston College Philosophy Professor Peter Kreeft came to MIT to speak to us about "Religion in The Lord of the Rings". The meeting was co-sponsored by Chi Alpha and GCF, and it was a great outreach event. First Professor Kreeft spoke for 50 minutes, then we asked him questions for another 50 minutes. Finally, Chi Alpha gave out door prizes to some lucky winners!


Muyiwa sets up his camcorder to record Professor Kreeft's talk.	Todd, Kevin, Donald, and Ji-Jon make sure all the cables are plugged into the soundboard.

The La Sala ballroom was all decked out with Lord of the Rings posters.

We showed some scenes from the movie before the talk.	Meanwhile, Tim tries to distract Keith from his 11th viewing of the movie.

Mario and Tricia are happy and patiently wait for the talk to begin, but ...	Susan, Micah, Ken, and Greg would really rather listen to the talk than pose for yet another picture.

Greg contemplates introducing the speaker....	but quickly defers to Chi Alpha president Patrick.

Presenting... Professor Kreeft!	Who proceeds to regale us with witty comments and a comparison of the Apostles Creed to The Lord of the Rings.

Ed, being a former Sloanie, is brave enough to ask a question during the Q&A session.	Professor Kreeft seems amused but is really considering the question carefully.

Ji-Jon asks the final question about why Hobbits are the heroes of the trilogy, even though they seem to be so weak.	Professor Kreeft demonstrates his answer.

The audience eagerly soaks up every word.	Finally, the door prizes are awarded by the Chi Alpha leadership!

Jon wins a copy of the Bible.	Ed can't believe he has just won a "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" keychain.

Both Jon and Ed are asked to pose with a friend. Jon chooses Dr. Ken, who has mentored him throughout his MIT career.	Ed chooses his labmate Tim, who also can't believe he won a Handspring Visor, considering he already owns another PDA.

The prizes ranged from the silly, such as a prepaid phone card for Mike...	To the serious, such as "The Case for Christ" for Joe.

Some of the prizes did inspire jealousy, such as Muyiwa's usurpation of Cynthia's LOTR DVD.	But Cynthia forgave him anyway, since she eventually got the DVD back.

The meeting is over, everyone is happy, and Greg and Todd take down the AV equipment.	Before they take down the posters, Micah sneaks in one last pose.

Afterwards, Professor Kreeft talks to some people eager to learn more.	Away from the main crowd, a small crowd discuss what they learned during the talk.

Everyone wants to pose with Muyiwa, who did a great job videotaping the talk. Here comes David...	And then Ji-Jon and Joe to join Muyiwa.