Paperback. 3.7 stars

I envy a friend who was able to study great texts under Prof. Wood at Baylor - how wonderful must those Socratic seminars have been! This book was poignant and exposed a breadth of knowledge and wisdom about the Gospel and about literature which cut deep into the heart of anyone who loves Tolkien. As someone who loves the Lord of the Rings but can sometimes read a passage over and over trying to discern its meaning before hopelessly moving on, Raplh Wood has taken pains to read everything pertaining to demystifying the texts. With remarkable brevity, Wood is able to explain the deepest and central ideas of the Gospel and expose their essence everywhere within Tolkien's works. Here is just one example in Wood's assessment of Mercy and Forgiveness as the basis of the Love Tolkien displays in Bilbo's pitying Gollum when first finding the Ring:
"Tolkien captures the transcendent, even divine quality of real love by having it issue in a pity and pardon utterly unknown either to the warrior cultures of the ancient world or to our own equally merciless culture of competition - [such love] is the key to our own transformation." 155.

As he wrapped up the book, he provided this quote from Sam (aka the hero of the book) as offered it as the summation of a Christian's heart of servanthood amidst a broken world:
"I know we are going to take a very long road, into darkness; but I know I can't turn back . . . I don't rightly know that I want: but I have something to do before the end, and it lies ahead, not in the Shire. I must see it through sir." 163.

Read if you love the Creator of the Universe and the Lord of the Rings or are at least interested in those two.

This book was so edifying and though-provoking! I loved it. It has stoked the fires of my mind and spirit. Probably going to read it again.

While I liked much of Wood's analysis of LOTR, I wish the organization of the book had been stronger. The grouping of themes didn't make sense to me, and it often felt like he was jumping from one point to the next in a haphazard fashion. The TOC could be more informative.

The book also seems to be stuck half-way between a commentary for the average reader and a scholarly work. As an average reader with a basic familiarity of LOTR, I would need more context for many of the illustrations and quotes. I think you have to have a pretty good familiarity with Tolkien in order to follow it. As an academic, I would need more textual and critic support. I found it odd that no other literary critics were mentioned.

Overall, the general analysis of seeing Christian themes in LOTR is ok, but it feels like the author could've done more with the organization and development.

HOLY COW. SO GOOD