The Director and Stars of “The Hobbit” Share Thoughts on Bravery, Mercy and Tolkien’s Christianity

Patheos/Christopher Closeup ^ | December 10, 2012 | Tony Rossi

[Tainan]

Had this poster on a few walls back in the '70s:


Interesting article that is using that picture:Cultural Marxism — Is It Here to Stay?

Also Tolkien versus the Frankfurt School : The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly of the Left

[Tainan]

Had this poster on a few walls back in the '70s:


Interesting article that is using that picture:Cultural Marxism — Is It Here to Stay?

Also Tolkien versus the Frankfurt School : The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly of the Left

[Tax-chick]

Our homeschool association has had a “Hobbit Reading Club” going since June. We’ve read the book - usually each chapter several times - done character analysis, plot charts, arts-and-crafts, and discussed mythology, theology, and how difficult it is for people who are cranks about the text to sit through movies made my non-cranks.

We’re all going to see the movie Saturday afternoon. I will stifle my cries of “That’s not in the text!” for the sake of the team ;-).

[Oratam]

Ping for those articles. Thx!

[Mrs. Don-o]

I miss homeschooling :o(

[Mrs. Don-o]

I think really prophetic writing is not just right "once," it's right over and over. I think a gifted artist (even an unebliever) can write true things without quite knowing it. I've seen that several times with authors who were trying to make one "point," but ended up making a different, truer one.

Tolkien,I think, is one of the Permanent Good Ones.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

I miss homeschooling :o(

Our oldest is in his second year at Christendom. Our middle is a senior in high school but she is taking classes at the local community college. Our youngest is a sophomore in high school. We've been homeschooling for 15 years now. I can't even imagine life after homeschooling but its right around the corner for us too.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I miss homeschooling :o(

[Tax-chick]

I will be 65 when Kathleen finishes high school, other things being equal.

The Hobbit Club has been lots of fun, even though the logistics got crazy once the science teams started in September.

[PapaBear3625]

I did run across an interesting, suggestive explanation which somewhat assists interpreting the riddle, or leading the listener in a certain direction in understanding the metaphors concerning "the lady" in Stairway to Heaven, with myself being led to think of the love for what was good & right that the elven princess Arwen carried as "lady of the light" and what she gave up *[to bring the balance back]* in the preceding song on that album, yet gained still(?) shared love with Aragon

And I always thought that the song was about a junkie looking for her dealer so she could get her next fix:

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven.
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for.
...

Your head is humming and it won't go, in case you don't know,
The piper's calling you to join him,
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind.

[Mrs. Don-o]

It is certainly alarming that MvKellum has such mordant atheist views. But on the other hand, Galdalf is a monkish or priestly figure (old, wise, celibate as far as we can tell, benevolent toward dwarves and men owad their well-being and redemption); and then there's no doubt Gandalf is also a Christ-figure.

McKellum's Gandalf-fight with the Balrog was (in my mind) the best symbolic portrayal of Christ fighting demons, descending into the pit (of earth, hell), dying, coming back resurrected and transfigured, that I have ever seen. He comes back --- at the turn of the age --- so radiant that Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas bow and kneel in homage.

So our old atheist can appreciate --- in a shadowy way ---- the nobility of priestly and Christly realities.

Let's pray for him.

[SuziQ]

Our youngest son did a full course on “Lord of the Rings” as a ‘Literature course’ in his Senior year. He read the full trilogy, it tied in vocabulary, and even had some lessons on comparative literature. It was called “Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings”, and he really enjoyed it.

[Tax-chick]

I’d have a great time with that. Our group ranges in age from 6 to 14 (not counting the nerdy moms; we are in our 40s). Term papers are too much to ask, but they didn’t have any problem getting into characters and descriptions. I drew battlefield maps for the last couple of chapters, just like in the National Battlefield Parks guidebook!

[GeronL]

I believe Tolkien helped to convert C.S. Lewis to Christianity. He couldn’t get him to go Catholic though

Because they are so different

[BlackVeil]

Thanks for that post, beautiful graphics.