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Abiding the Long Defeat: How to Evangelize Like a Hobbit in a Disenchanted Age
This book makes a fresh contribution to a growing genre of popular literature facing Christianity’s late-modern or postmodern decline. It situates the broader fate of Christian faith within the eschatological realism of J.R.R. Tolkien’s characterization of history as a “long defeat.” Conor Sweeney contends that the horizon of the “death of God” in the West constitutes an unprecedented escalation of that defeat. He argues that there is but one effective evangelical resistance to the nihilism of our simple acts offered in fidelity and love. Convinced that this will require a renewed encounter with the deepest roots of Christian faith, Sweeney confronts Christianity’s complicity in the death of God and shapes a bold antidote from the perennial hope of our ongoing baptismal participation in Christ’s death and resurrection. “Conor Sweeney offers a unique approach to evangelizing in contemporary western culture by looking to the wisdom embodied in J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic work The Lord of the Rings .”— ARCHBISHOP JULIAN C. PORTEOUS “Conor Sweeney teaches us to think on our in prayer before God, in company with the saints, in light of the eschaton. Bold and original, even prophetic, this book helps us maintain steadfastly Catholic sensibilities and the conviction of our ultimate power to prevail when all else is crumbling to ruin.”— ADAM G. COOPER “ Abiding the Long Defeat will have broad appeal to both professional scholars and intelligent laity alike. Perhaps most of all, it will be read by young Catholics eager to learn how the world got into its present disenchanted hollow.”— TRACEY ROWLAND “Conor Sweeney shows us how to take Tolkien’s work as a guide to evangelizing ourselves and others. All who are hobbits at heart will take courage from reading this wonderful book.”— JOSEPH PEARCE “ Abiding the Long Defeat provides a careful analysis of our post-Christian culture, engaging its major advocates on their own turf. Yet the author offers also a fine hobbitic guide—drawing upon our best Christian theologians—that grounds our witness in a deeply sacramental Faith of baptismal and penitential life.”— RALPH C. WOOD “It is not our choice whether to commence this journey. We are already underway, for we are inheritors of the earth cracks in scholasticism and the earth quakes of modernism. Baptism does not spare us the journey, nor guarantee our success; but the liturgical fellowship of faith can uphold the traveler. A wonderful insight into the demands of evangelization.”— DAVID W. FAGERBERG
248 pages, Paperback
Published May 5, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 17, 2020
Sweeney's book is a diagnosis of the state of modernism and liberalism from a christian perspective, informed by the vision of J.R.R. Tolkien. The author maps the path to disenchantment, and secularisation and offers the meaning and sacrament of baptism as the lens through which to see evangelisation and discipleship. Our new life in Christ is the axis from which to see these perspectives.
In the final section, Sweeney offers insights from the Hobbits as to why they are able to resist the power of the Ring:
1. Quoting Tolkien, "“Their faces were as a rule good natured rather than beautiful, broad, bright-eyed, red-cheeked, with mouth apt to laughter, and eating, and drinking. And laugh they did, and eat, and drink, often and heartily, being fond of simple jests at all times, and have six meals a day ( when they could get them). They were hospitable and delighted in parties, and in presents , which they gave away freely and eagerly accepted. ”
2. Sweeney's owndisgnouis: “The point that I am trying to make is that the capacity of hobbits to resist the Ring more strongly than most stems not from their sovereign will or hard work and effort but rather from the deep way in which they have been “evangelised” by the particularly rich and integrated practices of a culture of leisure, contemplation, and hope. Frodo and Sam are willing to die, and are even at peace with their imminent death, because they have experienced something vital and real, something beyond the push and pull of the horizon of finitude. “
And quoting Ralph Wood
Hobbits are ”opponents of the allurement of the ring exactly because their life-aims are so very modest. Wanting nothing more than to preserve the freedom of their own peaceable Shire, they have no grandiose ambitions. Their meekness uniquely qualifies them to destroy the ring in the cracks of doom . This is a quest that can be accomplished by the small even more aptly than by the great - by ordinary folks far more than conventional heroes. “
"
Here are few moments form this really stimulating book:
