Date
5-20-2026
Degree
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA)
Chair
Tess Martinus
Keywords
Trauma studies, mythopoeic fantasy, cultural memory, narrative theology, collective trauma, ethical narration, Tolkien studies, The Silmarillion, The Adia
Disciplines
Creative Writing
Recommended Citation
Tannehill, Jacob M., "Trauma, Myth, and Sacred Memory: How Narrative Gives Form to Suffering, Theology, and Meaning" (2026). Masters Theses. 1453.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/1453
Abstract
This thesis explores the relationship between trauma, myth, and narrative meaning through academic and creative works. Drawing upon trauma theory, cultural memory studies, and mythopoeic fantasy, this thesis examines how communities remember catastrophes, preserve identity, and struggle to transform suffering into coherent narratives. The critical portion focuses on J. R. R. Tolkien’s account of Númenor’s destruction in The Silmarillion, reading the Downfall as a model of cultural trauma whose meaning persists through inheritance and contested narration. The creative portion, drawn from excerpts of The Adia, extends these concerns into a mythic world in which language, memory, and theological inheritance shape the moral imagination of later peoples. Together, the thesis argues that mythology is one of humanity’s enduring methods for giving form to rupture, grief, and historical brokenness.
