Review of Finding God in the Lord of the Rings
(avg. read time: 9–17 mins.)
One of the things I would like to do on occasion on this Substack is book reviews. I will say, as a fair warning to my readers, if you’re looking for book reviews that are 500 to 1,000 words, or possibly shorter, you have come to the wrong place. I like to do reviews where I can engage with the details of the book, even if not in a truly comprehensive fashion (though there may be times for such a thing).
Some of the books I want to write reviews of are books related to biblical and Christian elements in Tolkien’s works. I have read several books in this field—along with various articles and chapters—and I have tended to have issues with all of them, but there are still some that are helpful and some that are not so helpful. To begin with, this month I want to review the best and worst books I have read on the subject. We will start with the worst one I have read:
Bruner, Kurt, and Jim Ware. Finding God in the Lord of the Rings. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 2001.
(I am aware that there is a newer edition available, but I am not willing to buy it. They have added six short chapters to the beginning and updated the intro, but from what I could see in the preview, they have not corrected the issues with the original chapters. Thus, with the understanding that this does not reflect the entirety of their latest edition, the points I make about what is good and bad in the chapters of the original edition still stand.)
What I consider the worst book I have read on this subject is also the first book I ever read about it. Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware’s Finding God in the Lord of the Rings, which came out the same year as Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring, presents a series of reflections on Tolkien’s work focused on biblical and theological correlations. As they say in the introduction:
We wrote this book to help fans of The Lord of the Rings discover how the rich fabric of Tolkien’s fantasy world enhances a Christian understanding of our real world. Each reflection begins with a scene or theme of the adventure that points to a truth or insight for our lives today. We are assuming that the reader is familiar with the entire trilogy, as the concepts explored are intended to enrich the experience of the full story, not replace it.
We do not claim to know the mind of J. R. R. Tolkien beyond what he chose to share with us through letters and other writings. It is unlikely that he had these or any other reflections in mind as he penned his epic….
It is not our goal to declare Tolkien’s intentions, but rather to explore the inference of his imagination, an imagination that could not help but reflect Christian themes. (xiii–xiv)
Like many other works on this subject, it is thus thematically driven, but less organized than most, as the authors jump from subject to subject without a guiding throughline—whether a major argument or the narrative flow of LOTR—or a development from one theme to the next. That itself is not an issue, but the reader should be aware of what they are getting and the depth of engagement that will be involved in it.
What is a problem is how they begin the engagement with Tolkien’s work in the first chapter “A Deep Yearning.” The quote they begin with comes from Gimli’s Song of Durin that he recites in Moria: “The world was fair, the mountains tall / In Elder Days before the fall” (II/4). That is where they cut off the quote with a full stop. But there is no full stop in the original text. The dirge explicitly refers to the fall “Of mighty kings in Nargothrond / And Gondolin who now beyond / The Western Seas have passed away: / The world was fair in Durin’s Day.”
The reason why they misleadingly cut it off when they do is to make a connection to yearning for a state before the Fall. They make this clear through the link they make with the Music of the Ainur by which Eru Ilúvatar created the world, and our own yearning of a time before the Fall, but this connection simply does not work. Gimli certainly refers to better days, but he is not referring to the days before the “Fall,” nor even before the fall of Khazad-dûm itself (1). This part of the song refers, rather, to a time between these two times in the Elder Days. There is simply no good reason to cut this quote off as they have done.
The further correlations they try to make on this point also lead to further technical errors. For example, they say, “There is a deep yearning among the Fellowship of the Ring, an unspoken longing for something long lost. None have known it in their lifetimes. Few can recite the tales of its splendor. But all desire its discovery and hope to play a part in its restoration.” (1) This statement ignores the fact that the Fellowship includes Gandalf, who took part in the Music of the Ainur and personally knows of much better times and places.
There is not much to say about the second chapter “Small Tale.” The point concerns Bilbo’s story and how he is made to recognize that it is but one small part of a much larger story. This is true, and is made especially clear for Bilbo’s particular case on two occasions. One is from the ending of The Hobbit:
‘They are making songs which say that in his day the rivers run with gold.’
‘Then the prophecies of the old songs have turned out to be true after a fashion!’ said Bilbo.
‘Of course!’ said Gandalf. ‘And why should not they prove true? Surely you don’t disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself? You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!’
The other is from his song “The Road Goes Ever On and On”
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say. (I/1)
So yes, this point is definitely in the story, and it resonates with so many other connections that Tolkien makes throughout LOTR that link this story to the larger story of The Silmarillion. Where this chapter is weakest is actually in the connections made with Scripture. They draw from Ps 45:1 (9), when there are so many other texts that would fit better to anchor this belief biblically. Indeed, this is a common issue that arises at many points in the book, where texts are drawn from LOTR and the Bible that are not quite appropriate for the subject, but there are more appropriate texts available. If one is not simply “along for the ride” through this series of reflections, it becomes difficult to determine (much less justify) why these choices were made.
