A Hobbit Journey

The Lord of the Rings trilogy has delighted millions of fans worldwide in book and movie form. With the theatrical release of the two-part film The Hobbit slated for 2012 and 2013, attention will once again turn to J. R. R. Tolkien's classic works. In a culture where truth is relative and morality is viewed as old-fashioned, we welcome the chance to view the world through hobbit eyes: we have free will, our choices matter, and living a morally heroic life is possible. In this engaging and thought-provoking book, Tolkien expert Matthew Dickerson shows how a Christian worldview and Christian themes undergird Tolkien's Middle-earth writings and how they are fundamentally important to understanding his vision. This revised and expanded edition of Following Gandalf includes new material on torture, social justice, and the importance of the body.

Matthew Dickerson (PhD, Cornell University) is a professor at Middle-bury College in Vermont, a writer, and the director of the New England Young Writers' Conference at Bread Loaf. His previous works include From Homer to Harry Potter; The Mind and the Machine; Narnia and the Fields of Arbol: The Environmental Vision of C. S. 'Lewis; and Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J. R .R. Tolkien.

Acknowledgments	p. ix
References and Conventions	p. x
Abbreviations for Works	p. x
A Note on Capitalization	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Finding Meaning in Fantasy	p. 1
Where Is Middle-earth?	p. 2
The Making of Books	p. 5
Allegory and Applicability	p. 11
On Hobbits, the Treatment of Prisoners, and the Ethics of War	p. 19
Principles of Ethics in Warfare	p. 22
Torture by the Enemy	p. 24
The Ethics of the Wise	p. 28
The Complexities of Narratives, and of Life	p. 31
Epic Battles	p. 36
The Battle of Five Armies	p. 38
The Black Gate and the Skirmish with Southrons	p. 41
The Rohirrim and the Anglo-Saxons	p. 43
So Fair, So Desperate	p. 48
Hope and Healing	p. 54
The "Contest" at Helm's Deep	p. 56
War, the Individual, and Fellowship	p. 59
Frodo and the Wisdom of the Wise	p. 62
Spotting Wisdom in Middle-earth	p. 64
The Wisdom of Gandalf	p. 65
Military Might and True Hope	p. 69
Faramir	p. 72
The Wisdom of the Bagginses	p. 75
Military Victory or Moral Victory?	p. 80
Victory, at What Cost?	p. 81
The Temptation of the Ring: Gandalf and Elrond	p. 86
The Temptation of the Ring: Galadriel and Faramir	p. 91
Human Freedom and Creativity	p. 95
The Reality of Choice	p. 98
Aragorn and the Doom of Choice	p. 102
The Prophecies	p. 104
The Gift of Iluvatar and the Power of the Ring	p. 108
The Domination of Wills	p. 109
The Flame Imperishable	p. 114
The Firstborn and the Followers	p. 119
Free Will and Creativity	p. 122
Moral Responsibility and Stewardship	p. 126
Objective Morality and Judgment	p. 131
Moral Responsibility	p. 136
Another Word on (or against) judgment	p. 139
The Steward of Middle-earth	p. 143
The Seen and the Unseen: Salvation and Social Justice	p. 148
The Salvation of Boromir	p. 151
The Salvation of Sméagol	p. 155
Saruman, Denethor, and Damnation as Un-Salvation	p. 159
Bilbo and Frodo: Mercy for the Merciful	p. 162
Social justice and a Rejection of Gnosticism	p. 164
A Shift in Tone: Free Will and the Hand of Ilúvatar	p. 170
A Deepening of Voice	p. 171
Attaching a Leaf	p. 179
The Presence of Ilúvatar	p. 182
The Purpose of Ilúvatar	p. 188
The Tower of Ilúvatar	p. 191
Free Will and the Hand of Ilúvatar	p. 198
Ilúvatar's Theme and the Real War	p. 203
Not a Christian Myth?	p. 206
The Missing Piece	p. 216
Sorrow and Loss	p. 221
A Christian Myth?	p. 227
The Absence and the Presence of the Incarnation	p. 236
The Theme of Ilúvatar	p. 240
The Real War and the Happy Ending	p. 244
Notes	p. 251
Sources	p. 259
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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