“What is the engine that keeps faith and reason working together? Put very simply, we could say that faith and reason only work together the way that they are meant to when they are attached to a living, breathing creature whose identity, whose orientation, whose motivation, whose allegiance have already been “branded” by a sacramental belonging to Christ, by the radical reorientation provided by the baptismal marking of grace on the creature ; and not, as we say, by any “rational” power internal to the thinking subject ”
“What is radical about Christianity is that it claims that love is reason, or that the highest reason is love . Reason does not therefore consider only abstract facts and ideas that hang in the void. ”
“…The baptised person - the one who has been called to a radical spiritual childhood of “adopted” sonship in God, through the Son - can never live as if God did not exist or if faith were only a “option”. This person - the person who has experienced the love of the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit - should chafe at the thought of having to ever quarantine their love, or having to act as if this love were not the centre of all meaning and existence . Baptism must bleed into every single area of my life. ”
“The person who discovers the actual emptiness, irrationality ,and failure of the modern world as understood by liberal theories will - if not duped by its therapies- recognise that the world so created by liberalism is a sham; that it promises a pale and groundless alternative to the Christian story that fails to deliver, fails to satisfy, and fails to rouse and inspire because it is too shallow and empty to do so. ”
In the final section, Sweeney offers insights from the Hobbits as to why they are able to resist the power of the Ring:
1. Quoting Tolkien, "“Their faces were as a rule good natured rather than beautiful, broad, bright-eyed, red-cheeked, with mouth apt to laughter, and eating, and drinking. And laugh they did, and eat, and drink, often and heartily, being fond of simple jests at all times, and have six meals a day ( when they could get them). They were hospitable and delighted in parties, and in presents , which they gave away freely and eagerly accepted. ”
2. Sweeney's owndisgnouis: “The point that I am trying to make is that the capacity of hobbits to resist the Ring more strongly than most stems not from their sovereign will or hard work and effort but rather from the deep way in which they have been “evangelised” by the particularly rich and integrated practices of a culture of leisure, contemplation, and hope. Frodo and Sam are willing to die, and are even at peace with their imminent death, because they have experienced something vital and real, something beyond the push and pull of the horizon of finitude. “
And quoting Ralph Wood
Hobbits are ”opponents of the allurement of the ring exactly because their life-aims are so very modest. Wanting nothing more than to preserve the freedom of their own peaceable Shire, they have no grandiose ambitions. Their meekness uniquely qualifies them to destroy the ring in the cracks of doom . This is a quest that can be accomplished by the small even more aptly than by the great - by ordinary folks far more than conventional heroes. “
"
Here are few moments form this really stimulating book:
“What is the engine that keeps faith and reason working together? Put very simply, we could say that faith and reason only work together the way that they are meant to when they are attached to a living, breathing creature whose identity, whose orientation, whose motivation, whose allegiance have already been “branded” by a sacramental belonging to Christ, by the radical reorientation provided by the baptismal marking of grace on the creature ; and not, as we say, by any “rational” power internal to the thinking subject ”
“What is radical about Christianity is that it claims that love is reason, or that the highest reason is love . Reason does not therefore consider only abstract facts and ideas that hang in the void. ”
“…The baptised person - the one who has been called to a radical spiritual childhood of “adopted” sonship in God, through the Son - can never live as if God did not exist or if faith were only a “option”. This person - the person who has experienced the love of the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit - should chafe at the thought of having to ever quarantine their love, or having to act as if this love were not the centre of all meaning and existence . Baptism must bleed into every single area of my life. ”
“The person who discovers the actual emptiness, irrationality ,and failure of the modern world as understood by liberal theories will - if not duped by its therapies- recognise that the world so created by liberalism is a sham; that it promises a pale and groundless alternative to the Christian story that fails to deliver, fails to satisfy, and fails to rouse and inspire because it is too shallow and empty to do so. ”
June 24, 2019
This is a relevant book for anyone who does not believe in cheap grace.
