Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: J. R. R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle-Earth by Bradley J. Birzer, Joseph Pearce ISBN: 1-882926-84-6 Publisher: ISI Books Pub. Date: November, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.42 (12 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Tolkien on Theology
Comment: This is an excellent study of the theology of J. R. R. Tolkien as beautifully expressed in his mythological subcreation, Middle-Earth, popularized in The Lord of the Rings. Birzer does a wonderful job, in my opinion, of unfolding how Tolkien's Christian-Catholic world-view shaped his writings. He deals with topics such as Heroism, The Nature of Evil, Modernism, and Grace. While I am not Catholic and would not share many of Tolkien's sentiments, I am enthralled with his work and this book helped me understand it better. Birzer avoids drawing superficial parallels from Tolkien's stories or turning them into allegories (something Tolkien would have abhorred); but rather gets into the fabric of Tolkien's own thought (with excellent documentation in both the fiction of Tolkien and his letters), uncovering HIS vision of Middle-earth. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to really understand Tolkien better.
Rating: 5
Summary: Children, Hippies, and Environmentalists
Comment: Children, Hippies, and Environmentalists have always read J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", but have they correctly understood the myth? No. Dr. Bradley J. Birzer completes the understanding of Tolkien as a Christian writer. Dr. Birzer presents Tolkien with a "Catholic Worldview". Based on Tolkien's own letters to colleagues and friends, we see that Tolkien lived and breathed Roman Catholicism.
Thanks to Bradley Birzer and Joseph Pearce, readers of all ages and faiths can begin to understand Middle-Earth. In Pearce's biography, we learn that Tolkien's Faith is significant in discovering the themes put before us in "The Lord of the Rings". Inferred in both Birzer and Pearce's books, the reader must have clear vision-a vision that is one with the "True Church", then and only then will your perception of Tolkien and his legendarium be clear and complete.
Dr. Birzer incorporates Pearce's thesis, but fulfills the truth about Tolkien and his writings. Birzer goes beyond "The Lord of the Rings" and offers a study of Tolkien's writings as a whole.
Viewers and readers of "The Lord of the Rings" are able to catch a glimpse of religious themes, but the vision presented is incomplete. Tolkien explicitly stated that the story was not an allegory, but part of an entire mythology. Dr. Birzer examines Tolkien's corpus and shows us how Tolkien is not just a fiction writer, a philologist, a Christian, but a Roman Catholic.
By the end of "Sanctifying Myth", we want to go back and study (yes...STUDY!), not just the trilogy, but all of Tolkien's writings. Dr. Birzer suggests that Tolkien, when properly read and studied, should be placed with other Christian Humanists of the 20th Century, such as T.S. Eliot and C.S. Lewis. This is true. But I suggest as the world continues in its understanding of Tolkien, he will be placed with the elite group of 20th Century Catholic Writers: G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, Christopher Dawson, Romano Guardini, Josef Pieper, Fulton J. Sheen and today's, Ralph McInerny. These writers present the "Catholic World View", not in the sense of a religious denomination, but as its primary definition, that which is Universal.
Over the last century, the world has been bombarded by atheism and war, bringing upon mankind the death of the soul and the body. Tolkien reminds us of our Creator-Creature relationship. As we are surrounded by communism, existentialism, feminism, nihilism, relativism, all which have brought darkness and death to our imagination, Tolkien has taken on the humble task of an apostle and has carried us to the light...to the Truth.
I highly recommend "J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth". Readers will not only discover the truth about Tolkien, but about the world.
Rating: 2
Summary: Not quite the Catholic study of Tolkien we've been wanting
Comment: This is almost the Catholic study of Tolkien we've been waiting for. But not quite. Though diligently researched, with 800 footnotes, it somehow manages not to engage with its subject very much. Birzer says occasional odd things like describing "Mythopoeia" as "a poem written to celebrate" Lewis's conversion, surely the wrong word, and claiming that Ilúvatar bypassed the Valar in destroying Númenor. I found it diffuse and nowhere near as interesting as I'd hoped.
 |
Title: The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-Earth by Ralph C. Wood ISBN: 0664226108 Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: Celebrating Middle-Earth: The Lord of the Rings As a Defense of Western Civilization by John G. West, Jr. John G. West ISBN: 1587420120 Publisher: Inkling Books Pub. Date: June, 2002 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
 |
Title: Tolkien: Man and Myth by Joseph Pearce ISBN: 0898708257 Publisher: Ignatius Press Pub. Date: December, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World by Verlyn Flieger ISBN: 0873387449 Publisher: Kent State Univ Pr Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
 |
Title: Following Gandalf: Epic Battles and Moral Victory in the Lord of the Rings by Matthew T. Dickerson ISBN: 1587430851 Publisher: Brazos Press Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.99 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
