The Hobbit (Audio CD): Discovering Grace and Providence in Bilbo's Adventures

In this companion course to  The Hidden Meaning of The Lord of the Rings , Professor Joseph Pearce highlights the "fundamentally religious and Catholic" nature of Tolkien's famous novel,  The Hobbit, or There and Back Again .

In this course, Joseph Pearce shows that Tolkien's own words about  The Lord of the Rings  being a "fundamentally religious and Catholic work" also apply to  The Hobbit . Some readers mistakenly believe that J.R.R. Tolkien's novel,  The Hobbit , is just a simple children's story. Tolkien might have written the book for his children's entertainment, but the best children's literature always has a deep level of meaning, and  The Hobbit  is no exception.

Professor Pearce gives you three keys to a true understanding of The Hobbit's applicability to everyday

Bilbo Baggins of Bag End and his adventures can serve as a mirror for our journey through life. Even though we won't find ourselves travelling through goblin-infested mountains, chased by spiders, or threatened by trolls, we can see that virtue is only attained through grace by slaying the monsters and demons which try to prevent our passage into eternal glory. Tolkien's profoundly Catholic worldview allows us to transcend the literal meaning of the story and apply its theological lessons to our own lives.