February 10, 2026
As the title suggests, author Conor Sweeney has a bit of a pessimistic outlook. The world's curent post-modern outlook that has little in common with the predominantly Christian culture that came before it. In fact, many elements are in direct contradiction with Christian views. Morality has devolved to the point where everyone is their own moral guide, leading to "anything goes" attitudes, especially with sexual morality. Popular culture makes Christianity look like it is on its way out. Sweeney acknowledges this and even argues that a lot of Christian thoughts and attitudes have unwittingly enabled this outcome. An over reliance on the distinction between faith and reason, between the supernatural and the natural, leads to an eventual bracketing off of the divine in favor of the scientifically verifiable. The next step of leaving the divine out entirely is a short step and quickly taken.
Sweeney traces this intellectual tradition and provides something of a twist to get Christianity back on track. He advocates a return to a perspective founded on the baptismal reality created by Christ. We have become adopted children of the Father, brothers and sisters to the Son, and a deep community founded on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This foundation creates a radically different relationships between people and with the world. It's not the layering on of grace on top of nature but a new creation combining both in a dynamic way that is far different than just incorporating Plato or Aristotle into Christian theology, or shoehorning the Christian worldview into modern media distribution channels. While there can be some success in such methods, it also introduces a fundamental misdirection for the faith life. Post-Vatican II Catholic leaders like Pope St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI have shown a more authentic way to get to the roots of the Christian faith and message without watering it down to fit in modern ways of thinking and communicating. The division of the secular and the religious has to be broken down and reality made whole.
Sweeney draws a lot of parallels with Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, specifically how the Hobbits' lifestyle is more conducive to an authentically lived Christian life. They are simple and humble, loving the ground and good food and good drinks and a quiet life. This "salt of the earth" attitude is precisely what makes Frodo an ideal candidate to carry the Ring to Mount Doom. So many other characters (Boromir, Gandalf, Galadriel, etc.) would fall to the temptation to use the Ring for their own ends, though they would wind up as servants of the Ring. Frodo's lack of great ambition inoculates him to a great degree from the temptation to wield the Ring. Secular culture offers a lot of bright, shiny objects to Christian evangelists. It might be good to take a close look at what is being offered and be sure to keep the right things in focus.
In some parts of his arguments, Sweeney struggles with his ideas and what he acknowledges is a pessimistic outlook on the situation. He does provide a way for individuals to get out of the temptations and traps found in modern culture. His focus on fundamentals of faith is refreshing and heartening, ultimately providing the reader with hope that even if the world cannot be saved (and it won't be), the people in it can.
Recommended.
Sweeney traces this intellectual tradition and provides something of a twist to get Christianity back on track. He advocates a return to a perspective founded on the baptismal reality created by Christ. We have become adopted children of the Father, brothers and sisters to the Son, and a deep community founded on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This foundation creates a radically different relationships between people and with the world. It's not the layering on of grace on top of nature but a new creation combining both in a dynamic way that is far different than just incorporating Plato or Aristotle into Christian theology, or shoehorning the Christian worldview into modern media distribution channels. While there can be some success in such methods, it also introduces a fundamental misdirection for the faith life. Post-Vatican II Catholic leaders like Pope St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI have shown a more authentic way to get to the roots of the Christian faith and message without watering it down to fit in modern ways of thinking and communicating. The division of the secular and the religious has to be broken down and reality made whole.
Sweeney draws a lot of parallels with Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, specifically how the Hobbits' lifestyle is more conducive to an authentically lived Christian life. They are simple and humble, loving the ground and good food and good drinks and a quiet life. This "salt of the earth" attitude is precisely what makes Frodo an ideal candidate to carry the Ring to Mount Doom. So many other characters (Boromir, Gandalf, Galadriel, etc.) would fall to the temptation to use the Ring for their own ends, though they would wind up as servants of the Ring. Frodo's lack of great ambition inoculates him to a great degree from the temptation to wield the Ring. Secular culture offers a lot of bright, shiny objects to Christian evangelists. It might be good to take a close look at what is being offered and be sure to keep the right things in focus.
In some parts of his arguments, Sweeney struggles with his ideas and what he acknowledges is a pessimistic outlook on the situation. He does provide a way for individuals to get out of the temptations and traps found in modern culture. His focus on fundamentals of faith is refreshing and heartening, ultimately providing the reader with hope that even if the world cannot be saved (and it won't be), the people in it can.
Recommended.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews