The Fellowship Of The Ring

The Lord Of The Rings

(1954)
J.R.R. Tolkien

Finished Reading: 04.2009

The first of the highly epic fantasy trilogy, I am watching the corresponding movie adaptations after reading each book. Admittedly, this is my first time reading the series, though I had seen the movies when first released eight, seven and six years ago, so Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen are Frodo and Gandalf for me, and there isn't anything I can do about it and that fiery red eye is watching at me.

If a plot summary is even appropriate, it would start by stating that Frodo Baggins is a wee hobbit with big feet, a gentle half-sized creature resembling a human, living in a land of round doors in earthen homes, a place called the Shire. He comes to be in possession of a simple gold ring with cryptic markings revealed only by fire, the bearer of which wields great and horrible power while wearing the ring on his finger. It also makes him disappear, which is scary for both he and those around him. Frodo must journey to the place where the ring was made, for only there can it be destroyed - the dark land of Mordor. Along his journey he has the help of various friends of different sorts: men, wizards, elves, dwarfs, hobbits and female elves too. Together they form the Fellowship of the Ring (well, not the female elves), the likes of which has never been seen. Their quest is great and dangerous as they travel through beautiful mountainous lands and majestic cities, meeting foes and friends along the way to the ominous Mount Doom (scary drums in the distance).

Tolkien has created a high descriptive, highly involved world with its own creatures, languages, fonts and even a fold-out map which is glued to the back cover as a guide for the reader. The third book (to be reviewed later) contains appendices and indexes on the background and history of the characters and creatures we encounter in the story. The comprehensiveness is enormous.

The Fellowship of the Ring starts us in the lands from which the main characters come from. Frodo and the hobbits are of the Shire, and it is here that the story unfolds, in the middle of an 111th (elevendy-first) birthday party, of all things. Along the way we pass through glimmering Rivendell and shimmering Lothlorien, home to the beautiful elves and their girly blond hair; and then through the dark mines of Moria, home to the hearty dwarfs and their scraggly beards. The evil forces are largely unknown to most of the Fellowship at this point, though they encounter the persistent and sinister black riders and herds upon herds of disgusting orcs waving swords and shooting arrows. Sauron's fiery eye is watching, and Saruman is looming in lands unknown.

My favorite character is Gandolf the grey, an old wizard and the primary guide to Frodo. He is very wise and wields magical powers, but he seems to hold back and is unsure of his abilities, appearing not to be as powerful as one might think a wizard should be, which keeps him mysterious. He is thoughtful and caring, loving and good. He sacrifices himself to save the others from the Balrog, a beast evil enough to finally test Gandolf's powers in the shortest epic battle sequence that I have ever seen, though it takes place on a grand stone arch bridge hewed from the very living stone. He is cast into the darkness of the fiery underground pit, and there is much sorrow, but the story continues with two more volumes!

The Reason For God

Belief In An Age of Skepticism

(2008)

Timothy Keller

Finished Reading: 03.2009

This book explores the most common reasons why people do not believe in God. While not attempting to prove that God exists through reason alone, Keller shows that most logical arguments against God don't actually work if we follow through with them, fully working out the logic. The skeptic usually goes into pondering the existence of God, not wanting there to be a God, and so he can reason anything against it. The author wants us to consider faith outside of science and what is provable, whether our skepticism is based on direct reasoning against God or ignorant doubts. This book is relevant to Christians because it is good to ask hard questions about what we believe, as we should not choose our beliefs and then not think upon them again.

Split into two sections, the book begins with seven chapters describing common claims against Christianity, and ends with seven chapters of claims for the truth of God. Following are my comments on some of the ideas presented.

There is a new kind of young Christian emerging particularly in cities, with whom I identify. This type of Christian does not feel a strong affiliation with a traditional mainline denomination, perhaps one reason being that he does not view the world in as black and white a fashion as his parents and grandparents traditionally did, separating their Christian world from the rest of the world, creating a Christian bubble. This type of Christian cares about the world as the one world it is, inhabited with different kinds of people; not two separate worlds in which one we cling to and one we shun. Keller recalls, when first struggling to grasp in his own life, that, "(t)he people most passionate about social justice were moral relativists, while the morally upright didn't seem to care about the oppression going on all over the world (xii). The Christianity he was presented didn't click with him.

