I've long believed that anything can be a Holy Text - you just have to decide to call it that. I considered writing a paragraph or two expanding on that idea - but that idea isn't the point. I'm not here to discuss the idea in theory. I'm here to actually try to do it. With Lord of the Rings.
Why Lord of the Rings? It's the only story I can think of that is A) long enough to be worth such an examination, B) similar enough to other Holy Texts C) popular enough to be familiar to many. Allow me to explain:
A) Lord of the Rings has 62 chapters. This means I can read the whole thing in 52 weeks, provided I read 1-2 chapters a week. Each week I will write a short essay on some lesson to be learned from that week's reading (think: D'var Torah or Bible Sermon).
B) There are other books that could be done in this form. Harry Potter is long enough. But Harry Potter is set in a formula. The formula (each book is a year at Hogwarts) wouldn't fit my purpose. I'd have a lot of chapters about arriving at Hogwarts. But Lord of the Rings is one very long journey involving many smaller adventures and moments. Similarly, the Torah, largely starting in Exodus, is about the Israelites journeying to Israel, but stops occasionally to tell other stories (Balaam, Korach, etc). Structurally it was just very similar.
Also, structurally, there are more portions in the Torah than weeks in the (Jewish) year. The solution there has been to establish "double portion" weeks, when 2 portions are read in one week. Similarly, I have gone through and specifically chosen the weeks I'll read two chapters instead of one.
C) I could absolutely do this about Les Miserables or the Trojan Cycle, and I would love to. But those stories are not as well known. I'm not REALLY doing this just for me. I'm really interested in getting feedback on what I'm doing; and to get that I need to write about something other people are familiar with.
OK, that's it! The cycle begins September 22nd, which is Frodo and Bilbo's birthday.........
