Fantasy Fiction and the Bible as Story
Jon Harris had me on his podcast today to talk about fantasy fiction and whether or not Christians should read Tolkien. We ended up talking a lot about the question, "What is the Bible?"
I think you will enjoy this discussion that I had with Jon Harris on his show, “Conversations that Matter.” I listened to a recent episode of his podcast which asked the question, “Should Christians read The Lord of the Rings?" Apparently there are some who argue you should not because it is “fantasy” and thus not “real.” I thought that it might be worth talking about because how you understand these questions of fake and real affect how you understand the nature of scripture. Jon agreed and he had me on to get into the whole subject. I think you will enjoy this.
The Apple Podcast link is not up yet, but I will add it when it does appear.
Here is the original episode that spurred me to reach out to Jon:
Listening to this podcast was like listening to music. 🎶 Notes reach, stir playfully and are incapable of lying flat.
I heard clear wisdom in the suggestion to "just look for the meaning". The advice is simple, accessible. I really think it has the potential to unlock the mind of a modern stuck in binary traps of understanding.
I love your invitation or reminder that the purpose is to encounter God. The immediacy of God's presence is available in a world imbued with meaning. Scripture is like a map, you tell us, so we find the right direction, so we don't get lost.
"Our world brims with meaning". That is music!
“The mere stories were the thing. They arose in my mind as ‘given’ things…always I had the sense of recording what was already ‘there’, somewhere: not of ‘inventing’.” - JRR Tolkien, in a letter to Milton Waldman, describing his work on The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion