Mark Eddy Smith

This is a great book when it reflects on the spiritual themes of Tolkien - as the subtitle suggests it does. Taking key moments from the books and illustrating the values and struggles within is a worthwhile endeavour. So is illustrating the moral and ethical lessons one can take from the books. Even thinking about how Tolkiens cultural background affected the work is interesting.
Unfortunately the author intends this as an evangelical tool for Christianity and that feels extremely tacked on. After some decent discussion of the content of Tolkien's work, you get a tacked on bit about how this is just like such and such a passage or what Jesus meant here and there or how Gandalf is either like Paul or like Jesus or like an angel in this or that section. The worst part is that it's fairly clear the author draws a lot of insight from and is invested in Tolkien - and the Christianity is forced into the story as if to justify how his own interest in a work of fiction might be greater than his interest in the book of his faith.… (meer)

Nice idea, lousy implementation.

You might think, from its title, that this is a book about the personal virtues of J. R. R. Tolkien. You would be wrong. Apart from the fact that Tolkien was Catholic, you will learn almost nothing about his personal life. The book doesn't even look at his First World War service, in which he came to understand and admire the strengths and virtues of the enlisted men who served under him -- "ordinary virtues" indeed.

Or you might think that this is about all of Tolkien's writings, from The Hobbit to The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun." You would again be wrong. There are a few mentions of The Silmarillion, nothing at all of Tolkien's lesser works. It's all about The Lord of the Rings, which it approaches with a breathless sort of praise, almost as if it were a semi-inspired work -- a patristic writing to be interpreted in the light of canonical scripture.

The approach is very superficial. It goes through The Lord of the Rings part by part, picking out incidents and relating them to one or another Christian virtue. But the analysis has no insight into Tolkien's own views. There is no mention of what Tom Shippey calls Tolkien's "Theory of Courage," for instance.

This is not to deny that Smith finds valid virtues in Tolkien. His examples are mostly good. But you could get the same ideas simply from reading the Bible or any random inspirational work. He finds nothing unique in the books. By studying Tolkien's life, and his other works, it would be possible to find much greater riches: the "Theory of Courage." The "trouthe" that Tolkien felt toward his wife. The "seeking beyond the world." Or, to put it another way, fortitude in the face of despair. Loyalty without hope of reward. A restless seeking for something better.

With dozens of chapters, most of only a few pages, Smith had touched lightly on many virtues. I cannot help but think he would have taught us much more had he gone into real depth about a shorter list.… (meer)