The third chapter, “The Call,” seems unnecessary, as Bruner and Ware’s point is to connect the call to adventure that Frodo feels in LOTR to the call of Jesus, as the whole point of reflection is, “The call to follow Christ is a call to adventure—inconvenient, imperious, and irresistible” (15). Naturally, the biblical connections they make include the calls to follow that Jesus makes in the Gospels. But if that is the point of correlation, one wonders why “irresistible” is added to this list of qualities, when it is quite clearly resistible. Jesus himself says that many are called but few are chosen (Matt 22:14). He also teaches in Luke 14 about counting the cost of discipleship (vv. 25–33). John tells us that many of his early followers ultimately abandoned the call well before the events of the passion (6:60–66). In these ways and others, the description of the call as irresistible simply does not work in this application.
The fourth chapter of “Evil Intentions” is built around the point that there is personal evil, “and it is actively determined to dominate our lives” (20). But the quote that is correlated with this is, “But we must do something, soon. The Enemy is moving” (17). This makes me wonder if there was some extra-strict word limit for quotes, so that they just went with the shortest ones they could find, not necessarily the best. For a few examples:
He does not need you—he has many more useful servants—but he won’t forget you again. And hobbits as miserable slaves would please him far more than hobbits happy and free. There is such a thing as malice and revenge. (I/2)
But I feel very small, and very uprooted, and well—desperate. The Enemy is so strong and terrible. (I/2)
The very desire of it corrupts the heart. Consider Saruman. If any of the Wise should with this Ring overthrow the Lord of Mordor, using his own arts, he would then set himself on Sauron’s throne, and yet another Dark Lord would appear. And that is another reason why the Ring should be destroyed: as long as it is in the world it will be a danger even to the Wise. For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even Sauron was not so. (II/2)
Well, let folly be our cloak, a veil before the eyes of the Enemy! For he is very wise, and weighs all thing to a nicety in the scales of his malice. But the only measure that he knows is desire, desire for power; and so he judges all hearts. Into his heart the thought will not enter that any will refuse it, that having the Ring we may seek to destroy it. If we seek this, we shall put him out of reckoning. (II/2)
How could I do so, who have so often counseled my friends to suspect even their own hands when dealing with the Enemy. (III/5)
But there is nothing that Sauron cannot turn to evil uses. (III/11)
Is it the will of the Dark Tower that steers us? All my choices have proved ill. (IV/1)
Other evils there are that may come; for Sauron is himself but a servant or emissary. Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. (V/9)
Likewise, the fifth chapter “Wise Counsel” begins simply with the quote, “Do be careful of that Ring, Frodo” (21). There is much to say about wisdom in LOTR and in the Bible, and they could surely not have plumbed all the depths in this chapter, but it is a shame they settled for no depths. Frodo certainly heeded wisdom from Gandalf and others, and he had wisdom of his own. Besides investigating the source of this wisdom—thereby connecting with wisdom theology/Christology in the Bible—two avenues that could have been explored that came immediately to mind that could have made for much better chapters are the connection of wisdom to knowledge of lore in LOTR, and how the wisest courses of action taken in LOTR, especially in the main Quest, are cases where wisdom appears to be utter folly. That is, for characters who are wise in LOTR, knowledge of the much larger story to this point is a key element of wisdom in LOTR, but it also involves paying humble attention to what the story teaches (unlike others like Saruman who sought to use the knowledge for power). This connects with the fear of the Lord, knowledge of Scripture, and obedience in the Bible. Likewise, the presentation of the course of divine wisdom as subversive to how the world sees has rather obvious resonance biblically, especially in reference to the cross (e.g., note the opening chapters of 1 Corinthians).
Everything, finally, properly comes together in the sixth chapter “Deceptive Appearances.” This is built around the example of Strider/Aragorn’s appearance when the Hobbits first meet him. They also have a decent sample of biblical cases in which the significance of various people subverts what people expect based on appearances. There is much more that could be said on both of these fronts, but for what this chapter is, it is the best in the book thus far.
However, the seventh chapter “Shutting Out the Night” prevents this from becoming a trend. They try, far too desperately, to make a biblical correlation with the relief and restoration provided for the Hobbits when they arrive at the house of Tom Bombadil. The biblical correlations rest on superficial ones of commands to not be afraid and statements of joy (Neh 8:10; Luke 2:10). They also corelate the idea to 1 John 4:18, in that complete love drives out fear. No proverbs are invoked, no teachings on hospitality come up, no reflections are given on biblical statements or implications about the simple joys of food and drink thanks to God’s provision. So much else could have been done in this chapter, and illumination could have been provided in a number of ways, but the impression reflections like this provide is that God is only found in LOTR by trying to force-fit him into it.
