Tag Archives: Lord of the Rings

A Brace of Tolkien Posts for his 130th Birthday (#TolkienBirthdayToast)

Posted on January 3, 2022 by Brenton Dickieson

As J.R.R. Tolkien was born about 68,374,080 hours ago, the Tolkien Society is once again raising a toast to the Professor on his birthday, 3 January 2022 (see here). After Bilbo left the Shire on his eleventy-first birthday in The … Continue reading →

Posted in News & Links, Reviews | Tagged art, Bilbo, Blogging, books, Digital Humanities, film adaptation, J.R.R. Tolkien, John Garth, Leaf by Niggle, literature, Lord of the Rings, Mythopoeia, Peter Jackson, The Hobbit, Tolkien BIrthday Toast, Tolkien Society | 4 Comments

Christmas With J.R.R. Tolkien: The Father Christmas Letters

Posted on December 25, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

My little 2015 piece on J.R.R. Tolkien’s funny and endearing Father Christmas Letters has had quite a spin around the internet this week. I cannot think of a better Christmas note for you, dear readers of A Pilgrim in Narnia, … Continue reading →

Posted in Letters, Memorable Quotes | Tagged art, art of letter writing, children's literature, Christmas, Christopher Tolkien, fantasy, Father Christmas, J.R.R. Tolkien, letters, literature, Lord of the Rings, myth, Santa Claus, The Hobbit, writing | 14 Comments

“The Once and Forgotten T.H. White: Lessons from Obscurity” by G. Connor Salter

Posted on August 12, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

Terence Hanbury White was one of the founding fathers of fantasy in the twentieth century, producing nearly twenty-five novels, including the beloved modern Arthurian retelling, The Once and Future King. Still, much of T.H. White’s life remains a mystery and … Continue reading →

Posted in Thoughtful Essays | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Imaginary Worlds, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lev Grossman, Lin Carter, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Neil Gaiman, T.H. White, The Inklings, The Once and Future King | 46 Comments

Affirming Creation in the Lord of the Rings

Posted on April 22, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

Perhaps it isn’t that surprising that J.R.R. Tolkien’s books are so environmentally sensitive. Like Sam Gamgee, Tolkien loved things that grow and good tilled earth. He loved walks–long walks beyond his garden through English towns and villages and vast, untouched … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, Reflections | Tagged creation, creation care, Earth Day, environment, fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien, Legolas, literature, Lord of the Rings, Matthew Dickerson, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, Treebeard, WWI | 8 Comments

Why is Tolkien Scholarship Stronger than Lewis Scholarship? Part 3: Other Factors

Posted on April 20, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

As I have been chest-deep in academic works about C.S. Lewis and at least knee-deep in the same kinds of J.R.R. Tolkien books and articles, I conceived of a thought experiment. Without even glancing at my bookshelf, I can name … Continue reading →

Posted in Original Research, Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Christopher Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien, Literary Theory, Lord of the Rings, owen barfield, scholarship, The Hobbit, Walter Hooper | 31 Comments

Texmoot 2021 Call for Papers and Conversations (Feb 13th, 2021)

Posted on January 15, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

One advantage of our online environment is that we now have some options for attending conferences that we would otherwise miss. On Feb 6th, for example, is the free Urbana Theological Seminary online Tolkien conference, with guest speakers Carlie W. … Continue reading →

Posted in News & Links | Tagged anime, C.S. Lewis, Harry Potter, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Madeleine L'Engle, Signum University, speculative fiction, TexMoot | Leave a comment

A Brace of Tolkien Posts for his 129th Birthday

Posted on January 3, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

To celebrate Tolkien’s twelfthty-ninth (or eleventy-nineteenth–a joke that expires this year) birthday on 3 January 2021, the Tolkien Society is once again raising a toast to the Professor (see here). After Bilbo left the Shire on his eleventy-first birthday in … Continue reading →

Tolkien’s “I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size)” in Context: A Note on Books and Their Authors (#hobbitday)

Posted on September 22, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

I don’t know that there is any more famous J.R.R. Tolkien quote than his claim to, in fact, be a hobbit. It’s really quite a delightful statement and worth quoting more fully: I am in fact a Hobbit (in all … Continue reading →

Posted in Memorable Quotes | Tagged Charles Williams, Franz Kafka, Harry Potter, Hobbit Day, I.A. Richards, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, literary criticism, literature, Lord of the Rings, new criticism, practical criticism, Stephen King, The Hobbit, Ursula K. LeGuin | 25 Comments

George Macdonald’s “The Princess and the Goblin”: The Animated Movie with a Note by ChrisC

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

C.S. Lewis once observed that with “every tick of the clock, in every inhabited part of the world, an unimaginable richness and variety of ‘history’ falls off the world into total oblivion.” It’s a somewhat cruel fate that’s familiar to … Continue reading →

Posted in Guest Blogs, News & Links | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Citizen Kane, cultural literacy, E.D. Hirsch Jr., George MacDonald, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Old Books, On the Reading of Old Books, The Princess and the Goblin | 54 Comments

Readings from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Tale Of Beren and Lúthien, with The Center from the Study of C.S. Lewis and Friends

Posted on April 17, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

Hi folks. This event is past, but The Center for the Study of C.S. Lewis and Friends at Taylor University are having a digital Inklings “tea” on Friday’s at 4pm. They are an archive, a host of strong Inklings-informed study … Continue reading →