The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview Behind The Lord of the Rings

by Peter J. Kreeft

I wasn’t sure I would like this book as I am not into philosophy or so I thought, but this book I can recommend. I have treasured several others for the depth of the writing, but this is the first one I read that is written, not just from a scholarly point of view, but from an unabashed point of view of the joyful fan. This is written by one of us. Frodo is Kreeft’s favorite and mine which endeared the prolific author even more to me. He addresses all the big questions philosophy tries to answer about free will, fate, humility, friendship, mercy, evil, etc. etc. and applies this to the story Frodo and Sam wrote in the Red Book. One of the more interesting points is we all know how strong evil is, but do we realize how weak it is? That is brought out here among many other things. Kreeft writes as if all this actually existed and it’s easy to believe that it did. Another book Ignatius published by another author called J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality and Religion, concludes with the hope that in heaven we will be able to visit Middle-earth and those who inhabited it, courtesy of the man who brought it to us and made actual by God. So it seemed to be professor’s own hope that such would happen. We can all hope that.