The new, fast-spreading multi ethnic orthodox Christianity in the cities is much more concerned about the poor and social justice than Republicans have been, and at the same time much more concerned about upholding classic Christian moral and sexual ethics than Democrats have been (xx)." These Christians don't fit in the traditional molds that have been carved out of the last century and are looking for something new.

Keller makes important points that I agree with, such as:

"Most people in our culture believe that, if there is a God, we can relate to him and go to heaven through leading a good life....Christianity teaches the very opposite....Jesus does not tell us how to live so we can merit salvation. Rather, he comes to forgive and save us through his life and death in our place. God's grace does not come to people who morally outperform others, but to those who admit their failure to perform and acknowledge their need for a Savior (19)."

"If you have known many wise, loving, kind, and insightful Christians over the years, and if you have seen churches that are devout in belief yet civic-minded and generous, you will find the intellectual case for Christianity much more plausible. If, on the other hand, the preponderance of your experience is with nominal Christians (who bear the name but don't practice it) or with self-righteous fanatics, then the arguments for Christianity will have to be extremely strong for you to concede that they have any cogency at all (52)."

"It is often the case that people whose lives have been harder and who are 'lower on the character scale' are more likely to recognize their need for God and turn to Christianity (54)."

"In short, hell is simply one's freely chosen identity apart from God on a trajectory into infinity (78). All God does in the end with people is give them what they most want, including freedom from himself... (C.S.) Lewis writes: ...All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice it wouldn't be Hell (79)."

"Imagine two people arguing over the nature of a cookie. Jack thinks the cookie is poison, and Jill thinks it is not. Jack thinks Jill's mistaken view of the cookie will send her to the hospital or worse. Jill thinks Jack's mistaken view of the cookie will keep him from having a fine desert. Is Jack more narrow-minded than Jill just because he thinks the consequences of her mistake are more dire? I don't believe anyone would think so. Christians, therefore, aren't more narrow minded because they think wrong thinking and behaviour have eternal effects (81)."

"If there is no God, then there is no way to say any one action is 'moral' and another 'immoral' but only 'I like this.'... if there is no God, then all moral statements are arbitrary, all moral valuations are subjective and internal, and there can be no external moral standard by which a person's feelings and values are judged (153-4). If you believe human rights are a reality, then it makes much more sense that God exists than that he does not. If you insist on a secular view of the world and yet you continue to pronounce some things right and some things wrong, then I hope you see the deep disharmony between the world your intellect has devised and the real world (and God) that your heart knows exists (156)."

"If you don't live for Jesus, you will live for something else. If you live for career and you don't do well, you will feel like a failure. If you live for your children and they don't turn out all right you could be absolutely in torment because you feel worthless as a person. If Jesus is your center and Lord and you fail him, he will forgive you. (172)."

Oliver Twist

(1838)

Charles Dickens

Finished Reading: 02.2009

"Please sir, I want some more."

This innocent statement from poor little Oliver, a misunderstood and helpless young orphan, leads to his banishment from the charity poor house, where he is seen as an ungrateful troublemaker. He must now go elsewhere to receive his meals.

This is the first story of Dickens' that I have read, and I am thoroughly hooked on his wit, humor and clever description. It may be supposed that something written during the days of US President Martin Van Buren (who?) and the early days of Queen Victoria of England (after whom many old houses are named) would contain pages of fluff and might perhaps be printed on intricate white doilies for all I know.

But Charles Dickens shows us the real London of his day, the gritty part swept under the rug in our history books. Populated by curious characters, Oliver Twist takes us through the crowded and filthy cities where the poor pass their days, either slowly dying in the work houses or quickly dying on the streets, if they are not cunning enough to learn to steal, or fortunate enough to be offered a hand.

