A Hobbit Devotional, by Ed Strauss

The Hobbit is one of those rare books that can be read again again, from one generation to the next, without losing its sense of charm and richness.  Ed Strauss takes the beloved story one scene at a time, unpacking moral and biblical lessons along the way.  His A Hobbit Devotional may not break any great theological ground, but it provides a thoughtful look at some additional layers of Bilbo Baggins's adventures that most readers will not have seen.

"I never though of that before. . . "

If you've never read The Hobbit, I would recommend that you do so before picking up A Hobbit Devotional.  Each chapter tells a little bit of the tale, so that by the end you've read a sort of Cliff's Notes version of The Hobbit, but it does not match the experience of reading the original.  Each of Strauss's sixty short chapters has a similar structure: a quote from The Hobbit, a brief scene from the story, a biblical story, and a lesson to be drawn from the stories.  Strauss does a nice job of putting it all together.  I never thought, "Wow, that's a stretch."

I think Strauss has taken the devotional application much further than what Tolkien probably had in mind, but  the real strength of Strauss's project is his spotlighting Tolkien's deep moral vision.  Even though The Hobbit can be read as a fun adventure story, Christian, moral themes abound.  I especially like Strauss's point that unlike many fantasy stories, The Hobbit portrays magic not as a pagan power or spells and incantations, but as natural powers given by God.

Fans of The Hobbit will enjoy thinking about the lessons Strauss brings out from the adventures of Bilbo, Gandalf, and others in Middle Earth.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy.