Creation and Beauty in Tolkien's Catholic Vision

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Author :
Publisher : Lutterworth Press
ISBN 13 : 071884811X
Total Pages : 298 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (188 download)

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Book Synopsis Creation and Beauty in Tolkien's Catholic Vision by : Michael Halsall

Download or read book Creation and Beauty in Tolkien's Catholic Vision written by Michael Halsall and published by Lutterworth Press. This book was released on 2020-09-24 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book hopes to invite readers into Tolkien's world through the lens of a variety of philosophers, of all of whom owe a rich debt to the Neoplatonic philosophical tradition. It places Tolkien's mythology against a wider backdrop of catholic philosophy and asks serious questions as to the nature of creation alongside the nature of God, what it means to be good, and concerning the problem of evil. This book attempts to set Tolkien alongside both his contemporaries and ancient authors, and how he used similar literary devices in order to express his desire to create a "mythology for England."

Creation and Beauty in Tolkien's Catholic Vision

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Author :
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1532641109
Total Pages : 294 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (326 download)

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Book Synopsis Creation and Beauty in Tolkien's Catholic Vision by : Michael John Halsall

Download or read book Creation and Beauty in Tolkien's Catholic Vision written by Michael John Halsall and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2020-01-02 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book invites readers into Tolkien’s world through the lens of a variety of philosophers, all of whom owe a rich debt to the Neoplatonic philosophical tradition. It places Tolkien’s mythology against a wider backdrop of Catholic philosophy and asks serious questions about the nature of creation, the nature of God, what it means to be good, and the problem of evil. Halsall sets Tolkien alongside both his contemporaries and ancient authors, revealing his careful use of literary devices inspired by them to craft his own “mythology for England.”

Tolkien’s Theology of Beauty

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 1137553456
Total Pages : 279 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (375 download)

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Book Synopsis Tolkien’s Theology of Beauty by : Lisa Coutras

Download or read book Tolkien’s Theology of Beauty written by Lisa Coutras and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-08-03 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Lisa Coutras explores the structure and complexity of J.R.R. Tolkien’s narrative theology, synthesizing his Christian worldview with his creative imagination. She illustrates how, within the framework of a theological aesthetics, transcendental beauty is the unifying principle that integrates all aspects of Tolkien’s writing, from pagan despair to Christian joy. J.R.R. Tolkien’s Christianity is often held in an unsteady tension with the pagan despair of his mythic world. Some critics portray these as incompatible, while Christian analysis tends to oversimplify the presence of religious symbolism. This polarity of opinion testifies to the need for a unifying interpretive lens. The fact that Tolkien saw his own writing as “religious” and “Catholic,” yet was preoccupied with pagan mythology, nature, language, and evil, suggests that these areas were wholly integrated with his Christian worldview. Tolkien’s Theology of Beauty examines six structural elements, demonstrating that the author’s Christianity is deeply embedded in the narrative framework of his creative imagination.

Tolkien, Race, and Racism in Middle-earth

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Author :
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030974758
Total Pages : 363 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (39 download)

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Book Synopsis Tolkien, Race, and Racism in Middle-earth by : Robert Stuart

Download or read book Tolkien, Race, and Racism in Middle-earth written by Robert Stuart and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-04-15 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tolkien, Race, and Racism in Middle-earth is the first systematic examination of how Tolkien understood racial issues, how race manifests in his oeuvre, and how race in Middle-earth, his imaginary realm, has been understood, criticized, and appropriated by others. This book presents an analysis of Tolkien’s works for conceptions of race, both racist and anti-racist. It begins by demonstrating that Tolkien was a racialist, in that his mythology is established on the basis of different races with different characteristics, and then poses the key question “Was Tolkien racist?” Robert Stuart engages the discourse and research associated with the ways in which racism and anti-racism relate Tolkien to his fascist and imperialist contemporaries and to twenty-first-century neo-Nazis and White Supremacists—including White Supremacy, genocide, blood-and-soil philology, anti-Semitism, and aristocratic racism. Addressing a major gap in the field of Tolkien studies, Stuart focuses on race, racisms and the Tolkien legendarium.

