Thoughts of a Reforming Pelagian
The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man's history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. - J. R. R. Tolkien
Finding parallels with ancient Greek drama, J. R. R. Tolkien coined the word eucatastrophe to describe the sudden turning of events from bad to good. In his essay ‘On Fairy Stories’ Tolkien notes that most fairy stories have this experience; when the story turns from the protagonists being surrounded by insurmountable circumstances and a single unlooked-for event turns the fortunes of the characters. Consider also, in the Return of the King, when hope is all but lost, the host of Mordor vastly outnumbers the armies of the West; the last hope, Frodo, cannot destroy the One Ring. But, of course, this changes when Gollum/Sméagol takes the ring finger from Frodo, and in comical sequence, dances with pure excitement, loses his footing and plunges into the depths of Orodruin. Since most of Sauron’s power is bound in the ring, he loses this with the ring’s destruction and the forces of evil are defeated (although the characters still fight against remaining evil/sin, cf. The Scouring of the Shire [which was left out of the movie]).
Tolkien laments that eucatastrophe was absent from the modern novel, (cf. Jude the Obscure written 1895) but notes it is found in the older fairy stories and other literature such as Greek drama. (Star Wars: a New Hope also typifies the device with the destruction of the Death Star.) Although often misconstrued, the eucatastrophe is not the ‘happily ever after’ of fairy tales but the event which effectuates the state of ‘happily ever after’. Yet (as foreshadowed by the introductory quote), the best example of eucatastrophe is the life and death of the Saviour: Jesus Christ. When man had eaten of the fruit of knowledge he enslaved himself and all his progeny in slavery to sin. Man cannot emancipate himself, and worse yet he does not care to do so. While he struggles under the wages of sin, he show inordinate fondness to the master. Stolen waters are sweet (Proverbs 9.17). In spite of all this, God takes on human flesh to accomplish redemption for his people! Even when God’s people do not have the sense to cry out to him, he takes delight in rescuing them from the mire (cf. the stories of Judges). He does not do this from afar but steps right into our world, and takes on physicality. To further expand on this, in the darkest hour after Jesus’ friends deserted him, after the weight of sin crushed him on the cross and brought him into the depths of hell, after the Christ had been dead three days: eucatastrophe. Our Saviour rises from the dead, the power of sin and death is broken (though not removed) and the folly and rebellion of Adam is reversed. While all of this is not yet realized and we live between Resurrection and Glory, we see that this event, the life and death of Jesus, his active and passive obedience, is what causes the sin of Adam to truly be a fall into grace. Not only this, but it effects the reformation and renewal of the entire universe.
