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Child of the 7th Age · 12-09-2002, 08:00 AM

Piosenniel,

Many thanks for the links. The only one I had looked at before was Amazon.

[/b]Burra,[/b]

Hey, Burra, behave!

Bird,

You may be interested in the context in which these questions arose.

As you know, I live in a small 'neighborhood', which is not Christian, within a large city. I've always felt it's kind of like being a hobbit in Bree. Within that smll neighborhood, I have the reputation of being the local 'expert' (don't laugh!) on Tolkien and his writings as well as fantasy in general. People, especially younger ones who are friends of my children, ask me questions about the movies and the books. Those have exploded in number since the movie came out.

I had two adults separately drop by on Saturday and seriously bring up that article in the Journal. They raised a number of questions that have often been discussed on this board, specifically whether a non-Christian can truly appreciate the LotR to the same degree as a Christian. We also talked at length about Tolkien and Lewis, and how they found the latter more difficult to approach.

Of course, I went into my song and dance on layers of meaning in Tolkien, how the books should not be reduced to one dimension (however rich that dimension is) and the fact that the LotR is not allegory. I just thought it was interesting to see how discussions on this board have, in effect, spilled out into the general population because of the impact of the movie. Before PJ's release, that article would never have been published and that discussion would never have taken place!

sharon

12-09-2002, 08:00 AM	#5
Child of the 7th Age Spirit of the Lonely Star Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 5,133	Piosenniel, Many thanks for the links. The only one I had looked at before was Amazon. [/b]Burra,[/b] Hey, Burra, behave! Bird, You may be interested in the context in which these questions arose. As you know, I live in a small 'neighborhood', which is not Christian, within a large city. I've always felt it's kind of like being a hobbit in Bree. Within that smll neighborhood, I have the reputation of being the local 'expert' (don't laugh!) on Tolkien and his writings as well as fantasy in general. People, especially younger ones who are friends of my children, ask me questions about the movies and the books. Those have exploded in number since the movie came out. I had two adults separately drop by on Saturday and seriously bring up that article in the Journal. They raised a number of questions that have often been discussed on this board, specifically whether a non-Christian can truly appreciate the LotR to the same degree as a Christian. We also talked at length about Tolkien and Lewis, and how they found the latter more difficult to approach. Of course, I went into my song and dance on layers of meaning in Tolkien, how the books should not be reduced to one dimension (however rich that dimension is) and the fact that the LotR is not allegory. I just thought it was interesting to see how discussions on this board have, in effect, spilled out into the general population because of the impact of the movie. Before PJ's release, that article would never have been published and that discussion would never have taken place! sharon __________________ Multitasking women are never too busy to vote.