While nothing can equal or replace the adventure in reading Tolkien's masterwork, The Lord of the Rings, popular and prolific philosopher and author Peter Kreeft says that the journey into its underlying philosophy can be another exhilarating adventure.
Kreeft takes the reader on a voyage of discovery into the philosophical bones of Middle-earth. Like a good concordance, this book organizes the philosophical themes in The Lord of the Rings into 50 categories, accompanied by over 1,000 references to the text.
Since many of the great questions of philosophy are included in the 50-theme outline, this book can also be read as an engaging introduction to philosophy. For each of the philosophical topics in The Lord of the Rings, Kreeft presents four tools by which they can be understand: an explanation of a key question; a key quotation showing Tolkien's answer; quotes from other writings of Tolkien that clarify the theme; and quotes from his close friend C. S. Lewis, which state the same philosophical points directly.
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