The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-earth

by Ralph C. Wood

This is the first book I read through when I started to seriously pursue those books that had been written about the spiritual themes that are woven into the whole story of Middle-earth from the beginning through the start of the Fourth Age and beyond. It starts out with much on the Silmarillion and the creation through song of much good and also evil and it continues through to the story of the War of the Ring and the effects of the evil that has been present since the beginning of the world. It includes the best description yet I have heard about Sam and Frodo’s unbreakable bond, calling it holy and comparing it to the ‘knitted souls’ of Jonathan and David in the Bible. There is also a discussion of “The Debate of Finrod and Andreth” about the Incarnation that is still some thousands of years in the future. This is another great book that addresses many of the themes that make the Red Book something to return to time and time again and learn something new each time, about it and ourselves.