Tolkien's Ordinary Virtues

Exploring the Spiritual Themes of The Lord of the Rings

De: Mark Eddy Smith

Narrado por: Simon Vance

The Lord of the Rings offers us essential lessons in living. Here we discover ordinary virtues like generosity, pity, and hospitality. 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 called to a journey. We may be asked to leave behind everything we have grown dependent on. And when this is the case, the tale of Frodo and his friends offers hope that we will be given the strength and the help we need to overcome every obstacle and defeat every foe. This book is meant to help you find the way.

©2002 Mark Eddy Smith (P)2005 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Very Well Done

Will we ever have enough of Tolkien? Ahhh, I think not. There is so much depth. Smith does an admirable job of swimming down deeper still. Fantastic way to encourage lively discussion about Tolkien’s work with my teenage boys who also thoroughly enjoy Lord of the Rings.

Insightful

I thought that I had picked up most of the Christian references and insights into Tolkien's amazing works, but Mark Eddy Smith has given me a whole new dimension and insight not only into "Lord of the Rings" but also into my own faith. I thoroughly recommend it!

Will not disappoint!

I feel well on my way to understanding Tolkien's mind, and after reading this. 10/10

Inspiring exploration of the values in Tolkien

Simon Vance is always terrific. This book was a great encouragement to live a better life and a reminder of how literature helps us to do that.

Exceeded my expectations big time!!

This is the PERFECT companion for any Tolkien reader or movie fan! ITS LIKE ADDING EXTRA FROSTING TO YOUR CAKE! Just makes LOTR even better. You’ll wanna listen over and over to take in all the wisdom... Voice is just right too, reminds me of a Bilbo :)

DOWNSIDE: doesn’t cover the hobbit which would have been great.

loved it

Loved it. Made me want read all the Tolkien books again. I saw some of the characters in a new light

Surprisingly Good

An excellent book that was thoughtfully and carefully written; showing a great deal of insight and knowledge and study of Tolkien's work. Beware - it is potentially life-changing!

A good book

This book presents good ideas to think about. I have read the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit many times, but it is nice looking at them from a different perspective. There is more depth in Tolkien’s books than I got from my first or second reading of them. Mark Smith is eloquent and thoughtful. The narrator, Simon Vance is easy on the ears and good at what he does.

For LOTR fans

When you just can't get enough JRR tolkien, this is an excellent dive into his motivations, and a very good overview of the story, the characters, the friendships, etc.
For those who worry it's overtly religious, it's not. Tolkien was a devout Catholic, and that does come through, but this is not a very preachy book in that way. It's a relaxing short listen, I enjoyed it immensely.

Great, but...

The content is excellent; the reader is excellent, but for some reason the reader included every reference to a footnote and it was extremely distracting.