The Reverend Fleming Rutledge
Born	(1937-11-24)24 November 1937 (age 88) Richmond, Virginia, US
Alma mater	Sweet Briar College Union Theological Seminary
Religion	Christianity (Anglican)
Church	Episcopal Church
Ordained	1975 (deacon) 1977 (priest)
Writings	The Crucifixion (2015)
Website	generousorthodoxy.org

Fleming Rutledge (born 1937) is an AmericanEpiscopal priest and author. Ordained to the diaconate in 1975, she was one of the first women to be ordained to the priesthood in theEpiscopal Church.

Rutledge is widely recognized in the United States, in Canada, and in the UK as a preacher and lecturer who teaches other preachers. Her particular expertise is the intersection ofbiblical theology with contemporary culture, current events and politics, literature, music and art. She has often been invited to preach in prominent pulpits. She is a notedTolkien scholar, bringing a Christian perspective to the study of the writings ofJ. R. R. Tolkien, who was a devoutRoman Catholic.

Rutledge was born Alice Fleming Parker on November 24, 1937 inRichmond, Virginia. Rutledge graduated fromSweet Briar College in 1959magna cum laude with highest honors in English. She was elected toPhi Beta Kappa. She received herMaster of Divinity degree fromUnion Theological Seminary in New York in 1975. She was awarded an honoraryDoctor of Divinity degree fromVirginia Theological Seminary in May 1999.^[1][2]

In 1975, Rutledge was ordained as adeacon. In January 1977 she became one of the first women to be ordained as a priest in theEpiscopal Church.^[2]

Rutledge worked atChrist's Church, Rye, New York, creating and leading a Christian program for high school pupils. During the 1980s, she served as an assistant priest, and later as a senior associate priest, at Grace Church in New York City, where she took an active part in renewing the church's mission. The parish became well known for its young congregation and for its evangelistic sermons.^[2] Rutledge also was a guest preacher at such prominent ecclesiastical venues as theWashington National Cathedral, theDuke University Chapel,Trinity Church in Boston, and theMemorial Church of Harvard University.^[2]

In 1996 she took an interim posting as the rector of St. John's, Salisbury, Connecticut. She has twice been a resident fellow at theCenter of Theological Inquiry in Princeton. During the 2008 fall term, she taught preaching atWycliffe College, part of theUniversity of Toronto. In 2010, she was a visiting scholar at theAmerican Academy in Rome.^[2]

Rutledge is in addition a recognizedTolkien scholar, applying her Christian viewpoint to analyzing the thread ofChristianity in the fantasy writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, who was a devout Roman Catholic. In the theologianRalph C. Wood's view, she shows how the biblical story "forms the deep structure of Tolkien's epic",The Lord of the Rings.^[3] Wood writes that Rutledge avoids theManichean trap of supposing that the novel is the tale of good versus evil, something that he statesTolkien "abominated", as the book constantly shows that the "allegedly good" can be dangerously complacent, while the "supposedly evil" can do noble things, and the divide between good and evil runs along "the crooked line cleaving every human andhobbitic, everydwarvish andelvish heart".^[3] Wood writes that Rutledge makes it clear that this is "in full accord" withSt. Paul andSt. Augustine,Luther andCalvin. He finds so much to praise in her book that he "runs the risk of effusiveness".^[3] He specially likes her account of the ability of words to heal or to dispirit, as whenGaladriel elevates the dwarfGimli, the dyingThorin blessesBilbo, andAragorn acknowledges the good in the dyingBoromir on the one hand, or whenWormtongue whispers poisonous thoughts intoTheoden's mind, orSam makes the monsterGollum even worse by always accusing him of deception, on the other.^[3]

• The Bible and The New York Times (1998)ISBN 978-0802847010
• Help My Unbelief (2000)ISBN 978-0802877901
• The Undoing of Death (2002)ISBN 978-0802839695
• The Battle for Middle-Earth: Tolkien's Divine Design in "The Lord of the Rings" (2004)ISBN 978-0802824974
• The Seven Last Words from the Cross (2004)ISBN 978-0802827869
• Not Ashamed of the Gospel: Sermons from Paul's Letter to the Romans (2007)ISBN 978-0802827371
• And God Spoke to Abraham: Preaching from the Old Testament (Eerdmans, 2011)ISBN 978-0802866066^[4]
• The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ (2015)ISBN 978-0802875341
• Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ (2018)ISBN 978-0802876195
• Three Hours: Sermons for Good Friday (2019)ISBN 978-0802877192
• Means of Grace: A Year of Weekly Devotionals (2021)ISBN 978-0802878700
• Epiphany: The Season of Glory (InterVarsity Press, 2023)ISBN 978-1-5140-0038-0

• Official website

• 1937 births
• Living people
• People from Franklin, Virginia
• Sweet Briar College alumni
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• 20th-century American Episcopal priests
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• Tolkien scholars

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