Oliver is always at the mercy of others, being quite helpless himself, blowing with the winds of fate. Whether falling prey to the sneaky and manipulative hands of street crooks such as the Artful Dodger and Fagin the Jew, who draft him into their shady dealings; or whether he is cared for with the kind embraces of wealthy Mr. Brownlow and sweet Ms. Maylie, Oliver seems to be pushed back and forth between the camps of good and evil, stumbling in the darkness over the line that separates these worlds. Even at the outset where the famous hungry quote is uttered, Oliver was chosen by lot to ask for more dinner at the poor house meal hall, pushed to his reluctant rebellion by the other hungry boys.

Many themes could be explored from this story, but I am intrigued by the idea of the young boy at odds with the world, who is in need of some grace just to live. Oliver is not able to work hard enough to escape his helpless situation of hunger and poverty, as he is just a boy, and would have been dealt neatly into the hands of the lowest society if not for a few kind hearted people with whom Oliver has more in common with than he could imagine at first.

The characters are richly described and I can imagine myself amongst the street characters who seem very real and who give life to the blocks and blocks of city filled with similar stories to the one told in these pages. Even an old tale can entertain today, for the characters of life don't really change...the hungry still want some more, and the rich often don't hear it.

Green Martyrdom and the Christian Engagement of Late Capitalism

(2008)

Rodney Clapp

Clapp, Rodney. "Green Martyrdom and the Christian Engagement of Late Capitalism." Cultural Encounters - A Journal For The Theology Of Culture Volume 4 / Number 1 (2008): 7-20.

Finished Reading: 02.2009

Rodney Clapp asserts that consumerism is desire for desires sake, and we are addicted to centering too much of our life on obtaining our desires, which are unfulfillable. Consumer capitalism demands that we make consumption our way of life, our ritual, and our spiritual satisfaction. It pretends to be a comprehensive view of life, where there is nothing beyond obtaining and acquiring.

In America, every single day of the year is a consuming holiday, and the day after an actual holiday is the first day leading up to the next holiday. The day after Thanksgiving kicks off the Christmas shopping season with huge sales! (buy! buy! buy!) Later, when we have settled down to our normal lives after the holidays, Valentines Day populates the countenance of our storefronts, screaming red and flowers and candy! Valentines Day wouldn't be anything to speak of outside the consumerist structure which has been created to take advantage of, ironically, the ancient celebration of St. Valentine, a Christian who was killed and martyred for his faith oh so long ago. We have made consumerism important because we want it to be important, perhaps subliminally covering up what these ancient holidays were really about.

A martyr is someone who endures great suffering on behalf of a belief or principle. If only St. Valentine knew what we were suffering for him. There are no martyrs in consumer capitalism, just as surely as there is no crying in baseball. Baseball players are supposed to be tough as nails, and consumers are supposed to spend money on things they don't need. That's how it goes. Subsistence living is viewed as inferior to the vision of the good life depicted in all desire-based advertising, or as you might call it, "advertising." Theologian Kevin Vanhoozer asks, "Could it be that we do not understand martyrs in our postmodern era because we cannot fathom what it is to be convicted of and committed to the truth?" Too often truth is whatever sells. Does Jesus sell?

Consumerism has been incorporated into American Christianity, and Rodney Clapp argues that, "Christ is not a pleasant add-on or option to an unending array of consumerist products and experiences," as many have come to believe. Christ is often seen only as a way for me to get what I want.

Clapp suggests a society, specifically within the church, that purposefully moves away from consumerism, thinking on our consumption of the environment, our finances, and time. This is green martyrdom: to sacrifice our apparent entitlement to obtain, which we have been reaching for as much of as we can get our hands on, at whatever the costs. We first need to be able to understand martyrdom, which starts with thinking outside ourselves.

I know we used to have martyrs around because now we have a lot of holidays to forget them by. There used to be heroes, too. Now we have celebrities. Celebrities exist for our consumption. We don't want to be like them, the real them, we just crave their attention and their phat rims. Heroes are to be honored and revered for some great deed, but they are far above the common people and we don't really try to be like them, we just look up to them.

Conversely, martyrs are to be emulated, but not for something they have done or something they have, but because the life of a martyr points to something greater than themselves, unlike every other instance of fame, which points inwards at itself. The martyr lives outside himself, and Rodney Clapp makes five strong points to illustrate what a green martyr is, comparatively less committed to the cause as the red martyr who has died for his strongly held beliefs.

