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

by Peter Kreeft

Paperback, 2005

Status

Available

Collection

OT Other (Architecture, Fiction, Poetry)

Publication

Ignatius Press (2005), Edition: First, 237 pages

Description

"Peter Kreeft takes the reader on a voyage of discovery into the philosophical bones of Middle earth. Like a good concordance, this book organizes the philosophical themes in The Lord of the Rings into 50 categories, accompanied by over 1,000 references to the text. Since many of the great questions of philosophy are included in the 50-theme outline, this book can also be read as an introduction to philosophy. For each of the philosophical topics in The Lord of the Rings, Kreeft presents four tools by which they can be understood: an explanation of a key question; a key quotation showing Tolkien's answer; quotes from other writings of Tolkien that clarify the theme; and quotes from his close friend C. S. Lewis, which state the same philosophical points directly."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Jthierer

I think this was a good premise that ultimately failed in the execution. I didn't mind the focus on Christian philosophy (its from a religious publisher) but I do object to the frequently dismissive and insulting tone the author took toward those who disagree with his philosophy. In addition to the

off-putting lack of open-mindedness I feel the author bit off way more than he could chew. He attempted to cover 50 philosophical questions in 225 pages. Basically this left him enough time to briefly explain the question, provide one quote each from Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, then move on. I would have preferred a much deeper exploration of perhaps five or ten questions rather than the shotgun approach the author took.

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LibraryThing member neverstopreading

This book analyzes philosophical themes in light of LOTR. It could be used to teach philosophy itself, using LOTR. It is very different in scope from TLOTR and Philosophy.

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