Category: Literature
Tolkien’s Holy Fools
At one point in The Lord of the Rings Gandalf, the great wizard-hero of the story, is asked by another character what hope there is that Frodo and Sam would fulfill their quest and destroy Sauron’s ring of power. “There never...
Walt Whitman on Neighbors and Strangers
It is good to remember, especially in light of these presidential primaries, that no era is without its share of baffling endorsements. Andrew Carnegie, whose imperious steel mills did more than perhaps anyone to antagonize the neo-transcendentalist folklore of Leaves...
Who says memorialism isn’t “sacramental”?
In the latest iteration of that interminable meme beloved by traditionalist conservatives everywhere, “Everything is terrible because of Protestantism” Peter Leithart has argued that Protestants cannot write because of our impoverished theology of the sacraments. His argument, particularly in part...
Detective Fiction and the Fun of Orthodoxy
We’re a little late for Agatha Christie’s 125th birthday, which was last Tuesday, but all the same I’m delighted to share this fun piece from Matthew Mellema, a new guest writer for us at Mere Orthodoxy. Matt is a lawyer specializing...
Twitter Is Like Elizabeth Bennet’s Meryton
I’m quite pleased to feature this piece from Mere Fidelity contributor Alastair Roberts today. You can follow him on Twitter here or read his personal blog here. ‘A Truth Universally Acknowledged…’ In a 1997 article on communal judgment in Pride...
On GK Chesterton and Chicken Vindaloo
An introduction to Chesterton is old hat for Mere O readers. But I’m posting this because this is the draft of a talk I plan to give as an intro to GKC when I lead a reading group at my...
What I Saw in the Shire–JRR Tolkien and the Love of Little Things
Note: It’s March 25 which is the day that the Ring of Power was cast into Mount Doom in JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. About 10 years ago, a group of Tolkien fans decided to commemorate the day...
The Law and the Burden of Love in Harry Potter
In Les Miserables Victor Hugo told a number of miraculous stories, but none greater than that of its main protagonist, the former convict Jean Valjean. For those who don’t know the story, Valjean was a convict who worked on a chain...
Curiosity and Love in Harry Potter
I’m currently enjoying my biennial tradition of reading through the Harry Potter books. This is my fifth time through the books and I find that each time through I seem enjoy them at least as much as I did the...
Tolkien and Violence
There’s a further Tolkien-related question that needs to be discussed after last week’s comments by George RR Martin, concerning the role of violence in Tolkien’s legendarium. Martin asked in the interview if Aragorn hunted down and killed all the orcs after...