i was once asked to write a retreat & subsequently lead it based off "the lord of the rings" called "the lord of all things." i wasn't going to toil through 9+ hours of movie to find pieces and extract themes to write into a retreat. i just didn't have the time. since then there have been tons of books relating the spiritual/biblical/theological themes within the movies. now it seems that the united methodist church has come out with it's own, stamped and approved curriculum. with all this attention to "the lord of the rings" now i have one question.... okay maybe a few.
what happened to the books? from what i know, the books have been around for quite a number of years and i remember watching the cartoon when i was a kid (70's or 80's). i don't remember reading any books related to the biblical/spiritual/theological themes then.. did the books not carry these themes, but the movie somehow does? why now do we bring out all the curriculum products?
my take is this: why do we seem to run off of hollywood culture in relating to the spiritual life? now i know it's relevant to the people and we want to make sense of the world, we need to show that God is present in all things.. i get that.. why are we reactive though? wouldn't it have been cooler if people were doing bible studies on "the lord of the rings" or "the matrix" before they came into beingso that people could initially see them differently (the matrix is not the best example here, but you get the point) . with regards to "the lord of the rings" wouldn't it be cool if we pushed people to actually read the books, what a concept!! i was sorely upset that "the hobbit" was covered in the opening monologue of fellowship (the hobbit is the only book i remember reading cover to cover).
okay, so i am still glad that resources like this exsist, i am. but it seems we are two steps behind hollywood and other culture setters in getting the attention of the people. what would happen if we were two steps ahead?
