This week I want to take Tolkien’s Tom Bombadil story in a different direction than I have been following in the last three essays. A remarkable thing about Tom Bombadil (and unique in Middle Earth) is that the ring of power had no influence on him and it could therefore not master him. When hobbits, …
Continue reading Tom Bombadil vs the Priority of our Desires
In the previous two essays I have argued that Tolkien’s Middle Earth cosmology is rooted in the western Christian view of creation, and the elvish realms of Rivendell (Elrond’s realm), Lothlórien (Galadriel’s realm) and Mirkwood (Thranduil’s realm) reflect the western tendency toward conquest and coercion, while the realm of Tom Bombadil reflects a very different, …
[Note: I inadvertently posted the second essay in a new series last Monday. This is the first essay that should have been posted. If you’ve not read Tom Bombadil and the Eucharist, and want to continue with this series, you should read it next.] I assume most of my readers are familiar with Tom Bombadil, …
[Note: This essay is part 2 of a series that I inadvertently posted before part 1. The first part, entitled "Tom Bombadil" can be found here. In first essay of this series I explored the logic of the inclusion of Tom Bombadil in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. As is often the case, I …
I recently started listening to the Amon Sûl podcast, an Orthodox thematic exploration of Middle Earth. That has led to poking around other Lord of the Rings related things. I have been disturbed (but not surprised) by the discussion around Tom Bombadil (an ancient nature sprite, as old as Middle Earth itself) who appears in …
Continue reading Technology Is not the Problem – Nature Is not the Solution
An essay taking evangelicals to task for dabbling in Lent, called Much Ado about Something?, was recommended to me this week. Author Kenneth Stewart's historical facts were accurate enough, but he espouses a form of primitivism that I simply don't comprehend. Primitivism is the belief that the apostolic church was a pure church and everything …
Just Another Jim 