The Good News of the Return of the King
The Gospel in Middle-earth
- Apologetics
- Arts & Literature
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Published: 2020
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Publisher's Description
Although many people today reject Christianity for intellectual reasons, greater numbers of people are rejecting Christianity because it does not engage their imagination. Christians must not only demonstrate that the Christian worldview is true, but that it is also good, beautiful, and relevant. The Good News of the Return of the King: The Gospel in Middle-earth is a book that endeavors to show the truth, goodness, and beauty of Jesus Christ, the gospel, and the biblical metanarrative by engaging the imagination through J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, as well as The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. In this book, I propose that J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is a story about what Jesus' parables are about: the good news about the return of the king. As a work of imaginative fiction similar to Jesus' parables, The Lord of the Rings can bypass both intellectual and imaginative objections to the gospel and pull back the "veil of familiarity" that obscures the gospel for many.
Endorsements (2)
“Michael Jahosky’s simple yet profound thesis, that The Lord of the Rings is a parable rather than an allegory, allows him to open up the world of Tolkien’s Middle-earth in such a way as to find the gospel lurking therein. Without putting words in Tolkien’s mouth, he demonstrates that Tolkien is telling the same kind of story as the gospel with its promised return of the true king.”
“Jahosky’s The Good News of the Return of the King is a smashing success! My heart was nourished and my imagination stirred as I read about the power of story and the coming of the king in Tolkien’s Middle-earth. This is a book for lovers of Tolkien and lovers of King Jesus who want to understand how stories are a powerful apologetic for Christianity. I highly recommend this enjoyable, well-researched, and riveting book.”
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