{"id":10477,"date":"2012-11-06T22:57:23","date_gmt":"2012-11-07T03:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=10477"},"modified":"2012-11-06T22:57:23","modified_gmt":"2012-11-07T03:57:23","slug":"review-of-the-christian-world-of-the-hobbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/11\/review-of-the-christian-world-of-the-hobbit.html","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Christian World of the Hobbit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a> $\"\"$ I am grateful to have the opportunity to participate in the Patheos Book Club<\/a> this month, focused on Devin Brown\u2019s book The Christian World of The Hobbit<\/a> $\"\"$ <\/em>.<\/p>\n

A book by this title might seem to some to be precisely the sort of book that they typically gravitate towards or make a concerted effort to avoid. But to both sorts of readers, I would like to emphasize that Brown\u2019s book is distinctive, not least because of the distinctive and subtle-yet-profound way that Tolkien\u2019s own writings relate to his Christian faith. This is not the sort of book that identifies Christ or Satan figures and other types, turning a work (whether the author is likely to have approved or not) into an allegory of a particular faith. This is because Tolkien\u2019s work is profoundly Christian not in its specific images but in its core values (see especially pp.28-34 on Tolkien\u2019s dislike of allegory, and thus of attempts by readers of Lord of the Rings\u00a0<\/em>to interpret what he wrote allegorically).<\/p>\n

As a result of Brown\u2019s close attention both to Tolkien\u2019s writings \u2013 not only The Hobbit<\/a> $\"\"$ <\/em>\u00a0nor even his fictional novels alone, but Tolkien\u2019s own writings about himself, his faith, and his writings \u2013 the result is a text which offers an insightful thematic literary analysis which works with the grain of the literary material under discussion, rather than forcing it into a mold alien to the author\u2019s vision.<\/p>\n

Middle Earth has seemed to some a place of Christian typology and to others a world devoid of God. For Tolkien himself, the world he envisaged was (as he wrote in a letter<\/a> concerning Lord of the Rings<\/a> $\"\"$ <\/em>) \u201cfundamentally religious and Catholic<\/a>\u2026unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision\u201d (quoted Brown, p.24). The entire first chapter explores this dynamic but very fine line that Tolkien seems to have managed to walk with such balanced poise. Precisely through its avoidance of explicit religion \u2013 cults, rituals, and blatant references to one or more deities \u2013 his books manage to highlight implicit religion \u2013 with themes which are the focus of the book\u2019s later chapters, such as morality, values, and providence.<\/p>\n

Chapter 2 focuses on \u201cluck\u201d in Middle Earth. Brown notes<\/a> that references to luck and chance are often qualified with additional phrases<\/a>: \u201cchance\u2026if chance you call it.\u201d Unless one posits the activity of an unseen but real power at work in Middle Earth, then one would probably have to conclude that the role luck plays in the stories is far fetched, and some have concluded just that. But Brown, in conversation with other interpreters of and commentators upon Tolkien\u2019s works, argues that what is seen here is not a lack of plausibility or imagination on the part of Tolkien as author, but\u00a0providence<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Chapter 3 looks at aspects of characters\u2019 development, while chapter 4 looks at the moral fabric of Middle Earth. The two are difficult to separate, hence my considering them together. Some have accused Tolkien of creating characters who are unrealistic in their moral alignments \u2013 either pure goodness or pure evil. But once again Brown offers a more convincing and sympathetic reading, which concludes that the world Tolkien depicts is one where there\u00a0are<\/em> moral absolutes, but the\u00a0characters<\/em> do not align solely on one side of the dividing line or the other, but clearly genuinely struggle with what they ought to do.<\/p>\n

Chapter 4 focuses on the impact of Tolkien\u2019s fictional writings, and the discussion that resulted on topics such as the appropriateness of frightening monsters and profound sadnessin literature which is aimed at least in part at children. Tolkien, echoing G. K. Chesterton, suggests that children inhabit the real world, tinged with terrors and tragedies. Children therefore do not need to be sheltered from such elements in stories, but rather need a positive depiction of the possibility of undergoing and surviving hardship and loss, and of defeating monsters and other terrifying foes (pp.168-169).<\/p>\n

The book abounds with helpful insights on many themes and plot lines that run through Tolkien\u2019s talks about Middle Earth, and about the broader genre of fantasy and how it can assist us in finding wonder again in our own real life by moving mundane things into a new setting where we can see them in a new light. Brown manages to tackle not only\u00a0The Hobbit<\/a> $\"\"$ <\/em> but\u00a0The Lord of the Rings<\/a> $\"\"$ <\/em>, Tolkien\u2019s writings about his literary products, his interactions with C. S. Lewis, and much more.<\/p>\n

This is not merely a book written by a Christian for other Christians to highlight the Christian aspects of Tolkien and\u00a0The Hobbit<\/a> $\"\"$ <\/em>. It is an analysis of the worldview of this much-loved author and how that worldview shaped and pervades his storytelling. And so I highly recommend it not only to those who want to connect Tolkien\u2019s novels to a Christian faith of their own, but to\u00a0anyone<\/em> who wants to explore the themes and vision which have made Tolkien\u2019s tales so widely enjoyed and appreciated.<\/p>\n

Reading Brown\u2019s book has made me want to go back and read\u00a0The Hobbit<\/em> and\u00a0Lord of the Rings<\/em> all over again. Surely that is a sign of good writing\u00a0about\u00a0<\/em>writing \u2013 that it makes you want to go read the literature being discussed?<\/p>\n