Finding God in the Hobbit by Jim Ware
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I loved this in-depth look at the Christian themes found in the Hobbit! Tolkien is one of my top three favorite authors, so I was hanging on every word.
The author takes various characters, events, dialogue, and plot points from the Hobbit and then uses them to illustrate a Biblical truth. He really brought forth some excellent points that I had never thought of before! I loved how the author worked “around” a principle, and showed you all the facets and different sides, and then hammered it home simply and concisely. I loved the forceful writing style!
I wish that there had been more literary analysis though. It read more like a devotional book with personal stories, nuggets of wisdom, and a “thought for the day” kind of moral at the end of each chapter. I liked that, but I was hoping for more analysis of literary history, fairytale story structures, classical writing influences, Greek philosophy, etc…
In short, I wanted it to be more intellectual than it was.
But the devotional style of the book was good too! I enjoyed reading it so much, and I was even brought to tears a couple of times.
