The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-Earth

Tolkien's Ordinary Virtues: Exploring the Spiritual Themes of The Lord of the Rings

Mark Eddy Smith · 141 pages

The Lord of the Rings offers us essential lessons in living. Here we discover ordinary virtues like generosity, pity, hospitality, and rest. We meet extraordinary people like Bilbo, Gandalf, Tom Bombadil and Glorfindel. We learn about the roots of destruction in pride and betrayal. And we find the ingredients for success, such as community and sacrifice. Each of us -- even the most simple -- is ca

The White Goddess

Robert Graves · 511 pages

The definitive edition of one of the more extraordinary and influential books of our time This labyrinthine and extraordinary book, first published more than sixty years ago, was the outcome of Robert Graves's vast reading and curious research into strange territories of folklore, mythology, religion, and magic. Erudite and impassioned, it is a scholar-poet's quest for the meaning of European m

Christian Mythmakers: C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L'Engle, J.R.R. Tolkien, George MacDonald, G.K. Chesterton, Charles Williams, Dante Alighieri, John Bunyan, Walter Wangerin, Robert Siegel, and Hannah Hurnard

Rolland Hein · 303 pages

The Art of Biblical Narrative

Robert Alter · 195 pages

This book offers a literary approach to the biblical text. Robert Alter brings numerous textual examples of the different types of biblical narrative, e.g., dialogue, repetition, narration.

Looking for God in Harry Potter

John Granger · 229 pages

The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage

Paul Elie · 565 pages

"In the middle of the twentieth century, four American Catholics, working independently of one another, came to believe that the best way to explore the quandaries of religious faith was in writing - in works that readers of all kinds could admire. The Life You Save May Be Your Own is their story - a vivid and enthralling account of great writers and their power over us.". "Thomas Merton was a Tr

A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War: How J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, and Heroism in the Cataclysm of 1914-18

Joseph Loconte · 235 pages

"The untold story of how the First World War shaped the lives, faith, and writings of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis"--Amazon.com.

God: A Biography

Jack Miles · 446 pages

Miles shows us God in the guise of a great literary character, the hero of the Old Testament. In a close, careful, and inspired reading of that testament - book by book, verse by verse - God is seen from his first appearance as Creator to his last as Ancient of Days. The God whom Miles reveals to us is a warrior whose greatest battle is with himself. We see God torn by conflicting urges. To his o

Finding God in The Lord of the Rings

Kurt Bruner, Jim Ware · 161 pages

The bestselling book now revised and updated with new content! Hailed as the most popular and best-loved series of the twentieth century, The Lord of the Rings trilogy is more than a great story; it's a reflection of life's epic quest for all of us. Examining the Christian themes in J. R. R. Tolkien's masterwork, bestselling authors Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware reveal a rich tapestry of hope, friendsh

From Ritual to Romance

Jessie Laidlay Weston · 202 pages

A study of the Grail legend explores the saga's Gnostic roots and its relationship to ancient nature cults that associated the physical condition of the king with the productivity of the land.

How Dante Can Save Your Life: The Life-Changing Wisdom of History's Greatest Poem

Rod Dreher · 310 pages

"Following the death of his little sister and the publication of his New York Times bestselling memoir The Little Way of Ruthie Leming, Dreher found himself living in the small community of Starhill, Louisiana where he grew up. But instead of the fellowship he hoped to find, he discovered that fault lines within his family had deepened. Dreher spiraled into depression and a stress-related autoimmu

Sor Juana: Or, the Traps of Faith

Octavio Paz · 560 pages

The Hero With a Thousand Faces

Joseph Campbell · 456 pages

A thoroughly intense and all-embracing read. In the 2-page preface written in 1948, he states such ground-shakingly obvious facts about the human psyche, that you'll wonder why these ideas had never dawned on you before. Then, into the main text of the book, and you're spirited away into an adventure that explores all forms of mythology and their importance in founding different cultures all aroun

Heretics

G.K. Chesterton · 160 pages

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born in London, England on the 29th of May, 1874. Though he considered himself a mere rollicking journalist, he was actually a prolific and gifted writer in virtually every area of literature. A man of strong opinions and enormously talented at defending them, his exuberant personality nevertheless allowed him to maintain warm friendships with people - such as George B

Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose

Flannery O'Connor · 237 pages

The essays and articles in this volume are concerned mainly with the art of fiction--its quality, in regional writing; its nature and its aims; and its relatino to the writer's religion.

The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis

Alan Jacobs · 355 pages

The White Witch, Aslan, fauns and talking beasts, centaurs and epic battles between good and evil -- all these have become a part of our collective imagination through the classic volumes of The Chronicles of Narnia. Over the past half century, children everywhere have escaped into this world and delighted in its wonders and enchantments. Yet what we do know of the man who created Narnia? This bio

Yuganta: The End of an Epoch

Irawati Karve · 217 pages

Study of chief characters in the Mahābhārata.

The Gnostic Gospels

Elaine Pagels · 184 pages

The Gnostic Gospels is a landmark study of the long-buried roots of Christianity, a work of luminous scholarship and wide popular appeal. First published in 1979 to critical acclaim, winning the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Gnostic Gospels has continued to grow in reputation and influence over the past two decades. It is now widely recognized as one of the mo

Reflections on the Psalms

C.S. Lewis · 128 pages

"I write," the author says, "as one amateur to another, talking about the difficulties I have met, or lights I have gained, with the hope that this might at any rate interest, and sometimes even help, other inexpert readers." He relates the Psalms to their tripel background: to the ancient Judaic religion which produced them, to the age of Christ when they took on new meanings, and to our daily ex

The Rock That Is Higher: Story as Truth

Madeleine L'Engle · 308 pages

The Rock That Is Higher: Story as Truth Rate this book 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars Open Preview The Rock That Is Higher: Story as Truth by Madeleine L'Engle 4.13 · Rating details · 585 ratings · 62 reviews We are all strangers in a strange land, longing for home, but not quite knowing what or where home is. We glimpse it sometimes in our dreams

Biblical interpretation and the church

D. A. Carson · 240 pages

Tolkien: Man and Myth, a Literary Life

Joseph Pearce · 242 pages

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings took first place in a recent national poll to find the greatest book of the century. He may be the most popular writer of our age, but Tolkien is often misunderstood. This major new study of his life, his character and his work reveals the facts and confronts the myths. It explores the background to the man and the culture in which he wrote. Tolkien: Man and

All Things Shining: Reading the Western Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular Age

Hubert L. Dreyfus, Sean Dorrance Kelly · 254 pages

The Mind of the Maker

Dorothy L. Sayers · 229 pages