I was hopeful that the speakers at General Conference would
use sources outside of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to provide analogies for
their talks. Dieter F. Uchtdorf didn’t disappoint. He painted a vivid picture
using the components of a personal essay to establish a scene, inviting readers
of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel, The Hobbit,
to understand the comfort of a Hobbit’s environment which was: feasting
multiple times, communicating and socializing with their neighbors, gardening,
having a taste for the lesser progressive things in life with no thirst for
adventure. Uchtdorf used characterization to discuss the roles of Gandalf,
Bilbo, and the other hobbits. Finally, he linked this story to parallel our
lives as Latter-day Saints. Uchtdorf tied Bilbo’s adventure to ours by saying
something along the lines of, “perhaps the reason this story (referring to
Bilbo’s story) resonates with us so much is because it is our story” He
continued to then tie Bilbo’s adventure to the well-known plan of Salvation for
an LDS audience, metaphorically comparing our trials and obstacles in life to
those of Bilbo Baggins when he faces “trolls, spiders, and even a dragon or
two.” Finally, Dieter F Uchtdorf concludes his talk by retelling of the story
that after Bilbo and Gandalf had conversed (dialogue) emphasizing that once
Bilbo returned to an adventure he had to make the decision to go for himself,
and when he did he ran out the door, forgetting his hat, walking stick, and
second breakfast. Again, paralleling this with our lives, Uchtdorf invited
members to run away from sin and towards the covenant path, fulfilling our quest
for ourselves on this journey we call mortality.
On a general level, people could relate to Uchtdorf's careful symbolization of the Hobbit, but many people already saw Christian allusions in Tolkien's works, especially in the Lord of the Rings. I don't know if Uchtdorf's personal addition to religious analysis of Tolkien either supported the practice or defied it. Could we take this allusion to anything more than coincidence? It seems Uchtdorf says so.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I like that point. I think that Uchtdorf bringing up such a piece of popular culture and connecting it to the gospel was cool. I had been aware of more classical poetry used in conference, but not a ton of super popular stuff. It was cool to see something well-known used to illustrate gospel principles.
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