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<blockquote data-quote="REC3" data-source="post: 1431262" data-attributes="member: 21149">I was sent a number of C.S. Lewis&#039; writings including &quot;Screwtape&quot; by a friend while in prison and found them to be very persuasive.&nbsp; He also wrote, &quot;Mere Christianity&quot; which was really decisive in motivating me to attend Sunday mass while I was in county jail for 30 months awaiting a plea bargain.&nbsp; Both are highly recommended as sources for rationalizing ones experience of the world with the naivety of faith.Lewis was Anglican and his own faith was encouraged by his friendship and association with J.R.R. Tolkien.&nbsp; Lewis&#039; &quot;Narnia&quot; series and Tolkien&#039;s &quot;Lord of the Rings&quot; Trilogy are both suffused with Christian (Lewis) and pre-Christian (Tolkien) sensibilities.&nbsp; If you liked Lewis as a Christian commentator, your appreciation of Tolkien is greatly deepened by understanding how his Catholic faith shaped the &quot;Lord of the Rings&quot; narrative.&nbsp; The podcast at the end of this post was a great listen on that topic.&quot;The Lord of the Rings&quot; is great literature in my estimate because its insights into human nature are universal revelations based in large part on Tolkien&#039;s Christian faith.&nbsp; &quot;Lord of the Rings&quot; has been called the most important fiction written in the English language in the last one hundred years and I agree with that hierarchical ranking.Lewis, however, was a great polemicist and one hundred years from now his &quot;Screwtape Letters&#039; and &quot;Mere Christianity&quot; are still likely to be more persuasive than any of the turgid garbage written by Marx and Engels.&nbsp; Certainly, those who have actually lived under the regimes built by Marxist dictators and the Western democracies will likely find Lewis the more persuasive advocate.I&#039;d highly recommend the podcast below for its insightful commentary on Tolkien&#039;s Christian ethos in, &quot;Fellowship of the Rings&quot;.&nbsp; Very much of a piece with Lewis and intriguing because of their personal friendship and small community of faith, Anglican and Catholic, mutually supportive and reinforcing.<a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-great-books/episode-161-the-fellowship-of-the-ring-by-j-r-r-tolkien-rereleased-version/" target="_blank">The Great Books -- Episode 161: ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ by J. R. R. Tolkien [Rereleased Version] | National https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-great-books/episode-161-the-fellowship-of-the-ring-by-j-r-r-tolkien-rereleased-version/</a></blockquote>

[QUOTE="REC3, post: 1431262, member: 21149"] I was sent a number of C.S. Lewis' writings including "Screwtape" by a friend while in prison and found them to be very persuasive. He also wrote, "Mere Christianity" which was really decisive in motivating me to attend Sunday mass while I was in county jail for 30 months awaiting a plea bargain. Both are highly recommended as sources for rationalizing ones experience of the world with the naivety of faith. Lewis was Anglican and his own faith was encouraged by his friendship and association with J.R.R. Tolkien. Lewis' "Narnia" series and Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" Trilogy are both suffused with Christian (Lewis) and pre-Christian (Tolkien) sensibilities. If you liked Lewis as a Christian commentator, your appreciation of Tolkien is greatly deepened by understanding how his Catholic faith shaped the "Lord of the Rings" narrative. The podcast at the end of this post was a great listen on that topic. "The Lord of the Rings" is great literature in my estimate because its insights into human nature are universal revelations based in large part on Tolkien's Christian faith. "Lord of the Rings" has been called the most important fiction written in the English language in the last one hundred years and I agree with that hierarchical ranking. Lewis, however, was a great polemicist and one hundred years from now his "Screwtape Letters' and "Mere Christianity" are still likely to be more persuasive than any of the turgid garbage written by Marx and Engels. Certainly, those who have actually lived under the regimes built by Marxist dictators and the Western democracies will likely find Lewis the more persuasive advocate. I'd highly recommend the podcast below for its insightful commentary on Tolkien's Christian ethos in, "Fellowship of the Rings". Very much of a piece with Lewis and intriguing because of their personal friendship and small community of faith, Anglican and Catholic, mutually supportive and reinforcing. [URL='https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-great-books/episode-161-the-fellowship-of-the-ring-by-j-r-r-tolkien-rereleased-version/']The Great Books -- Episode 161: ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ by J. R. R. Tolkien [Rereleased Version] | National https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-great-books/episode-161-the-fellowship-of-the-ring-by-j-r-r-tolkien-rereleased-version/[/URL] [/QUOTE]

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