Free PDF The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings, by Stratford Caldecott

Free PDF The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings, by Stratford Caldecott

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The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings, by Stratford Caldecott

The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings, by Stratford Caldecott


The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings, by Stratford Caldecott


Free PDF The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings, by Stratford Caldecott

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The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings, by Stratford Caldecott

About the Author

Stratford Caldecott is the Director of the Chesterton Institute for Faith and Culture in Oxford, England.

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Product details

Paperback: 160 pages

Publisher: The Crossroad Publishing Company (March 1, 2005)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 082452277X

ISBN-13: 978-0824522773

Product Dimensions:

5.4 x 0.5 x 8.2 inches

Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces

Average Customer Review:

4.6 out of 5 stars

13 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#1,681,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

J.R.R. Tolkien's deep Christian faith was an integral part of his life and writings. A Roman Catholic in a country where there was still considerable prejudice against "Popery," he had to deal with social exclusion and some harassment during his youth. Having to deal with this discrimination strengthened his faith. Stratford Caldecott, himself an English Catholic, has written a very beautiful account of the ways in which Tolkien's faith and vision helped him form the tales which became his life's work.Caldecott's account is partly a spiritual biography of Tolkien himself and partly a spiritual analysis of his writings. I am not a Catholic, and while I am very familiar with Tolkien's worlds inevitably some of the religious symbolism and references had passed me by, so I am grateful to Caldecott for enhancing my future enjoyment and understanding. I also appreciated his references to the works of other Tolkien authorities, especially Verlyn Flieger, whose writings are complementary to and expand on much of what is found in this volume. There is very little reference to Tolkien "fandom", though the last of Caldecott's nine Appendices is given over to a fairly critical analysis of the three Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies.In many ways I found reading The Power of the Ring evoked the same pleasure and mystery I experience when I reread Tolkien, and there can be no higher praise than that.

And full of wonder indeed is Caldecott’s magistral reading of Tolkien’s work. Read it all: this review just touches two decisive points, but the whole of Caldecott’s work is worth reading and reading again.Caldecott’s reading of Tolkien reveals that The Lord of the Rings is a tale about the mystical Way and that the Way is established, guaranteed, and protected as the very Heart of the world. Why can we say this ?First of all, Caldecott’s great illumination: the Ring is the symbol of the ego.The Author proceeds from a general presentation of this decisive reflection [ p.82 : “…the Ring of Power exemplifies the dark magic of the corrupted will, the assertion of self in disobedience to God.”] to a discussion with the Jungian interpreters of the Lord of the Rings [p.154 : “…the Ring is not the Self but the false self…”. Here we need to remember that in the Jungian psychology the “Self”, with a capital S, is the deepest and the most positive and enlightened center of the entire person].From there, Caldecott moves to the more precise final definition: p.207, “The Ring is the Ego, our idea of the self…”.It should be obvious to any Reader that such interpretation radically transforms our entire reading of the Lord of the Rings. Caldecott’s reading is a precious key. But I have observed that some Readers greatly underestimate Caldecott’s deep illumination, and they ask “what does that mean ? what is the sense of it ?”. So, let’s think about it for a moment.If the Ring must be read as the symbol of the ego, of the unending assertion of I, I, I, me, me, me, mine, mine, mine…[ “Mine, my Precious…”], i.e. as the symbol of the self that has lost any connection with the Light, or that wants to lose any connection with the Light, then the adventures through Middle Earth to destroy the Ring represent directly the mystic Way, the Way back to the Light. So, Middle Earth is no world of “fantasy” (unless we take, as perhaps we should, this last term very seriously, as a synonym of “imagination” … and if we know the deep implications of the latter): instead the drama developing through Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings is the most realistic and truthful analysis of our true destiny as human beings…when we obey the Law, when we do our duty. It is the description of how our lives truly are (or … should be, if we would not fall, i.e., if we would not enlist in the armies of the orcs of the “dark fire ”…).Caldecott discusses the “dark fire ” extensively, starting from the long quotation from the Lord of the Rings at page 136: [Gandalf on the bridge of Moria, trying to stop the balrog]“he said . The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. ”.The “dark fire”, the fire of Melkor (ibid. p. 136), i.e. of Satan, burns and consumes, instead of illuminating. Compared to the fire of God, it is shadow (ibid.).The True Fire and more Wonder: the Secret Fire.Let’s read Caldecott’s decisive page 135:“The “Secret Fire” is Tolkien’s term for the distinctive creative power of Eru. It is God’s “secret”…For Tolkien, the fire represents life, love and creativity, the Wisdom and Love of God that burns [SIC] at the heart of the world and sustains [SIC] it in existence … it is the Holy Spirit, the “Giver of Life”.”A few lines below, Caldecott quotes again Tolkien, who spoke about“…the mystery of ‘authorship’, by which the author, while remaining ‘outside’, and independent of his work, also ‘indwells’ in it, on its derivative plane, below that of his own being, as the source and guarantee of its being”.And at page 100 Caldecott quotes directly from the Silmarillion (the early pages, about the Creation):“ Eä ! Let these things Be ! And I will send forth into the Void the Flame Imperishable, and it shall be at the heart of the World, and the World shall Be;…”The Secret Fire is the Presence of the Living Love of God at the Heart of the reality, the true Being of all that exists.Thus, Caldecott’s symbological reading of the Ring points to the Way, the Way to get rid of the Ring-ego and to reach the Truth. And the Presence of the Truth - of the Living Love of God, at the heart of the reality, at the same time True Way and True Goal - is asserted decisively in the discussion of what the “Secret Fire” is.As we said above: Caldecott’s reading of Tolkien reveals that The Lord of the Rings is a tale about the mystical Way and that the Way is established, guaranteed, and protected as the very Heart of the world.

Just a word of praise to say that there is much here to appreciate no matter your Faith, faith, or your unfaith. Writing is worded so that you can understand how JRRT's Christian and Catholic Faith impacted him and his works without having to know RC doctrine. Perhaps there is much more there for those who do profess Jesus Christ as RCs, but there is plenty for the rest of us too. As someone who is a bit short on attention span, and quick to get to the hearts of matters, Caldecott's style was much appreciated. So sorry to see the prices have skyrocketed since i purchased mine here... seems another printing is in order!

First, a heads-up that "The Power of the Ring" is really a second edition of "Secret Fire." The only difference I can find between the two is the addition of the discussion of the Peter Jackson movies in "The Power of the Ring." I didn't realize that when I bought the books and ended up owning both of them.Stratford Caldecott is the ideal author for this book. He lives and works in Oxford as Director of the Chesterton Institute for Faith & Culture, is married with several children, and is a traditional English Roman Catholic, all of which is helpful for getting "inside" Tolkien's spirituality. He also has a depth of knowledge regarding Tolkien's works and an ability to write about scholarly subjects without seeming scholarly.Although I believe only a Catholic could have written this book, I by no means think only Catholics will get anything from it. It's a book about the spirituality of one man - J.R.R. Tolkien - not about Catholic theology. It's simply that we needed a book like this written by someone who could understand Tolkien's faith from the inside in order to make sense of it for everyone. I'd recommend it for non-Christians who want to discover why they find themselves resonating with Tolkien's writing. I'd recommend it for non-Catholic Christians who have difficulty seeing his subcreation as fundamentally Christian. I'd recommend it for Catholics who want to possibly experience a bit of the Fire that's at the center of it all.In my 39+ years of being an active Tolkien reader, this book is one of the few about him that have gotten me truly excited. It deserves to be much more widely known than it is.

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