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Summary: "god in LOTR?" Which one?
Review: This book is laughable. The unfortunate truth is that this book, like all religions, is a fairy tale. The good news is that unlike christianity, no one has been murdered, raped, or otherwise brutalized in the name of Tolkien's masterpieces. My advice is to read LOTR with an OPEN mind. Appreciate the books for their own merit and don't attempt to associate them with your religious beliefs. Their content is wholly allegorical. Period. Those who find confirmation of a biblical god in these works are the same unfortunates who find the virgin mary in a lopsided bagel.
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Summary: A Mere Scratch on the Surface
Review: This is an incredibly disappointing "work." Any true reader of Tolkien will marvel at the shallowness of this critique of his trilogy. I wonder if the authors did any more than peruse the book or, at best, speed-read through it to write this drivel. God is indeed present in Tolkien's work but this book is no road map to finding Him there. Far superior is "The Gospel Acording to Tolkien" by Ralph C. Wood. I would also suggest that serious readers pick up the Tolkien's "Silmarillion" in which God's act of creation literally leaps off the first page. Bruner and Ware would also do well to read this to deepen their own knowledge.
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Summary: A Must-Have for Christian Tolkien Fans!
Review: As a Christian, I at first did not like the idea of the Lord of the Rings movies. Having wizards, magic, and the like, I thought it to be evil. But I had never read the books. But when I saw the first movie, I realized that there is much more to the characters and the story than most people can see. I didn't know that Tolkien was a Christian. When I watch the movie, I can see religious symbolism in the events and the characters. When I saw this book at the bookstore, I read the back cover and a page or two in the book and I decided to buy it. And I am enjoying it very much. I like how it shows that there are connections with Christian faith and the books. I especially like this part of the book: "We live in a broken world. Death, pain, sickness, and suffering were not part of life's original melody. These disonant chords were first introduced when our race took the bait of temptation and fell from its former glory. Once upon a time, mankind was offered a choice. We could sing the good song of the great composer or follow the opposing melody of his enemy. We chose the latter. And when we rejected the good that God is, we embraced the bad that he isn't." And how much truth that quote holds!!! I'm not great at writing reviews....I've only written one or two simple ones. But I will say this: This book is a must-have for Christian Tolkien fans AND other Tolkien fans alike.
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Summary: Tolkien: "A Fundamentally Religious and *Catholic* Work"
Review: I received this book from a relative as a gift, and while the book was fairly good as far as it went, I could not believe the glaring omissions the author made. Considering that Tolkien called the Lord of the Rings, "a fundamentally religious and Catholic work," the word "Catholic" never being mentioned is unforgivable. The author is either clearly biased in his treatment of subject, or he is so ignorant of his subject matter, that he was not aware that Tolkien was a devout Catholic who wrote that "[The Lord of the Rings] is a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision." However, as I said earlier, as far as it goes, the book treats the subject matter fairly, if with an Evangelical Protestant bias. Tolkien did say that Middle-Earth is, "a monotheistic world of 'natural theology.'" To say that the "Lord of the Rings" is pagan story is to ignore the intentions of Tolkien. I do have to say however, that this book is horrible in picking up all but the most obvious of Tolkien's allusions to Christianity. The author ignores that the day Frodo destroys the Ring is the 25 of March, which traditionally is the date of the Crucifixion of Christ. His ignorance of the Catholic allusions is even worse: He ignores that the lembas are consciously a type of the Holy Eucharist and that Galadriel is a type of Mary, which should be obvious to anyone who is familiar with the Catholic Faith of Tolkien. This book took me about one evening to read and I learned nothing new from it that I had not found from on-line reviews of the original books and now the movies. This book seems to me like a poor job done quickly to capitalize on the success of the movie, without giving any kind of solid treatment of its subject matter. There are better books out there.
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Summary: Room for improvement
Review: "Finding God in the Lord of the Rings" was an interesting book, especially for a christian reading Tolkien. While it is true that they did not go into very deep detail on many of their points, this book provides an excellant overview of the book and som of the underlying themes. I liked this book and would recommend it to others, especially for Tolkien fans.
