{"product_id":"the-significance-of-j-r-r-tolkien-a-commentary-by-dr-timothy-keller","title":"The Significance Of J.R.R. Tolkien: A Commentary By Dr. Timothy Keller","description":"The Significance Of J.R.R. Tolkien: A Commentary By Dr. Timothy Keller AUDIO CD \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp class=\"proAttr productType\"\u003e\u003clabel\u003eType: \u003c\/label\u003e Audio Book \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"proAttr productType\"\u003e\u003clabel\u003ePlatform: \u003c\/label\u003e Audio CD \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"proAttr productType\"\u003e\u003clabel\u003ePublisher: \u003c\/label\u003e IAM Cultural Renewal Lecture \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"proAttr productType\"\u003e\u003clabel\u003eMedia: \u003c\/label\u003e CD \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cshortdescription\u003e\u003c\/shortdescription\u003eFor more than huff a century, J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings has moved and delighted countless readers around the world. It has sold more than fifty million copies. It is the roost popular work of fiction of our time. And yet this book, beloved by so many, has been treated with outright hostility by the Mer-1 ary establishment. From its first publication, serious critics hove done their best to marginal-ize Lord of the Rings, to trivialize it. They ail it simplistic, unserious, contemptible. Worse ye!: mey level Hid LIM 5 MUST CHUM CRJUSUI1011. LOW Of HIP 'il\" rim \" \"modern\" book. With the recent release of Peter Jackson's splen the critics have renewed their campaign with un did film adaptation of Lord of the Rings, precedented vigor. Why? What is it about Lord of the Rings that excites such intense passions...both positive and negative? Dr. Keller, in this remarkable talk, brilliantly answers that question. To do so, he explores the deceptive depths of this magnificent book, helping us to understand Tolkien's goals, his methods, his message...and his towering accomplishments. Lord of the Rings is unique among the fiction of our century. It is at once a work of prodi-gious scholarship and a work of dazzling imagination. Keller rightly sees it as o work of mythology rather than a work of fantasy. Drawing on his unrivaled background as a philol-ogist, Tolkien has undertaken a task of breathtaking audacity: to recreate — from half-remembered stories and forgotten word-origins — the lost legends of our culture. It is these shared legends that help us to explain and understand our world and ourselves. And Tolkien's myths move us deeply because they resonate with centuries of inherited meaning. The names of the characters, the songs they sing, the very languages they speak: to create them, Tolkien has reached back to the memories inherent in our oldest words. They seem \"right\" because they are right. When Tolkien's characters sing in Elvish, he does not arovide a translation; he counts on the words themselves to communicate at a level deeper than conversation. And they do. And what messages do they communicate? What are the central themes that so engage the reader... and so enrage the critic? In Keller's view, they can be summed up in three simple, eloquent words: evil; grace; and hope. It is a mark of Tolkien's achievement that he has made room, in his recreated mythology. for n fundamentally Christian vision that is wholly lacking in the old epics he admired. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe critics charge that Tolkien's view of evil is simplistic, completely out of step with today's reality. Not so. In Lord of the Rings, evil is everywhere, and evil is overwhelming. No-one (not even Sauron) is evil at the beginning; and no-one is so good that he cannot fall into evil. Not even Frodo is immune: he is unable, in the end, to cast the One Ring into the fire. This is a profoundly Christian message: no-one is good enough to overcome evil by himself. Simplistic? Hardly. Likewise, Tolkien's vision of grace is an inherently Christian one. Frodo is no mighty pagan hero; he succeeds in his quest not because he is strong and brave, but because he is weak and little. Only Frodo is small enough, unimportant enough to make his way into Mordor. Only Frodo can save the Shire for others — while losing it for himself. And finally, there is the transfiguring power of hope. Tolkien has the courage to portray a world that is terribly flawed, unbearably sad...marred both spiritually and physically. For it is only with that knowledge that we can have hope for the redemption that will make things right, when \"the world is mended.\" No wonder, then, that the critics have reacted to Lord of the Rings with such unremitting hostility. For Tolkien has tapped a deep longing that is at odds with the relativistic complex-ity of the so-called \"modern\" world. These myths move us, they resonate in us, because people want and need to hear them. Our hearts are hungry for these stories of good and evil, of friendship and heroism, of beauty, of terror, of wonder, of salvation. And so, finally, the critics' most serious charge is a valid one. Lord of the Rings is not, after all, a modern work; and that is its great strength. Fifty million readers have understood what the critics have missed: Lord of the Rings is not less than modern, it is more than modern. It is timeless. Listen to this wonderful talk: its wisdom, its humor, its unfeigned affection for its subject. Listen to it, and then re-read Lord of the Rings (you know you will!). You will find it a rich--, er, more moving experience. There is no higher praise. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor CD Player\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"IAM Cultural Renewal Lecture","offers":[{"title":"Used In Sleeve","offer_id":44962300494102,"sku":"90652","price":59.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0083\/0377\/1710\/products\/2023615195740925scan_d0828e0a-a756-4d75-a930-f327ba1c9488.jpg?v=1688186426","url":"https:\/\/www.neverdiemedia.com\/products\/the-significance-of-j-r-r-tolkien-a-commentary-by-dr-timothy-keller","provider":"NeverDieMedia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}