Tolkien's Sacramental Vision

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781621380535
Total Pages : 299 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (85 download)

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Book Synopsis Tolkien's Sacramental Vision by : Craig Bernthal

Download or read book Tolkien's Sacramental Vision written by Craig Bernthal and published by . This book was released on 2014-06-14 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of Tolkien's great appeals to readers is that he offers a world replete with meaning at every level. To read and reread Tolkien is to share his sense of wonder and holiness, to be invited into the presence of a "beauty beyond the circles of the world." It is to fall in love with a universe that has a beginning and an end, where good and bad are not subjective choices, but objective realities; a created order full of grace, though damaged by sin, in which friendship is the seedbed of the virtues, and where the greatest warriors finally become the greatest healers. A correspondent once told J. R. R. Tolkien that his work seemed illumined "by an invisible lamp." That lamp is the Church, and its light is the imaginative sensibility that we live in a sacramental world. This new book by the author of The Trial of Man examines in depth the influence of Catholic sacramentality on the thought and work of Tolkien, with major emphasis on The Lord of the Rings, but including his literary essays, epistolary poem "Mythopoeia," short story "Leaf by Niggle," and The Silmarillion. Here is a signal contribution to a deeper understanding of Tolkien, whose mythological world is meant to "recover" the meaning of our own as a grace-filled place, pointing toward its Creator.

The Philosophy of Tolkien

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Author :
Publisher : Ignatius Press
ISBN 13 : 1681495317
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (814 download)

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Book Synopsis The Philosophy of Tolkien by : Peter Kreeft

Download or read book The Philosophy of Tolkien written by Peter Kreeft and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2009-09-03 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While nothing can equal or replace the adventure in reading ; Tolkienಙs masterwork, The Lord of the ; Rings, Peter Kreeft says that the journey into its ; underlying philosophy can be another exhilarating ; adventure. Thus, Kreeft takes the reader on a voyage ; of discovery into the philosophical bones of Middle earth. ; He organizes the philosophical themes in The Lord of the ; Rings into 50 categories, accompanied by over 1,000 ; references to the text of Lord.Since many of the great ; questions of philosophy are included in the 50-theme ; outline, this book can also be read as an engaging ; introduction to philosophy. For each of the philosophical ; topics in Lord, Kreeft presents tools by which they can be ; understood. Illustrated.

The Gospel According to Tolkien

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Author :
Publisher : Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN 13 : 9780664234669
Total Pages : 198 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (346 download)

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Book Synopsis The Gospel According to Tolkien by : Ralph C. Wood

Download or read book The Gospel According to Tolkien written by Ralph C. Wood and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Readers have repeatedly called The Lord of the Rings the most important book of our age--absorbing all 1,500 of its pages with an almost fanatical interest and seeing the Peter Jackson movies in unprecedented numbers. Readers from ages 8 to 80 keep turning to Tolkien because here, in this magical kingdom, they are immersed in depth after depth of significance and meaning--perceiving the Hope that can be found amidst despair, the Charity that overcomes vengeance, and the Faith that springs from the strange power of weakness. The Gospel According to Tolkien examines biblical and Christian themes that are found in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. Follow Ralph Wood as he takes us through the theological depths of Tolkien's literary legacy.

The Hobbit Party

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Publisher : Ignatius Press
ISBN 13 : 1586178237
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (861 download)

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Book Synopsis The Hobbit Party by : Jay Richards

