books and reading

Some may "grit their teeth" (as one disgruntled reviewer said below) through these essays, but readers more in line with Tolkien's own philosophy will be pleased to find these kindred spirits.

Virtually every political and cultural movement of the past forty years, from free-spirited hippies in the '60s, to strident environmentalists in the '70s, to Christian conservatives in the new millennium. has tried to co-opt Tolkien books as emblematic of their particular concerns. It is a testament to the richness of his work that people from such disparate viewpoints see therein a reflection of their notions.

Those from the left side of the political spectrum sometimes refuse to acknowledge this, but their wishful thinking aside, the truth is that Tolkien was a staunch conservative, in every sense of the word. He attended Mass almost every single day of his life, and he frequently bemoaned liberal ways of thinking.

These essays are largely written by like-minded people who understand Tolkien's point of view. If you're interested in learning what really made Tolkien tick, read this book. Peter Kreeft's essay alone is worth the price. Tolkien was by no means a racist (he famously said in his valedictory speech at Oxford, "I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones" -- many years before that view became fashionable), but he didn't see the defense of Western civilization as synonymous with racism. He didn't love war, but he understood well the folly of burying one's head in the sand. (See the debate between Gandalf and the Saruman-enchanted Theoden in "The Two Towers" for a startling parallel to contemporary argument.)

If you're a liberal pacifistic atheist, you may not agree with what you read here. But then, Tolkien wouldn't agree with your point of view either.

This is a short collection of essays given as papers at a conference at Seattle Pacific University. The conference was sponsored by a C.S. Lewis Institute, and some contributions are reminiscent of the aggressive polemical style of that author's apologetics. The opening two essays, by the editor and Peter Kreeft, are not concerned with discerning Tolkien's views of western civilization, but with using Tolkien to buttress their own views, a distinctly different approach. And their definition of western civilization, for the purpose of their essays, is strictly confined to Biblical morality, with dire references to September 11 as proof of the reality of evil, and plenty of random bashings of anti-Tolkien critics, moral relativists, and other harbingers of the bad. Kreeft claims that Theoden's virtue lay in avoiding Denethor's sin of acquiring too much knowledge, and that Gollum speaks in the plural because the singular, as in "I Am That I Am," is associated with God. Some may find such claims seriously off-base: I certainly do, and had to grit my teeth through both his and West's essays.

The third and longest essay, by Janet Leslie Blumberg, is a quiet discussion of the literary influence on Tolkien of Anglo-Saxon and Middle English literature. Three very brief essays conclude by taking a more specifically theological and sacramental approach to Tolkien's morality. Of these, Phillip Goggans follows Kreeft and West, but Joseph Pearce and Kerry L. Dearborn are more interested in exploring Tolkien's views than in using Tolkien to defend their own. They and Blumberg provide workmanlike essays which, though they only skim the surface of their topics, can be useful as introductions.

This book is a thin softcover with large print, narrow margins, and numerous typographical errors.

This is a vey good book but perhaps too focussed on Christian values for the title to be fully correct. Hal Colebatch's "Return of the Heroes: The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Harry Potter and Social Conflict," which I have reviewed on its own page, does a much more comprehensive job in looking at the relationship between TLOTR and the whole of Western as well as specifically Christian values. Both, however, are full of interest and recommended.