title: Tree of Tales: Tolkien, Literature, and Theology
author: Trevor Hart
description: <P>A fresh and provocative literary and theological analysis of Tolkien's oeuvre.</P> (Christopher W. Mitchell, Wade Center, Wheaton College)<br /><br /><P>Careful, comprehensive, and critical without being dismissive</P> (Wesley Vander Lugt <i>Themelios</i>)
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  ![images](docimages/cover.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![images](docimages/titlepage.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _To Rachel Griffiths,_
  
  
  _Thanks for taking a chance  
  on a writer named Janus Pope_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ‘You can only come to the morning through the shadows.’
  
  
  – J. R. R. Tolkien
  
  
  ‘Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before
  breakfast.’
  
  
  – Lewis Carroll
  
  
  ‘Persons seeking to find scholarship herein will be sued; persons motivated to
  discover meaning will be exiled; persons hoping to unearth an allegory will be
  summarily ordained.’
  
  
  – The Author
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## CONTENTS
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  * [Cover](001_cover.xhtml)
  
  
  * [Title Page](002_title.xhtml)
  
  
  * [Dedication](003_dedication.xhtml)
  
  
  * [Epigraph](004_epigraph.xhtml)
  
  
  * [Map](065_map.xhtml)
  
  
  * [Contents](005_contents.xhtml)
  
  
  * [CAST OF CHARACTERS](006_fm001.xhtml)
  
  
  * [AUTHOR’S NOTE](007_authors_note.xhtml)
  
  
  * [PROLOGUE](008_prologue.xhtml)
  
  
  * [CHAPTER 1](009_chapter001.xhtml)
  
  
  * [CHAPTER 2](010_chapter002.xhtml)
  
  
  * [CHAPTER 3](011_c