Download or read book The Hobbit Party written by Jay Richards and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2014-09-18 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anyone who has read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings can gather that their author hated tyranny, but few know that the novelist who once described himself as a hobbit Òin all but sizeÓ wasÑeven by hobbit standardsÑa zealous proponent of economic freedom and small government. There is a growing concern among many that the West is sliding into political, economic, and moral bankruptcy. In his beloved novels of Middle-Earth, J.R.R. Tolkien has drawn us a map to freedom. Scholar Joseph Pearce, who himself has written articles and chapters on the political significance of TolkienÕs work, testified in his book Literary Giants, Literary Catholics, ÒIf much has been written on the religious significance of The Lord of the Rings, less has been written on its political significanceÑand the little that has been written is often erroneous in its conclusions and ignorant of TolkienÕs intentionsÉ. Much more work is needed in this area, not least because Tolkien stated, implicitly at least, that the political significance of the work was second only to the religious in its importance.Ó Several books ably explore how TolkienÕs Catholic faith informed his fiction. None until now have centered on how his passion for liberty and limited government also shaped his work, or how this passion grew directly from his theological vision of man and creation. The Hobbit Party fills this void. The few existing pieces that do focus on the subject are mostly written by scholars with little or no formal training in literary analysis, and even less training in political economy. Witt and Richards bring to The Hobbit Party a combined expertise in literary studies, political theory, economics, philosophy, and theology.

Musical Scores and the Eternal Present

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Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1725295024
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (252 download)

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Book Synopsis Musical Scores and the Eternal Present by : Chiara Bertoglio

Download or read book Musical Scores and the Eternal Present written by Chiara Bertoglio and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-08-31 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Music is played and heard in time, yet it is also embodied in space by musical scores. The observation of a musical score turns time into space and allows musicians to embrace the flow of time in a single glance. This experience constitutes a symbol for the Eternal Present, the simultaneous knowledge of all time outside time. This book analyzes the implications of this view through a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives, linking theology, philosophy, literature, and music. It also studies how this theme has been foreshadowed in the writings of Dante and J. R. R. Tolkien, demonstrating the connections between their masterpieces and the aesthetics of their times. The result is a fascinating itinerary through the history of culture, thought, and music, but also a deeply theological and spiritual experience.

J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth

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Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1684516242
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (845 download)

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Book Synopsis J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth by : Bradley J. Birzer

Download or read book J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth written by Bradley J. Birzer and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-08-29 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a new introduction by the author Peter Jackson's film version of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy - and the accompanying Rings-related paraphernalia and publicity - has played a unique role in the disemmination of Tolkien's imaginative creation to the masses. Yet, for most readers and viewers, the underlying meaning of Middle-earth has remained obscure. Bradley Birzer has remedied that with this fresh study. In J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle-earth, Birzer reveals the surprisingly specific religious symbolism that permeates Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He also explores the social and political views that motivated the Oxford don, ultimately situating Tolkien within the Christian humanist tradition represented by Thomas More and T.S. Eliot, Dante and C.S. Lewis. Birzer argues that through the genre of myth Tolkien created a world that is essentially truer than the one we think we see around us everyday, a world that transcends the colorless disenchantment of our postmodern age.

Pagan America

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Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1684515610
Total Pages : 377 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (845 download)

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Book Synopsis Pagan America by : John Daniel Davidson

Download or read book Pagan America written by John Daniel Davidson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2024-03-26 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evil Is Coming – Worse than You Imagine

Ents, Elves, and Eriador

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Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813171598
Total Pages : 343 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

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Book Synopsis Ents, Elves, and Eriador by : Matthew T. Dickerson