The eighth chapter “Hidden Courage” is more on-point, but still has much room for improvement. The scene drawn from LOTR concerns the reference to the hidden seed of courage in the hearts of Hobbits, which emerges in Frodo in the Barrow-downs. They mostly draw correlations from examples in history, but they also make the obvious connection with David, and they draw on the text of 2 Tim 1:7. If nothing else, this chapter could have been helped by a deeper engagement with the 2 Timothy text. But the lack of depth is particularly bothersome here because of how Tolkien’s portrayal of heroism connects with what he has drawn from Beowulf and The Battle of Maldon in terms of the “northern spirit of courage” as preparation for the gospel. This framework shows a basic moral order to the universe—one that was not clearly in place in Norse mythology—that provides ultimate vindication for people who stand against those forces that seek to usurp the order of the Creator. That this spirit would be embodied among people who did not know God in any direct fashion, and many years before they would come to know him through the proclamation of the gospel, attests to how God was already at work, not leaving himself without a witness (Acts 14:16–17), in northern Europe among fallen image-bearers.
The ninth chapter “Last Homely House” builds to the point of reflection that “Way stations are important, but they should never be mistaken for the journey’s end” (46). This is connected with the fact that Frodo and what would become the Fellowship found much in the way of healing, restoration, enjoyment, and overall enrichment in Rivendell, but they could not stay there, or this place would also be destroyed. The problem comes in the biblical correlation, as they make a common preaching error in linking this potential pitfall with Peter at the Transfiguration. The suggestion is that Peter, upon seeing Moses and Elijah, wanted to set up “permanent residence” there (their words on 45). But on what basis do they say that Peter wanted to set up permanent residence there? All three accounts specifically refer to tents/tabernacles in Peter’s statement (σκηνή in Matt 17:4 // Mark 9:5 // Luke 9:33). It is not meant to be a permanent structure in the way a house is. Certainly, Peter wanted to stay there longer, and he seemingly thought this was an opportunity for him and his friends to talk to these great men of the past. And perhaps he also suggested tents precisely because they are portable. If they could provide movable shelter for Moses and Elijah, maybe they could bring them along as companions for their journey across the land, giving these two more comfortable accommodations than the disciples might have had. The only reason to suppose that he is suggesting setting up permanent residence is because it helps the preacher’s point, rather than making the preacher’s point fit the text.
As a further illustration of textual details getting in the way of the point they want to make, consider the tenth chapter “Loyal Companion.” They describe Sam as Frodo’s “friend from childhood.” First, we have to remember that Sam is twelve years younger than Frodo. We do not know when exactly they met, but it could not have been before Frodo was around 21 and Sam was 9, when Bilbo adopted Frodo and brought him to live with him in Hobbiton. It is true that Sam and Frodo had known each other long before the Quest, as Sam had been Frodo’s servant for over seventeen years after Frodo became the owner of Bag End. This note simply was not necessary to the larger point of the chapter and could have been left out altogether if the authors had done their due diligence. As with the examples they list from the Bible, the most loyal companions are not necessarily (and often simply are not) those friends we have known the longest; they may come into our lives at any time.
The eleventh chapter “Oft Overlooked” seems unnecessary. It is unclear why this could not have been combined with the “Deceptive Appearances” chapter. Otherwise, I do not have much else to say about it. Likewise, the twelfth chapter “No Safety” could have easily been combined with the “Last Homely House” chapter, as there is much overlap in the overall points from both chapters. In fact, the former would have been made stronger for it and they could have avoided the troublesome biblical correlation.
I will say, however, that after these various stumbles, the rest of the book is on-point for both the material drawn from LOTR and the biblical/theological correlations they make. The chapter “Mysterious Light” could have been expanded to make up for others that problematically left out elements of subversive wisdom, but it is good that it is here in the first place. “Unwholesome Power” does well to correlate the character of evil in both the Primary and Secondary Worlds. “A Crown of Flowers” is a fine reflection on hope from the resources of Tolkien and the Bible, as is “Singing in the Dark” (the two probably should have been combined). In between is the chapter “A Good End,” which is a good reflection on how it is God who defines and ultimately makes the good end of the story, even if characters within the story cannot see how it will come about as yet. “Unwitting Instrument” teases at the depths of the work of providence in Tolkien’s story. The final two chapters of “King of Hearts” and “Redemption” rest on rather safe foundations of correlating Aragorn with Christ the King and the sacrificial work of Frodo with sacrifice being required for redemption. These things could be pursued in more depth, as I hope to do some day, but for what this book is, these reflections are fine.
My only complaints about these chapters are the same as those for the entire book in terms of the depth of engagement, but the fact remains that these last chapters achieve the book’s purpose much better than the preceding ones, and so the book ends on a higher note with these chapters, plus the epilogue that scratches the surface on Tolkien’s theology of sub-creation.
But that is one complaint that ultimately keeps me from recommending this book for the purposes of studying biblical and theological connections with Tolkien’s stories. It is simply too shallow. It is also too disjointed, as there are too many issues to wade through and the book is too haphazard in the earlier chapters. Indeed, for the purpose of “finding God in The Lord of the Rings,” one could do much better with other books available, as this book is not a fitting guide for that purpose.