J.R.R. Tolkien is an author beloved by many, but people forget the hostile reception of his work from several literary critics, who despised (and some who continue to despise) him and his readers. Other intellectuals and critics have a more positive opinion of his work, but some read aspects of his books or his beliefs to fit their own agendas. Over the decades, scholars have claimed that Tolkien represents a myriad of (sometimes contradictory) political positions. Whether these scholars act out of disdain for Tolkien or from a simple misread of his works, the outcome is a muddled distortion of who Tolkien really was. This book peels back the discourse in an attempt to reveal the true nature of an author who so often defies categorization. Using all possible nuance, chapters explore the villains of Lord of the Rings, its female heroines and its moral compass, as well as its definitions of heroism and failure. This book hopes to provide a uniquely accurate and objective assessment of one of the most misunderstood writers of our time.

An urgent call for Christians everywhere to explore the nature of the kingdom amid the political upheaval of our day. Should Christians be politically withdrawn, avoiding participation in politics to maintain their prophetic voice and to keep from being used as political pawns? Or should Christians be actively involved, seeking to utilize political systems to control the levers of power? In Jesus and the Powers, N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird call Christians everywhere to discern the nature of Christian witness in fractured political environments. In an age of ascending autocracies, in a time of fear and fragmentation, amid carnage and crises, Jesus is king, and Jesus’s kingdom remains the object of the church's witness and work. Part political theology, part biblical overview, and part church history, this book argues that building for Jesus's kingdom requires confronting empire in all its forms. This approach should orient Christians toward a form of political engagement that contributes to free democratic societies and vigorously opposes political schemes based on autocracy and nationalism. Throughout, Wright and Bird reflect on the relevance of this kingdom-oriented approach to current events, including the Russian-Ukraine conflict, the China-Taiwan tension, political turmoil in the USA, UK, and Australia, and the problem of Christian nationalism.

There is a wide held misconception that archaeologist dig up dinosaurs we don't, we leave that to the palaeontologists. Archaeology is the study of the human past and there is an approximate gap of 64 million years between the extinction of the dinosaurs and human evolution. This book holds insights into what archaeologists from around the world really do in their work life, and why they chose archaeology as a career. Stories ranging from animals, the environment, sacrifice, human remains, community involvement and even fantasy related archaeology, this book in an insight into the many aspects of life in the interesting and diverse career of archaeology. Whether you are a student looking at studying archaeology, an armchair critic, someone who finds the subject interesting, or think that archaeology involves just three days of 'digging', this book will open up a whole new world of what is involved in the eclectic career of an archaeologist.

A fascinating look at the fantasy and philosophy of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien. The two men were friends and fellow professors at Oxford, renowned Christian thinkers who both "found it necessary to create for the purposes of their fiction other worlds not utopias or dystopias, but different worlds." "The great importance of [Lewis and Tolkien] is that they have succeeded in restating certain traditional values in a way that they make an imaginative appeal to a very wide audience, young and old, traditionalist and non-traditionalist." — Richard Purtill, Author, J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality, and Religion

The birth of modern fantasy in 1930s Britain and America saw the development of new literary and film genres. J.R.R. Tolkien created modern fantasy with The Lord of the Rings, set in a fictional world based upon his life in the early 20th century British Empire, and his love of language and medieval literature. In small-town Texas, Robert E. Howard pounded out his own fantasy realm in his Conan stories, published serially in the ephemeral pulp magazines he loved. Jerry Siegel created Superman with Joe Shuster, and laid the foundation for perhaps the most far-reaching fantasy worlds: the universe of DC and Marvel comics. The work of extraordinary people who lived in an extraordinary decade, this modern fantasy canon still provides source material for the most successful literary and film franchises of the 21st century. Modern fantasy speaks to the human experience and still shows its origins from the lives and times of its creators.

Interdisciplinary in approach, Tolkien the Medievalist provides a fresh perspective on J. R. R. Tolkien's Medievalism. In fifteen essays, eminent scholars and new voices explore how Professor Tolkien responded to a modern age of crisis - historical, academic and personal - by adapting his scholarship on medieval literature to his own personal voice. The four sections reveal the author influenced by his profession, religious faith and important issues of the time; by his relationships with other medievalists; by the medieval sources that he read and taught, and by his own medieval mythologizing.

An incisive reinterpretation of New Deal diplomacy.

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2.7, University of Cologne (Englisches Seminar), course: Onomastics, language: English, abstract: Fantasy-role-playing games resemble a part of culture dedicated to the play and shortwhile identification with fictional characters. First appearing in the 1960s, role-playing games secured a small spot in a society crowded by fans of Fantasy-, SciFi- or other fictional literature. One of the major works of fantasy-literature is 'The Lord Of The Rings', 'The Hobbit' or 'The Silmarillion' of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973). Tolkien, as a philologist of early medieval languages, created not only a range of new (and adapted) races to people his universe of Middle Earth, he also created for each race a specific language, with own grammar, vocabulary and: names. He spent great afford in creating so distinct languages that no one could misunderstand the words of the Elves as words by Dwarves, for example. This linguistic effort is supposed to play an important role in the reception of his works, and regarded to play a certain role in the influence Tolkien's works have today on other works of fantastic- and non-fantastic literature. Role-playing games resemble a part of creative and active literature, where the players tell and create stories while imaginatively acting in these worlds. For taking part in such an interactive story, one has to create an alter ego, an avatar, or just: a character. These characters are the means by which players interact in the fictional worlds, and as they are most of the time a part of their self-expression and self-conception, they are every time a sum of all the influences on the players mind and knowledge about culture and all its aspects. This paper will investigate on the influence of Tolkien's works on one particular part of role-playing games: the creation of names for those characters used to interact in fictional worlds. The assumption is that, as Tolkien is commonly regarded as a significant influence on literature and fantasy in special, his impact on the naming of fictional characters must be somehow traceable.

This book, a collection of contemporary criticism on J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," contains essays by Michael Moorcock, Jane Chance, Michael N. Stanton, Mark T. Hooker, Jared Lobdell, Marjorie Burns, Andrew Lynch, Sue Zlosnik, Verlyn Flieger, Mary R. Bowman, and Nancy Enright.