Download or read book Ents, Elves, and Eriador written by Matthew T. Dickerson and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2006-11-17 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many readers drawn into the heroic tales of J. R. R. Tolkien's imaginary world of Middle-earth have given little conscious thought to the importance of the land itself in his stories or to the vital roles played by the flora and fauna of that land. As a result, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion are rarely considered to be works of environmental literature or mentioned together with such authors as John Muir, Rachel Carson, or Aldo Leopold. Tolkien's works do not express an activist agenda; instead, his environmentalism is expressed in the form of literary fiction. Nonetheless, Tolkien's vision of nature is as passionate and has had as profound an influence on his readers as that of many contemporary environmental writers. The burgeoning field of agrarianism provides new insights into Tolkien's view of the natural world and environmental responsibility. In Ents, Elves, and Eriador, Matthew Dickerson and Jonathan Evans show how Tolkien anticipated some of the tenets of modern environmentalism in the imagined world of Middle-earth and the races with which it is peopled. The philosophical foundations that define Tolkien's environmentalism, as well as the practical outworking of these philosophies, are found throughout his work. Agrarianism is evident in the pastoral lifestyle and sustainable agriculture of the Hobbits, as they harmoniously cultivate the land for food and goods. The Elves practice aesthetic, sustainable horticulture as they shape their forest environs into an elaborate garden. To complete Tolkien's vision, the Ents of Fangorn Forest represent what Dickerson and Evans label feraculture, which seeks to preserve wilderness in its natural form. Unlike the Entwives, who are described as cultivating food in tame gardens, the Ents risk eventual extinction for their beliefs. These ecological philosophies reflect an aspect of Christian stewardship rooted in Tolkien's Catholic faith. Dickerson and Evans define it as "stewardship of the kind modeled by Gandalf," a stewardship that nurtures the land rather than exploiting its life-sustaining capacities to the point of exhaustion. Gandalfian stewardship is at odds with the forces of greed exemplified by Sauron and Saruman, who, with their lust for power, ruin the land they inhabit, serving as a dire warning of what comes to pass when stewardly care is corrupted or ignored. Dickerson and Evans examine Tolkien's major works as well as his lesser-known stories and essays, comparing his writing to that of the most important naturalists of the past century. A vital contribution to environmental literature and an essential addition to Tolkien scholarship, Ents, Elves, and Eriador offers both Tolkien fans and environmentalists an understanding of Middle-earth that has profound implications for environmental stewardship in the present and the future of our own world.

Chesterton and Tolkien as Theologians

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0567651355
Total Pages : 202 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (676 download)

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Book Synopsis Chesterton and Tolkien as Theologians by : Alison Milbank

Download or read book Chesterton and Tolkien as Theologians written by Alison Milbank and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book takes Chesterton's 'natural theology' through fairytales seriously as a theological project appropriate to an intellectual attempt to return to faith in a secular age. It argues that Tolkien's fiction makes sense also as the work of a Catholic writer steeped in Chestertonian ideas and sharing his literary-theological poetics. While much writing on religious fantasy moves quickly to talk about wonder, Milbank shows that this has to be hard won and that Chesterton is more akin to the modernist writers of the early twentieth-century who felt quite dislocated from the past. His favoured tropes of paradox, defamiliarization and the grotesque have much in common with writers like T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and James Joyce and their use of the demotic as well as the 'mythic method'. Using Chesterton's literary rhetoric as a frame, the book sets out to chart a redemptive poetics that first decentres the reader from his habitual perception of the world, then dramatizes his self-alienation through the grotesque, before finding in that very alienation a sort of pharmakon through paradox and an embrace of difference. The next step is to change one's vision of the world beyond the self through magic which, paradoxically, is the means by which one can reconnect with the physical world and remove the fetishism and commodification of the object. Chesterton's theology of gift is the means in which this magic becomes real and people and things enter into reciprocal relations that reconnect them with the divine.

The Flame Imperishable

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (693 download)

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Book Synopsis The Flame Imperishable by : Anthony T Vento

Download or read book The Flame Imperishable written by Anthony T Vento and published by . This book was released on 2024-04-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Embark on a Journey Through Middle-Earth: Discovering Catholic Threads in Tolkien's Tapestry Step into the intertwining worlds of faith and fantasy with The Flame Imperishable: Catholicism in the Halls of Middle-earth's History, a thought-provoking exploration that delves deep into the religious undercurrents of J.R.R. Tolkien's legendary realm. This captivating book guides readers on a journey through Middle-earth, uncovering the Catholic themes that serve as the lifeblood of Tolkien's work, and illuminating the profound spiritual depths often overlooked by casual observers. In the opening chapter, "The Light of Eä An Overview of Tolkien's Mythopoeic Universe," readers are introduced to the creation of Middle-earth through a lens that juxtaposes Tolkien's narrative genius with Catholic creation narrative, setting the stage for a mesmerizing voyage of discovery. The exploration continues, unraveling the divine mysteries of the Valar and their Valinor, the enigmatic role of elves and men in a universe charged with free will, and the undying hope that underpins the epic quests of Tolkien's cherished characters. Diving deeper, the book reveals the essence of divine intervention in the harrowing struggles of Middle-earth, the sacramental echoes in the simple sustenance of lembas bread, and the Marian echoes found in the character of Galadriel. Not merely a theological dissertation, this novel-like narrative weaves together theological insight with an exquisite storytelling approach that echoes Tolkien's own. Whether discussing the eschatological underpinnings of The Lord of the Rings or analyzing the linguistic creativity that binds Tolkien's world to his faith, the book invites readers of all backgrounds to perceive Middle-earth in a light that is as illuminating as it is unexpected. For fans of Tolkien, The Flame Imperishable serves not only as a key to understanding the Catholic dimension of his work but as an invitation to view his oeuvre as a grand tapestry of belief, beauty, and imagination. Culminating in a breathtaking exploration of divine revelation and the beauty of creation as depicted in Middle-earth's landscapes and languages, this book stands as a testament to Tolkien's legacy and the indelible mark of his faith on the worlds he created. Don't merely read-embark on a journey to the very heart of Middle-earth.