1. Green martyrdom means laying the bodies of ourselves and our own on the line for our way of life, rather than making others suffer for it. We should support local economies rather than fight consumptive, distant wars to support our "consumerist way of life," even at the cost of adjusting our standards of living and energy consumption.

2. Green martyrdom means working toward an economy that includes and does not exclude and separate or hide the poor from the rich. We should establish ties with the less economically well off, and integrate rather than get as far away from them as we can. The church needs to involve itself with churches that are less economically well off as well.

3. Green martyrdom means committing our whole selves, body and soul, to church, community, and place for the long haul. We are a society in transit, consuming and moving on. We should commit to a certain place to cultivate relationships and community rather than following consumptive rewards.

4. Green martyrdom means challenging idolatry and naming greed as an acute form of idolatry. We should have conversations about where to draw the line with our greed, which is a sin just as sexual sin is surely wrong.

5. Green martyrdom means admitting the reality of death and living as if we will one day die. We can't take it with us, so we shouldn't try to get more than we need before we die. We shouldn't live our lives for the ultimate end of averting our suffering, for that is futile.

A life lived in this manner doesn't necessarily point to God, as some people can find other reasons for their moral choices, but Christians should recognize that we cannot possibly turn fully towards the good God of the Bible unless we turn fully away from consuming ourselves.

The Great Divorce

(1945)
C.S. Lewis

Finished Reading: 02.2009

In this creative story depicting the great separation between heaven and hell, the divide between God and sinners, Lewis explores the idea of the "Refrigerium," or holiday from hell. I was not familiar with this term before reading the book, but apparently it is said that those in hell are given a chance to leave for a short time, mostly choosing to visit Earth and appearing as ghosts or various haunting apparitions. The Great Divorce begins with a group of regular people waiting at a bus stop in hell. Upon boarding the bus, which is magical and flies, the passengers are taken up into heaven where most are incredibly scared out of their minds, and only a few wish to stay.  Those that want no part of heaven hurry back to the bus for the return trip to hell.

In hell, it is always raining and twilight, with the darkness ever looming. The unnamed narrator boards the bus and we follow him on his journey to heaven. Before he arrives, he meets a few people on the bus with whom he has short conversations. One man explains how the grey town that they just left is so bland and horrible because people quarrel with one another which leads them to move away from their disagreeable neighbors. Each quarreler moves his home further and further away, with no one ever moving any closer to where they started, and so the whole town is a sprawl that goes on for millions of miles. This sounds like horrible city planning to me and an accurate depiction of sinners moving further and further from Christ, which leads them deeper into hell and no nearer to the bus stop.

Upon arriving in heaven, where it is perpetually dawn and the sky is so much larger than can be imagined by comparison on Earth, the bus passengers step out and marvel at how very bright it is. The narrator notices that everything is so much more real here, and that the bus passengers appear now as ghosts, somewhat transparent. He then notices that the people don't seem any less real than they did before, though he can see right through them, but rather this new place is more real and more solid in a way previously unimaginable. The grass is hard as diamonds and hurts their ghost feet, tree leafs are unattainably heavy to lift, and there is a general fear of the rain, for if it begins to rain the ghosts will be pierced with many holes as if from a machine gun. Further, the ghosts are able to walk on the very hard water in the river, but are swept away and hurt by its power.

The narrator begins to walk around and explore this fascinating and dangerous place, observing encounters between ghosts and the Solid People, those who are of this place. Mostly these meetings are prearranged, with a Solid Person coming to meet a ghost who has just arrived from the bus. One such Solid Person is a murderer who is humble and regrets his wrong choices, and has repented. He has come to meet a ghost friend who can't believe that a murderer is in heaven and not he, since he lived a good moral life. Another ghost comes along who doesn't think we should be punished for our beliefs, no matter what they are, as long as we truly believed them, thinking all is relative and there is no real truth.

A man stealthily tries to steal some apples from a large tree, but struggles against their immense weight. He wanted to take many, but is unable to take any and sneaks off hoping no one noticed his failed attempt. He is rebuked by an angel. Another man is very disappointed in what he sees in this place, thinking heaven is not what he had hoped for, and does not think that his talents can be of any use here, or that there is anything that heaven can do for him.

