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I know that he would have hated it but I’m doing it anyway because he couldn’t write anything but “Christian” books because he was one. He was instrumental in the conversion of C. S. Lewis. Though his books are not allegorys, and I’d be the first one to say it, but at least as a Christian writer you can only simply mirror “the story” and mirror his story does.

Besides that, it depends on what you mean when you say “Chistian”. I meant that they have nothing objectable when looking from a Christian world view, nothing about ehe character of people (and hobits, and elves, and etc.) is destorted (in the way of how we react and how we are totally sinful; for that matter even Gandalf, one of the embodiements of good could still be tempted by the lure of evil and was afraid he would be overcome by it).

Simply, I don’t mean what he intended, I mean what IS. I believe that non-Christians can write “Christian” literature, though true Christians, cannot write “secular” literature.

One more thing about the movie…ok, two more things. First, I really really miss Tom Bombadil. He is one of the most earthy, textured beautifully written characters in the book. I was actually disappointed the first time i read the trilogy in that he was not a part of the TT and ROTK. Second, I’m reading the series again. Again I love it, but it is more difficult this time. I loved the movie, but I’m finding it difficult to put away the movie’s pictures to recreate the ones that I have worked on in previous readings. Granted, the bridge of Khazad-Dumn was awesome in the movie but it is difficult to get back to my rendition of the flaming balrog and a noble Gandalf.
Anybody else finding difficulty in rereading immediately after seeing the movie?

I’m actually currently trying to reread them, however time is probably more of an impediment than seeing the movie, but yes I am having a bit of difficulty. Some creative geniuses I know seem to have been re-impassioned about the Lord of the Rings because of the movie though. The door of Moria has even appeared onto a Wizard of Oz play set, complete with runes (sorry if I’m spelling that wrong). Actually they’re probably just always like that. Which is not a bad thing.

Though I love the LotR series, I must admit I’ve read them through in their entirety only once. I did read bits and pieces over while composing my paper on the books. Incidentally, my paper studied the manifestation of religion in the LotR. Agreed, Tolkien did not view his books as a particularly Christian effort, but his beliefs did weave their way into the story.
I am almost always partial to books over movie versions, and this was no exception. Though the movie was well done and stayed true to the story, I still prefer my mental images of the characters, as well as the extended, more detailed stories presented in the book.

I, of course, agree with Sheri, my mind’s eye vesion was darker and lighter than the movie, yet I guess I would still say bravo to the filmmakers for making a genuine effort to translate to the screen a book that is not really very translatable, and for doing it in such a way that it remains true in spirit to the originals. I think Tolkein (and Lewis too) would have gotten a kick out of it..

I have always loved Tolkein. He was an incredible author with an ability to really connect his characters to the reader. The Two Towers was always my favorite of the series. The first film was as true to the book as is could be (with a 3 hour limit) and I am sure that no one will be disappointed with the second film. Let’s just leave it at that.

Oh my goodness if I had known about this thread earlier. I’ve read Lord of the Rings almost every year since junior high and never get tired of it. I’m a total geek no matter which way you look at it, and if anyone is interested, would love to debate the major problems with the second movie. (There is the problem of Faramir’s character. Faramir and Frodo don’t meet each other in Minas Tirith. There was no entmoot in the movie. They didn’t even include the spectacular scene where the entire forest moves to Helm’s Deep to devour the orcs. And so on.)

As far as my overall opinion of the movies go, I was pretty impressed. Middle Earth is cemented vividly in my mind and I was actually astounded when I saw how similar some of the scenes were to the pictures in my mind. All credit goes to Tolkien for that.

And if Middle Earth has you fascinated, The Silmarillion is excellent.

There’s a great article on the difference between the books and movies in Books and Culture, written by a theology professor at Baylor University. The link is http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2003/002/2.16.html