Fantasy Mapping (Wesley Jones)

In Fantasy Mapping, artist Wesley Jones' goal is to cover every aspect of the titled topic, to include:

- world building,

- geography, 

- tools & materials,

- map components, 

- styling, lettering & colouring,

- composition, and

- finished maps.

This book is a mixed bag. Some of the tips were aspects I hadn't considered; I appreciated that. And I liked that about half of the book was the final chapter, where he gave many examples of finished maps (complete with world-building backstory) in different styles. On the other hand, a lot of the book seemed too basic; tips like ""there are many different software programs available for digital art . . . each program has its strengths, so it is okay to use multiple programs to get good results." Fine and good, but that left me wanting more. And while some art tutorials were there, they were glossed over. That may be appropriate for the topic at hand, but I felt this could be been better.

Rating: C+

Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth (J.R.R. Tolkien)

In Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth, Christopher Tolkien presents a collection (sometimes edited) of his late father's writings on these regions. Per him, this "book is no more than a collection of writings, disparate in form, intent, finish, and date of composition (and in my own treatement of them), concerned with Numenor and Middle-earth." Further, "many of the pieces in this collection are elaborations of matters told more briefly, or at least referred to, elsewhere . . ." This new version, a reprinting (the original was published in 1980), contains wonderful full-color plates of illustrations by the three most famous illustrators of Tolkien: Alan Lee, John Howe, and Ted Nasmith. The tales herein are separated by the Age in which they take place (per Tolkien's timeline):

First Age Tales:

- Of Tuor and his coming to Gondolin

- Narn I Hin Hurin

These are covered in The Fall of Gondolin and The Children of Hurin, respectively.

Second Age Tales:

- A description of the island of Numenor

- Aldarion and Erendis: The Mariner's Wife

- The Line of Elros: Kings of Numenor

These are covered in The Fall of Numenor.

- The history of Galadriel and Celeborn

Third Age Tales:

- The disaster of the Gladden Fields [where Isildur lost the One Ring]

- Cirion and Eorl and the friendship of Gondor and Rohan

- The Quest of Erebor

- The Hunt for the Ring

- The Battles of the Fords of Isen

These give interesting backstory/context to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Part Four:

- The Druedain

- The Istari

- The Palantiri

These gave backstory to the titled topics. The Druedain are a race (very short, but not Dwarves or Hobbits) that dwindled and may have disappeared by the Third Age. The Istari are the wizards who came to Middle-earth; Gandalf and Saruman being the most known. The Palantiri are the seeing stones mentioned in The Lord of the Rings.

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Delving into Tolkien's legendarium is at once enjoyable and confusing. He often had many (and sometimes contradictory, or at least wildly varying) versions of tales, so it can be hard to follow along or reconcile a given tale with other knowledge. I read about 40% of this, being familiar with the remainder. I would have found these tales, frankly, pretty boring only ten years ago. Now, especially with Rings of Power out (and much-discussed/maligned), I did take a heightened interest, even as the variations made me hold not too closely to any one telling. I enjoyed fleshing out the events and locations mentioned in The Lord of the Rings the most.

Rating: B+

The Doctrine of the Word of God (John Frame)

"My thesis is that God's word, in all its qualities and aspects, is a personal communication from him to us." So begins John Frame in his book about the doctrine of the Word of God. Further, he argues "that Scripture, together with all of God's other communications to us, should be treated as nothing less than God's personal word." And he is trying, "above all else, to be ruthlessly consistent with Scripture's own view of itself." He is "defending the Bible by the Bible." That sounds (and is) circular, but "unavoidable when one seeks to defend an ultimate standard of truth, for one's defense must itsel be accountable to that standard." He absolutely brings extrabiblical considerations to bear, but he places them under the Bible in terms of authority. We all have something we treat as the ultimate authority in our lives—be it autonomous reason, personal feeling, or something other—and for Frame, that ultimate authority is the Bible.

This work has four parts:

• Orientation
• The Personal-Word model (thesis introduced above) and the authority of Scripture
• God's Word in Modern Theology
• Modern view of revelation, including how reason, history, and human subjectivity relate to it
• The Nature of God's Word
• Defining God's Word and considering it as His controlling power, meaningful authority, and personal presence
• How the Word Comes to Us
• The bulk of the volume, looking at many topics, including God's revelation (through events, words, and people), God's Written Word (Old and New Testaments, and the views of Jesus and the Apostles towards them), the canon of Scripture, characteristics of Scripture (including inspiration, content, inerrancy, clarity, necessity, comprehensiveness, sufficiency, transmission, translations, teaching, interpretation, and more), problems, assurance, and other topics. 

The above is the first half (334 pages) of the book; Frame then includes ~300 pages of  Appendicies (A through Q!) covering related material (often, other articles he has written on this topic from different perspectives).

What a read. Amazing! I read at least 300 pages of this all told, and want to read more. It is magisterial and impressive. Frame has such a way with words: he can clearly and succinctly convey profound concepts like few others I've read. And his devotion to using Scripture was a refreshing change from some theological works that spend more time comparing and criticizing views of other theologians than looking at the Bible itself. This one is highly recommended.

