Finding God in the Lord of the Rings

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Summary: Not all who wander are lost...
Review: If you were able to find this book amidst the nine billion other "Lord of the Rings" resources currently in circulation, consider yourself fortunate. "Finding God..." is not just another mindless marketing vehicle capitalizing on the Tolkien-mania currently sweeping the planet. There is real depth and substance to this work - Jim Ware has done an excellent job of exploring the faith that drove the author of the greatest book of the 20th century. It's easy to see why Tolkien's writings have stood the test of time. In addition to crafting an adventure yarn of mythic proportions, the Professor infused LOTR with virtues that never go out of style - virtues like honor, friendship, and self-sacrifice. "Finding God in the Lord of the Rings" would be an excellent place to start if you'd like to get inside the head of the man who once wrote: "...the chief purpose of life, for any one of us, is to increase according to our capacity our knowledge of God by all the means we have, and to be moved by it to praise and thanks. To do as we say in the Gloria in Excelsis: ...We praise you, we call you holy, we worship you, we proclaim your glory, we thank you for the greatness of your splendour." Once you know where Tolkien is coming from, the struggle between good and evil recounted in LOTR - set against the majestic backdrop of Middle Earth - takes on a whole new significance.

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Summary: Pablum
Review: This book is horribly superficial, and the writer shows a very clear failure to understand many of the themes in LOTR. This is not finding God in LOTR, but how to use LOTR as a blunt instrument in proselytizing for evangelical christianity; emphasis on "blunt".

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Summary: The book is something that was inevitable
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: Inpiring & no allegory
Review: This book is inspirational. I, a Christian having reread Tolkien's books many times, have succumbed to the chief temptation: Using allegory, I have tried to harness the reason for The Lord of the Rings' inspirational power. I could tell you at length how Frodo, Aragorn, and Gandalf each fit archetypes found in Christ. Tolkien, having written a large essay on the nature of fairy tales, clearly stated that his books are not allegories. Accordingly, this book does not force allegorical interpretation onto its readers.

However, it does assume Tolkien's statement, "God is the Lord, of angels, and of men - and of elves." Each chapter starts with a quote from Tolkien and ends with a reflection, a principle found both in the Bible and in The Lord of the Rings. I have intuitively held these principles during my life, but this book has helped me to realize them (art imitating life). They are the impetus behind my ongoing desire to reread Tolkien. I also was able to observe differences between archetypes and allegory. The book's chief principle stems from Kurt Bruner's other book The Divine Drama. It seems to me that we have a tendency to get caught up in our own `smaller' soap-opera stories, but Bruner emphasizes our place as characters in a larger, epic drama on the scale of Paradise Lost or The Silmarillion.

If you, while reading, feel that the authors have imposed their views onto Tolkien's writing, then skip ahead to the Epilogue. It explains why they wrote this particular book. I recommend this book even to those outside the Christian faith because it will help you realize powerful, archetypal aspects of story (and maybe find God too, though that's your personal decision). Besides, you should have no trouble reading this book in two hours.