Finding God in the Lord of the Rings

First off, I appreciate that the authors openly said they don’t pretend to know Tolkien’s intention, but were going off of simply what they found in the story. I’ve been a longtime Tolkien fan, and can honestly say that this book gave me a deeper appreciation for how deep and rich the world he created is. It delved deep into great lessons to learn from the series.

The negative reviewers did not read page 13 of the intro? "We wrote this book to help fans..discover how the rich fabric of Tolkien's fantasy ENHANCES a Christian understanding of our real world...It is not..a covert allegory of the gospel." This book is a series of reflections on how the story parallels other timeless real and fictional stories and how we might apply the points. It is encouraging to someone who has not delved into the bible but can can get their mind around Tolkien. It might pique curiosity enough to get them to crack a bible open. On the other hand, I can also say it is very encouraging to someone who is not a reader of fantasy at all. It has opened the world of that genre which I have ignored. I've noticed that some people are afraid of the "darkness" in that genre for themselves or kids. This book will help help them understand the point and be more comfortable with that.

If you are considering buying "Finding God in LOTR", go for it! I treated itt as a devotional type book while I was finishing Return of the King and it brings the story into a new light. It made middle earth and the adventures of the ring easy to relate to our everyday lives and struggles while incorperating Biblical Values. Even though some might argue that this was never Tolkien's intention, it is impossible to not see the close links after reading this book. Many churches and people focus too much on finding evil in the world so much that they miss the good things. That is why a book like this is so much more significant and should be praised as opposed to a book dedicted to finding evil. Spread the gospel unto all the world, and use new and unique ways and see it in a new way. That is what this book so clearly shows, points like the most unlikley of people are chosen for the greatest of tasks. Frodo, a simple hobbit; or followers of Jesus: fishermen, tax collectors, sinners all called to something. Jesus himself was an unlikley person to turn out to be God- think about it people were expecting a great King and He came as a man. Back to the book, I only wish it was longer as I think more points could have easily been made such as analogies such as how some of the characters seem to have qualities of Biblical characters. One last word, if you fear or hesitate due to Tolkien's Catholic (if that bothers you for some odd reason as I know it does for some) background you might be missing out on a great message that God has for you. God Bless!!

This book was not what I expected it to be. I read it again and I just saw every point the authors Bruner and Ware made was logical. If you are a die hard fan of LOTR and have questions of whether or not if your favorite series is worth your time spiritually, then get this book. It was very helpful to me. :)

I'm not shallow, but somtimes I need a little help to see what's in front of me. We've all looked at a painting that had hidden figures in it, and we can see most of them, yet know there are more there. This book is like the friend who comes along and gently points out what's right in front of us. I enjoyed it very much.

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.