On the Shoulders of Hobbits: The Road to Virtue with Tolkien and Lewis - Paperback

by Louis Markos (Author), Peter Kreeft (Foreword by)

The world of J. R. R. Tolkien is filled with strange creatures, elaborately crafted lore, ancient tongues, and magic that exists only in fantasy; yet the lessons taught by hobbits and wizards speak powerfully and practically to our real lives. Courage, valor, trust, pride, greed, and jealousy--these are not fictional virtues. This is the stuff of real life, the Christian life. Professor and author Louis Markos takes us on the road with Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, with looks at selected classic works of literature as well, to show how great stories bring us so much more than entertainment. They inspire and convict, imparting truth in unforgettable ways.

Rediscover the virtue of great storytelling and the power of fantasy to transform our reality.

Back Jacket

Classical virtue has been lost.

Courage, valor, trust, and friendship seem to be things of the past, of a different age and era. But is that because we have simply forgotten how to see them and learn them?

There was a time when virtue and vice were learned not through mere lessons and propositions but through stories. Real life truth and goodness was communicated powerfully through fantastical fiction. Louis Markos takes us back to that day and that reality.

Through the iconic works of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis we are reintroduced to classic virtues, both good and bad. Markos shows the reader how powerful stories and their characters act as teachers and examples of what to be and not to be in real life.

Rediscover the power of stories and the importance of virtue through this beautiful work.

Author Biography

LOUIS MARKOS, is a professor in English and Scholar in Residence at Houston Baptist University and holds the Robert H. Ray Chair in Humanities. Dr. Markos is a respected and widly requested speaker on C. S. Lewis, Tolkien, and Christian worldview as well as the arts, education, the new age, apologetics and, ancient Greece and Rome. He is the author of several books and numerous lectures and articles. Dr. Markos lives in Houston, Texas, with his wife Donna, his son Alex, and his daughter Stacey.