Devin Brown

That JRR Tolkien is the author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit is probably the most known fact about him. That he was Christian is probably the second.

And yet, in his essay/lecture-turned-book, The Christian World of The Hobbit, Devin Brown belabors this point. Much time is spent giving example after example from The Hobbit, long after his point has been proven. In fact, this book should have been called The Christian World of Tolkien, or some thing similar, because Brown gives just as many examples and justifications of his thesis from The Lord of the Rings as Tolkien’s first novel.

One particular thing I found lacking is acknowledgement of a God-character in Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. Brown continually references the fact that the wisest characters like Gandalf and Elrond reference some greater plan or being who they will ultimately answer to. This is his proof of God. But for a professor that teaches on Tolkien, there is absolutely no reference to The Silmarillion, Tolkien’s third-most famous work. The Silmarillion opens with God, or Eru Ilúvatar, creating divine spirits and then creating the world. This is Tolkien’s clear parallel to the Catholic God, and for Brown to omit it seems disingenuous. So why omit it? Does Brown see the creation of other divine spirits to be outside of the parallels he wants to give? Or does he simply want to stick to The Hobbit? (Because of the myriad references to The Lord of the Rings, I doubt this to be the case.)

Was Tokien a Christian? Of course. Did his world view come out in his fantasy novels? Of course. Where I’d like to have seen this expanded is in parallels to Christian apologists or contrasted with secular fiction authors. Brown often handwaving statements like (paraphrased) “Many Christians believe God acts like this” or “Tolkiens’ contemporaries didn’t agree with this”. As it stands, much of this essay reads as if it were written by a ninth grader rather than a college professor.… (plus d'informations)

In this eight-session video group study (DVD/digital video sold separately), you will discover why Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis is one of the most read and beloved Christian books of all time. But seventy years later from when it was first delivered on radio, what relevance does it have to our world today? Host Eric Metaxas and a variety of Christian leaders−including Philip Yancey, Alister McGrath, Devin Brown, Paul McCusker, Douglas Gresham, and others−help us understand the timeless message of C. S. Lewis in fresh ways for a new generation.… (plus d'informations)