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Looking for a good book for the Year of Mercy? Read Lord of the Rings
Catholic World Report ^ | April 26, 2016 | Elizabeth Anderson

Posted on 04/27/2016 4:25:23 AM PDT by NYer

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1 posted on 04/27/2016 4:25:24 AM PDT by NYer
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To: Tax-chick; GregB; SumProVita; narses; bboop; SevenofNine; Ronaldus Magnus; tiki; Salvation; ...

Catholic ping!


2 posted on 04/27/2016 4:25:44 AM PDT by NYer (Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy them. Mt 6:19)
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To: NYer

Some of us really don’t like fantasy. Even well-written fantasy.


3 posted on 04/27/2016 4:27:00 AM PDT by miss marmelstein (Richard the Third: With my own people alone I should like to drive away the Turks (Muslims))
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To: NYer

There is a lot of good teaching in the Lord of the Rings that you really wouldn’t find anywhere else.


4 posted on 04/27/2016 4:27:56 AM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: miss marmelstein

And you just had to tell everyone.


5 posted on 04/27/2016 4:41:26 AM PDT by Ken H
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To: Jonty30; miss marmelstein

Tolkien wrote these profound stories as a witness of his Christian faith. He and C.S.Lewis were colleagues at Oxford who brought many to Christ through their “fantasy.” In a world filled with the reality of sin the fantasy of grace is all the hope we have.


6 posted on 04/27/2016 4:42:07 AM PDT by Louis Foxwell (Stop Islam and save the world.)
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To: Jonty30

In Revelation chapters 2 and 3, Jesus writes letters to seven churches. They pretty much tell you everything you need to know. Fantasy, even Christian allegory fantasy is not really needed as the End is near. The Revelation 12:1-2 great sign in the heavens will happen September 23-24, 2017.


7 posted on 04/27/2016 4:42:56 AM PDT by SubMareener (Save us from Quarterly Freepathons! Become a MONTHLY DONOR!)
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To: SubMareener

All I know is that we are likely in Daniel 12.


8 posted on 04/27/2016 4:44:03 AM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: SubMareener
The Revelation 12:1-2 great sign in the heavens will happen September 23-24, 2017.

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

--Matt. 24:36

9 posted on 04/27/2016 4:54:13 AM PDT by Ken H
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To: NYer
LOTR stands out as the BEST example of Fantasy ever written
Tolkien was a master craftsman

If one is at all susceptible to the genre, it is wonderful

10 posted on 04/27/2016 4:54:30 AM PDT by HangnJudge (Cthulhu for President, why vote for a lesser Evil)
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To: Ken H

A specific pattern of sun, moon, planets and stars was written down almost 2000 years ago. That pattern will occur over a two day period of September 23-24, 2017. It is the first timing verse in Revelation. It is very reasonable to conclude that the things that are spoken of in Revelation will either start or be underway on that date. If you wish to ignore this, that is on your head. The Watchman has sounded the trumpet.


11 posted on 04/27/2016 5:14:09 AM PDT by SubMareener (Save us from Quarterly Freepathons! Become a MONTHLY DONOR!)
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To: Ken H

I’m allowed to post my thoughts. There are wonderful Catholic novels - as well as Lewis’s beautiful memoir Surprised by Joy - to read and enjoy. There are many people who do not like fantasy. If this is a Lord of the Rings Caucus thread, I apologize.


12 posted on 04/27/2016 5:19:50 AM PDT by miss marmelstein (Richard the Third: With my own people alone I should like to drive away the Turks (Muslims))
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To: miss marmelstein

It’s perfectly fine if it doesn’t appeal to you. But LOTR is probably the best written fantasy ever put down on paper. How it all came from the imagination of an obscure Oxford don, the leading light in an even more obscure field of study (Philology), and became one of the most read and beloved works of fiction for now going past half a century probably counts as a miracle itself. Besides just the scale (I mean how many authors can on their own create several complex mythologies and separate languages within about one thousand pages?) the scenes of war, brutality, and suffering seem true because they came from a man who served several years in the Western Front trenches. So he saw men shot, gassed, and blown to bits but came out to write first an epic children’s fantasy (The Hobbit) and then one which has moved several generations of adults.


13 posted on 04/27/2016 5:27:22 AM PDT by katana
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To: katana

That’s fine. It is obviously well-loved by many people. I prefer a different genre for moral uplift and education. I didn’t think that was too radical a position since, while we are talking about religion, we are also discussing literature.


14 posted on 04/27/2016 5:33:23 AM PDT by miss marmelstein (Richard the Third: With my own people alone I should like to drive away the Turks (Muslims))
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To: miss marmelstein

Everyone has different tastes than the next person and no one should take offense over it. And especially lately, it’s nice to have a discussion where people can state an opinion, and even disagree, without being disagreeable.


15 posted on 04/27/2016 5:46:07 AM PDT by katana
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To: katana

I was looking at other Catholic novels on the internet and was reminded of Willa Cather’s Death Comes to the Archbishop. A great book which prompted a visit to Santa Fe back in the 1980s to see the famous staircase built by St. Joseph.

Someone mentioned Taylor Caldwell’s Dear and Glorious Physician which I read and loved as a youth. Admittedly, Caldwell was not in the league of either Lewis or Cather but how I loved it. For years, I searched for a medal of St. Luke.


16 posted on 04/27/2016 5:49:19 AM PDT by miss marmelstein (Richard the Third: With my own people alone I should like to drive away the Turks (Muslims))
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To: miss marmelstein

If you don’t like fantasy, how do you feel about The Divine Comedy? It’s not historical fiction - although filled with historical figures. I would have to call it a fantasy of sorts. Still, it was the book recommended by Pope Francis for the Year of Mercy.


17 posted on 04/27/2016 6:40:04 AM PDT by vladimir998 (Apparently I'm still living in your head rent free. At least now it isn't empty.)
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To: vladimir998

Well, I’m sure even you wouldn’t compare Dante’s book to Lord of the Rings. I would say The Divine Comedy is more allegorical than fantastical. I don’t need Pope Francis to recommend Dante to me. In the next breath, he’s liable to suggest Andrew Greeley novels.


18 posted on 04/27/2016 7:09:23 AM PDT by miss marmelstein (Richard the Third: With my own people alone I should like to drive away the Turks (Muslims))
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To: miss marmelstein

“I don’t need Pope Francis to recommend Dante to me. In the next breath, he’s liable to suggest Andrew Greeley novels.”

Now who is making bad comparisons! :)


19 posted on 04/27/2016 7:57:42 AM PDT by vladimir998 (Apparently I'm still living in your head rent free. At least now it isn't empty.)
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To: kalee

For later


20 posted on 04/27/2016 8:27:24 AM PDT by kalee
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