Seeking the Lord of Middle Earth

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Author :
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1532600046
Total Pages : 188 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (326 download)

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Book Synopsis Seeking the Lord of Middle Earth by : Jeffrey L. Morrow

Download or read book Seeking the Lord of Middle Earth written by Jeffrey L. Morrow and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2017-06-07 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: J. R. R. Tolkien, the beloved author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, brings to his work a great treasure--his Christian faith. Tolkien's literary works are so popular in part because, in some sense, they pertain to the real world. This present volume is an attempt to understand better the deep Christian influences on his work but also to explore the relevance of Tolkien's work for theology today. After examining Tolkien's fiction in order better to appreciate Christian influences, this volume takes a closer look at Tolkien's theology of fantasy, his response to the more skeptical origins of religion research, and applies his work to contemporary questions about method in biblical studies. Tolkien's Christianity informed all he wrote. Moreover, his own theology of fantasy holds great promise for contemporary theology.

The Flame Imperishable

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781621383154
Total Pages : 310 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (831 download)

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Book Synopsis The Flame Imperishable by : Jonathan S. McIntosh

Download or read book The Flame Imperishable written by Jonathan S. McIntosh and published by . This book was released on 2017-12-06 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: J. R. R. Tolkien was a profoundly metaphysical thinker, according to this new study of his works. The Flame Imperishable follows the thought of Aquinas as a guide in laying bare the deeper foundations of many of the more familiar themes from Tolkien's legendarium, including such notions as sub-creation, free will, evil, and eucatastrophe.

The Hobbit and Philosophy

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Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118233891
Total Pages : 278 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (182 download)

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Book Synopsis The Hobbit and Philosophy by : Gregory Bassham

Download or read book The Hobbit and Philosophy written by Gregory Bassham and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-09-18 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A philosophical exploration of J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved classic—just in time for the December 2012 release of Peter Jackson's new film adaptation, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is one of the best-loved fantasy books of all time and the enchanting "prequel" to The Lord of the Rings. With the help of some of history's great philosophers, this book ponders a host of deep questions raised in this timeless tale, such as: Are adventures simply "nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things" that "make you late for dinner," or are they exciting and potentially life-changing events? What duties do friends have to one another? Should mercy be extended even to those who deserve to die? Gives you new insights into The Hobbit's central characters, including Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf, Gollum, and Thorin and their exploits, from the Shire through Mirkwood to the Lonely Mountain Explores key questions about The Hobbit's story and themes, including: Was the Arkenstone really Bilbo's to give? How should Smaug's treasure have been distributed? Did Thorin leave his "beautiful golden harp" at Bag-End when he headed out into the Wild? (If so, how much could we get for that on eBay?) Draws on the insights of some of the world's deepest thinkers, from Confucius, Plato, and Aristotle to Immanuel Kant, William Blake, and contemporary American philosopher Thomas Nagel From the happy halls of Elrond's Last Homely House to Gollum's "slimy island of rock," this is a must read for longtime Tolkien fans as well as those discovering Bilbo Baggins and his adventures "there and back again" for the first time.