Help Bradley Finish His PhD Dream

Hi, my name is Bradley and I am only ONE year away from finishing my PhD! I am a 3rd year PhD student at the University of St Andrews, in Fife, Scotland. I, along with my wife and three children, are hoping to return to the UK in January 2025 to finally finish the important academic work I started six years ago. I am trying to raise $11,800 to cover visa fees and associated costs.

After several years of working as a school bus driver, my family and I moved to Scotland in 2019 so that I could pursue my life-long dream of becoming a Tolkein expert. As a child, I devoured everything written by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein. As a teenager, I remember reading an academic article about the nature and origin of Tom Bombadil, one of Tolkein’s characters in “LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring”, and thinking “people can study Tolkein for a living?!” Since then, that is what I have wanted to do with my life.

Over the next 15 years, I worked as a school bus driver and married an incredible woman, an English teacher with a similar love of literature, who encouraged me to pursue my dream. I completed my Bachelors of Arts in Literature and Philosophy at UW-Milwaukee, then a Master of Arts in Philosophy at Boston College, and a Masters in Fantasy Literature at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Finally, in 2020, I was accepted into a Divinity PhD program at the prestigious University of St Andrews. I couldn’t believe my dream was finally coming true! There I began the tedious work of researching the impact of Catholic philosophy (specifically Thomism) on the literature of Tolkein and G.K. Chesterton. My work has had an interdisciplinary focus, combining literary analysis with the study of theology, philosophy, and history.

In 2023, we were devastated when we had to leave my research due to severe health problems. We returned to the US to be closer to family as we worked towards healthier lives. Over the last year, we have received several debilitating diagnoses including:

- 2 diagnosed with severe neurodiversity (that resulted in social, emotional, and intellectual obstacles)

- 2 diagnosed with crippling hormonal imbalances that caused psychological and physical problems

- 1 diagnosed with a labral tear and severe hip arthritis.

- 1 of our children diagnosed with significant developmental delays

To say this has been a difficult journey is an understatement. But, as Tom Bombidil once sang,

The Road goes ever on and on,

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

So, here we are–one year later, a little wiser, a little more gray, and MUCH healthier– largely healed and ready to return to my work, with renewed strength and passion.

My dissertation focuses on the impact of certain Catholic (specifically Dominican) theologians and philosophers of the early 20th century on the work of Tolkein and Chesterton. I believe this work is important due to its emphasis on recovering a sense of wonder at existence and the implications of this for human life and psychology. Modern, Western societies have developed a mechanical view of the world which robs life of meaning, and I intend my work to resist this tendency, restoring our relationship with the sacred.

I have presented important academic work at four academic conferences including:

2022: Tolkien Among the Theologians (Houston Theological Seminary)

2023: European Academy of Religion (University of St Andrews)

2024: Theology after Blackfriars (Oxford University)

2024: The Catholic Records Society 66th annual conference (University of Leeds)

I have also published one article, “An Inspired Alias? J.R.R. Tolkien’s Frodo Baggins ‘Underhill’ and Fr Gerard Albert Plunket ‘Underhill’”, in the Journal of Inkling Studies (Edinburgh University Press) https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/ink.2022.0153.

I have received a lot of encouragement to finish my degree from prestigious professors at world-renowned universities. I agree with them that my work is important. After graduation, I plan to continue my research and teach at the university level.

So, here I am. Will you help me fulfill a dream? If all goes according to plan, we will leave Jan 2025 and I will graduate in December. One year. Just one year away from making a dream a reality.