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Who is Tom Bombadil? 
Any Lord of the Rings fan knows 

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that Bombadil is a very 
mysterious character. 

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But what's interesting is that 
as we unpack him as a character,

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we end up unpacking things we've
forgotten about how to do life. 

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Bombadil opens a window into 
what it means to steward the 

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earth and our vocations. 
Well, what if we had a larger 

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concept of stewardship, of being
created in the image of God that

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goes toward dominion in its 
truest sense? 

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Not just ecological preservation
and certainly not domination, 

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but instead a posture that asks 
questions like, what if my 

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vocation has a home in the 
Kingdom of God? 

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Even though Bombadil himself 
doesn't appear largely in the 

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story or go with the hobbits on 
their journey, exploring his 

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character opens ultimate 
questions about death, 

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resurrection, heaven, rest, good
and evil. 

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Questions about who we're 
supposed to be and what exactly 

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we're supposed to do here. 
Join the Imagination Redeemed 

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podcast for a live webinar 
reading group that will take 

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what looks like a nerdy, obscure
character discussion and drive 

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it into a realm of wonder, 
mystery, and a new picture of 

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what it means to live in the 
world. 

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Here's how it will work. 
Beginning on June 4th, we will 

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spend 4 weeks reading and 
discussing the book In the House

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of Tom Bombadil by CR Wiley. 
Each Wednesday we will host a 

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live webinar discussion, the 
first of which will be with the 

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author. 
You can participate in these 

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conversations live or watch them
as recordings at your 

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convenience. 
And you can participate with 

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others not only in those live 
conversations, but in an ongoing

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chat as we explore the book 
together. 

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Let me tell you what to expect 
on June 4th. 

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We'll start off with the 
conversation of who is Bombadil,

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A conversation with author CR 
Wiley. 

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Tolkien fans love to debate that
question. 

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Who is Tom Bombadil and why is 
he even in the story? 

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We'll get into our theories and 
yours on the answer. 

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But this week with author CR 
Wiley, we will also explore the 

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question of why the answer 
matters. 

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Because the answer isn't just a 
key to understanding The Lord of

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the Rings. 
It's a key to understanding the 

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Christian life. 
The second week, June 11th, we 

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will delve into the topic of 
dominion. 

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We tend to shrink from a word 
like dominion, yet Tom Bombadil 

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exercises a stewardship that 
goes a great deal further than 

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do no harm. 
He gives us a model for living 

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as the amount of day so that our
God-given lordship of creation 

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is woven into the thriving of 
the things in it. 

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This week we will contrast 
Bombadil and Sauron and unpack a

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vision for shepherding the earth
in keeping with the ancient 

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songs sung into its soul. 
Week 3, June 18th. 

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We will deal with the topic of 
communion, order and chaos, 

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women and men, nature and 
technology. 

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It's pretty easy to see apparent
tensions through opposites as we

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look around, and it's difficult 
to build households that manage 

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those tensions. 
Yet Tom and Goldberry supply a 

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picture of how to live joyfully 
in the wilderness, order our 

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lives by the great stories, and 
weave seamlessly into a dance of

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mutual delight. 
This week we will tiptoe through

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a theology of communion that has
implications for the 

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relationship of the sexes, 
mankind and the rest of 

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creation, happiness and limits, 
and home and wild things. 

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Finally, in Week 4, on June 
25th, we will look at 

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culmination. 
Tom has his limits, including as

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an exemplar. 
This week we will explore those 

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limits and what they teach us, 
but we'll also look at what he 

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shows us of death and 
resurrection, the hierarchical 

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complexity of God's creation, 
and a vision of heaven that can 

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shape our habits on earth. 
Are you in? 

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We're going to have some fun 
with this. 

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That's kind of the point. 
We're curious about how to 

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approach the mysteries of how we
live in the world and with each 

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other and come out with a 
posture of merriment. 

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To join up, go to 
anselmsociety.org/bombadil.