Quinn Gervel, BBA (Belmont University), MA (Wheaton College), PhD (NTC)
'Tolkien's Mythic Meaning: The Reader's Ontological Encounters in The Lord of the Rings' (2020)
Quinn’s studies were supervised by Deirdre Brower Latz and Joseph Coleson. His research explores how Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings compels literary belief that bridges into a reader’s experience in a way that can lead to life transformation. Throughout his argument, he interprets how Tolkien instilled The Lord of the Rings with meaning to awaken religious sensibility, creating conditions for belief that may be interpreted as an ontological encounter with God ‘outside’ the story.
Since COVID-19 has appeared on the world stage, Quinn has returned to the business world for a time after several years in higher education. He enjoys living in the southeast United States with his wife and children, anticipating conversations about how Tolkien’s creativity may affect the creativity of readership and direct it to the possibility of the divine.