While the ratio of reading fiction books compared to non-fiction (and even more specifically, secular to spiritual) has decreased over the years, I still read a few non-fiction works. I read them for pleasure, as well as just exposing myself to good writing and good vocabulary.
And sometimes those non-fiction works also have significant spiritual overtones. That’s not why I began reading J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but that is what I ended up appreciating the most about those books. The contrast between light and dark and the exposure of the functioning of the human heart was particularly compelling in those works. The books didn’t merely reveal the nature of others, they reveal my nature.
And the spiritual themes (though not pointing directly to Christ) are also prominent in the movies. Which is why we attended all of them and own them all on DVD. And that is also why we are also looking forward to the release of the movie The Hobbit on December 14, 2012 (less than a year away!).
This morning I found a trailer for the movie (HT: Challies):
Words of Grace 