Rating: A+

The Fall of Numenor (J.R.R. Tolkien)

This book "seeks to present, in a single volume, selections from J.R.R. Tolkien's postumously puslished writings about the Second Age of Middle-earth." Here, we learn of the forging of the rings of power and Sauron's dealing with the elves. But the bulk of the account is about Numenor, an island created by and given as gift of the Valar to men—the Edain—who helped defeat Morgoth in the First Age. These men, hence called the Dunedain, were also granted long lifespans (400 years or more) as they cultivated and enjoyed this island between Valinor and Middle-earth. They were forbidden to travel west, but otherwise free to explore the seas and lands to the east. So Numenor rose and became mighty for centuries, but it was not to last. For Sauron was at work and determined to bring its downfall. His handiwork would eventually lead to Numenor's destruction, a Last Alliance of men (including Numenoreans who fled the island and founded Gondor) and elves, and the end of the Second Age.

I quite enjoyed this work, and was excited to learn the canon of the Second Age, being as that is the time period addressed in the Rings of Power television show. This is a mixture of material found in Tolkien's other works, including the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, but it presents the various writings in a chronological fashion with commentary as needed to fill in the gaps. Mildly boring or confusing in places, but excellent overall.

Rating: A-

Canon Revisited (Michael J. Kruger)

In Canon Revisited, Michael Kruger's purpose is "to answer the question about whether the Christian belief in the canon [of the New Testament—its 27 books—] is intellectually acceptable." He argues "that Christians have more than adequate grounds for their belief in the truth of the canon." A summary of the book (and his argument) follows.

The Canonical Model

In the first part, Kruger looks at canonical models, which are different approaches people use to "answer the question of how we know which books belong in the New Testament canon." 

- Community-determined models look "to the decisions of the church itself (or individuals within it)"; in effect, canon is determined by the response of the community.

- Historically-determined models "appeal to the historical origins of the books themselves," where books are considered canonical if historical research (to determine authenticity and apostolicity) deems them so. 

There are variations to the above, but all "share one thing in common: they authenticate the canon on the basis of something external to it . . . [which will] inevitably produce a canon of our own making." To avoid an appeal to an external authority, "the canon must be self-authenticating . . . the canon [itself] guides, controls, and determines how it is authenticated." Looking to the Scriptures to guide us, he argues "that God has created the proper epistemic environment in which belief in the canon could be reliably formed." This self-authenticating model "involves the following components:" [the below list is a condensed quote]

• Providential exposure. We trust in the providence of God to expose the church to the books it is to receive as canonical. [this, therefore, does not address 'lost' apostolic books]
• Attributes of canonicity. The Scriptures indicate that there are three attributes that all canonical books have:
• divine qualities (canonical books bear the "marks' of divinity),
• corporate reception (canonical books are recognized by the church as a whole), and
• apostolic origins (canonical books are the result of the redemptive-historical activity of the apostles).
• Internal testimony of the Holy Spirit. Because of the noetic effects of sin, the natural man cannot reliably recognize these attributes of canonicity. Thus, we need the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit . . . [which] is not private revelation . . . but it is the Spirit opening our eyes to the truth of these attributes and producing belief that these books are from God.

These attributes of canonicity "are mutually reinforcing." "This three-dimensional model, then, is self-supporting and self-correcting." "On the basis of this model, we concluded that the Christian has intellectually sufficient ground for affirming that these twenty-seven books, and only these . . . belong in the New Testament."

Exploring and Defending the Canonical Model

In the second part, Kruger explores and defends the above argument in more depth. He looks at "the Christian claim that the New Testament books contain divine qualities." He argues that "all canonical books are apostolic, meaning that they bear authoritative apostolic tradition." He shows how "the methodologies of much of modern critical scholarship . . . are founded upon Enlightenment assumptions that are already hostile to historic Christianity." And he examines "the reception of the canon by the corporate church." 

Implications of the Canonical Model

The below list is a composite of quotes.

• There is more common ground between competing canonical models than is often realized. Canon has an ecclesiological dimention, a historical dimension, and an aesthetic/internal dimension. It is when a single aspect of canon is absolutized at the expense of the others that distortions inevitably arise. The community-determined models are correct that the church plays a key role (but not the decisive and only role). The historically determined models are right that canonical books are those that contain authentic apostolic content (but there is no such thing as a neutral historical methodology). The Reformers are correct that the canonical books contain the marks of divinity within them (but that doesn't mean that the role of the church and the origins of these books should be ignored). Each of [these models] brings something important to the table.
• The decisive issue in canonical studies is one's ontology of canon. What is the canon in and of itself? What sets the self-authenticating model apart is that it recognizes not only that the books of the canon have divine authority apart from their reception by the community of faith, but also that this authority can be known through the books themselves as the power of the Spirit works within them.
• Christians have intellectually sufficient grounds for claiming that they know which books belong in the New Testament. The culture of postmodernity in our Western world already gives us reason to doubt the basis for virtually every belief we hold—particularly religious ones. But if [this] model proves to be valid, then the power of this objection is dissolved.

"Throughout this study, we have seen that the canon is, at its core, a theological issue . . the manner in which one authenticates canon is integrally connected to one's view about the kind of books being authenticated." Indeed, "everyone brings a canonical theology to the table whether they recognize it or not." In the end, Jesus himself points the way: "my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." (John 10:27)

Review

This is a fantastic book. It has outstanding scholarship, clear presentation, and is fair to opposing viewpoints. Many of the arguments within are quite strong and persuasive. Others are hard to prove (or disprove), but reasonable based on the evidence as a whole. This is a must-read for those interested in the formation and defense of the New Testament.

Rating: A+