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Summary: A rather shallow look at the positive attributes of LotR
Review: Most of us know Tolkien was a Christian, and some of us Tolkien-ites know that he didn't want allegories in his book...he wanted them to be more subtle. But he just couldn't help it, and some good stuff got put in there anyway! Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware's book attempts to highlight some of the positive attributes of Tolkien's Rings trilogy, but sadly fall short, in my opinion. There's discussion of happiness, contentedness, loyalty, all that stuff. But the book ends there, having discussed only these "nice" qualities. In my opinion, God can be found in much deeper ways in LotR than just the positive human goodness. One of the analogies that I've heard brought out of the books is the fact that Frodo, Gandalf and Aragorn constitute the Priest, Prophet and King, the three offices of Christ. (Frodo bears the Sin [Ring] away from the others, Gandalf can obviously be thought of as a prophet, and Aragorn as the King) There are many other analogies that one can find, if one examines closely, the works of Tolkien, and this book only scratches the surface. I sure hope someone else writes a more in-depth look at the books so everybody doesn't lump The Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia in with Harry Potter and stuff like that...there is a difference!
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Summary: Not Planning to Buy
Review: Based on the sample pages here at Amazon.com and digging through the book in a bookstore, I have decided not to buy it. The authors do not appear to have read The Lord of the Rings in depth; they have certainly not written a book with any depth to it. For instance, from the sample pages: "There is a deep yearning among the Fellowship of the Ring, an unspoken longing for something long lost. None have known it in their lifetimes. Few can recite the tales of its splendor." On the contrary, the authors do not seem to have noticed that Gandalf is a Maiar and can personally remember Valinor. Legolas, Aragorn, Bilbo (who is admittedly not in the Fellowship) and Frodo are all very well versed in the "tales of its splendor." Indeed, Bilbo has "the cheek to write verses about Earendil in the house of Elrond." Of characters of LOTR not in the Fellowship, Galadriel is one of the original rebels and remembers the Days of the Trees, Celeborn does too; Glorfindel is a Returned Elf who has seen it all: Valinor, rebellion, war, Mandos and the Third Age. Yes, everyone in the Fellowship longs for something that has been lost, but it is not something of which they have no direct knowledge. At least some of them have, not just the old songs and lore, but vivid memories to fuel their quest for a Return. Being acquainted with the above facts does not take becoming a Tolkein scholar. It merely takes paying attention to the book. Since the authors did not pay enough attention to the LOTR to understand even Aragorn's background I am loathe to trust their scholarship.
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Summary: Read the intro and epilogue, then decide
Review: The negative reviewers did not read page 13 of the intro? "We wrote this book to help fans..discover how the rich fabric of Tolkien's fantasy ENHANCES a Christian understanding of our real world...It is not..a covert allegory of the gospel." This book is a series of reflections on how the story parallels other timeless real and fictional stories and how we might apply the points. It is encouraging to someone who has not delved into the bible but can can get their mind around Tolkien. It might pique curiosity enough to get them to crack a bible open. On the other hand, I can also say it is very encouraging to someone who is not a reader of fantasy at all. It has opened the world of that genre which I have ignored. I've noticed that some people are afraid of the "darkness" in that genre for themselves or kids. This book will help help them understand the point and be more comfortable with that.
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Summary: If you really knew Tolkien
Review: Tolkien said himself that his writings about Middle-Earth were not Allegorical, but applicable. That means that he did not write it with any parallels in mind, but that you can apply it's own inherent lessons to your life as you choose. The only way to "find god" in the Lord of the Rings, is if you have already found god and wish to make the application yourself.
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Summary: find god in tolkien???
Review: the idea of finding god in tolkiens works is absolutely ridiculous. if tolkien knew such a work of literary garbage existed using the title of his books he would roll over in his grave. don't waste your money.
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