A vain woman thinks only of her image and cannot stand to be seen as a ghost, so see-through. She is very ashamed. There is a grumbling lady, and a sex-seeking lady, and an artist who marvels at the beauty of heaven but wishes to return to hell because they don't need artists to paint the beautiful landscape in heaven when all can just look at the beautiful landscape for themselves. He, as so many of the others, wants to be where he is needed, placing value in his self-worth over absolute beauty and love.

One woman complains about her husband and doesn't even want to see him, and another woman wants very badly to see her son - but he doesn't show up. She has placed all her value in him. He is her identity and she would rather have him with her in hell than know he is happy up in the mountains of heaven. Another man has a lizard living on his shoulder, which is controlling his life. He doesn't want to get rid of it, but finally agrees to let an angel kill it, and when the lizard is dead the man is finally free. Transforming into a Solid Person, he rides off into the mountains.

There is a grand celebration for a beautiful and saintly woman who truly lived a life filled with the love of Christ. Everyone she came in contact with on Earth was affected by His love. In the midst of the celebrating, she meets her husband who is a shrivelled dwarf, and he can't believe she had joy in her life after he had died. He doesn't understand that her joy comes from Jesus. He wanted her to be broken and distraught from the separation of death. He wanted her to value him above all else. 

George MacDonald shows up and talks with our narrator for some time, answering many of his questions. (I am unfamiliar with this man,  but apparently he was a Scottish minister and writer that Lewis admired). MacDonald explains that to those who choose to stay in heaven, hell was not really hell at all, but rather purgatory. Those in hell have always been there, and those in heaven have always been there. The Solid People of heaven live to go higher and higher up into the mountains (which I take to be where Christ is,) but some stay down on the great plain where the has bus stopped, for the very purpose of trying to save the souls that arrive. He explains that hell is just a crack in the floor of heaven, small as an atom, and no one from heaven can go down to hell, except Jesus who once did, but those from down in hell who do come up for a visit always find something lacking and hurry back to the dark crack, despite the goodness they observe in heaven.

"For a damned soul is nearly nothing: it is shrunk, shut up in itself. Good beats upon the damned incessantly as sound waves beat on the ears of the deaf, but they cannot receive it. Their fists are clenched, their teeth are clenched, their eyes fast shut. First they will not, in the end they cannot, open their hands for gifts, or their mouths for food, or their eyes to see." (ch13)

In the end, the narrator sees that everything in life is just chess pieces on a game board on the great table of time. He then sees the perpetual dawn turn into a rising sun and his ghostly body is destroyed by the blinding light, blasted into oblivion! He awakes from his dream.

This is an excellent analysis of the human condition for sin and the various forms sin takes that keep sinners from wanting to be in heaven. Many people think that everyone wants to be in heaven and it is cruel of God to send some people to hell. What these people want is in hell, because they have no interest in Jesus. Lewis reminds us that while all are offered an outstretched hand (or bus ride), few take it. Few wanted to take the bus ride, and of those that did, even fewer liked what they saw and wanted to stay. Most moved as far away from the bus stop as possible, making it near impossible to catch a bus. Public transportation saves. We must turn fully away from ourselves in order to turn fully to God. 

"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'Thy will be done.' All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened." (ch.9)

I'm not sure of how the depictions of heaven and hell line up with life on Earth. Does life on Earth come completely before either the grey town of hell or the green plain and mountains of heaven? Are all characters in this story dead, and this is the afterlife, or is life intertwined with death and those in hell are living there and the Solid People are saved Christians in heaven - saved though not yet dead? Is the mountain where they go when they have died, and the plain is where they are while still alive, ministering to the sinning ghosts? This would explain why no one comes down from the mountain, and why the people from hell are able to ride the bus to see what the fuss is all about. They are hearing the Gospel and choose to accept or deny it. Perhaps the sunrise at the end is the coming of Christ, at which time it is too late for any ghost. Or perhaps that is just his individual death.

"There is but one good, that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to him and bad when it turns from him." (ch.11)