Christianity and Tolkien

[tumhalad2]

Christianity and Tolkien

For what it’s worth, I’m an atheist, and an anti-theist. By this I mean that I not only disbelieve in any god, I also find many forms of theism morally objectionable. From the outset I want to say that this is not a post about religion per se, its merits or demerits. It is about the curious fact that as an atheist, and as an anti-theist, I still enjoy Tolkien’s books. On one level this isn’t really surprising at all: Tolkien’s books obviously appeal to a wide range of individuals of all types: his creations are diverse enough to accommodate many different world views.

Nevertheless, Tolkien was himself a Christian and his Catholicism was evidently a very central part of his self-identity. Along with the myriad other influences in his persona and especially professional life, Tolkien’s religion contributed to the form that his creation eventually took. There is one god, a set of demigods and a whole ambiguous theology that relates the destinies, fates and choices of these immortals to the more folkloric Elves and the hobbits.

There have been myriad books about Tolkien written from an explicitly Christian perspective. The most recent “The Christian World of the Hobbit”, by Devin Brown, continues this tradition. Of course most of the most well known and highly regarded critical work on Tolkien has taken place from a neutral perspective – Rosebury and Shippey come to mind. Nevertheless, there is a definite trend for academic and other works on Tolkien to approach his work from a perspective that already considers Christianity in some form to be true.

My questions are these: Do you think it is reasonable to approach an author, from an academic point of view, with a religious world view already in mind? Secondly, how do you think your faith or lack of it informs your reading of Tolkien? For example, are you more disposed to feel that Eucatastrophe should define Tolkien’s stories, and are wont to explain away its absence, as in The Children of Hurin?

The second part of my question concerns Christianity itself in Tolkien. How do you think that one can judge the effect of a certain worldview on a literary work? What counts as “Christian” and “not-Christian” in Tolkien? Do you think some Christians overemphasise the “Christian” themes in Tolkien’s work? To answer this question let’s take a look at what kinds of beliefs constitute Christianity:

Christians will probably believe one, some or all of these following propositions. Note, of course, that not all Christians will believe all of these propositions, so if you’re a Christian and you feel misrepresented, I’m telling you now that this list is neither exhaustive nor does it describe every individual who calls themselves a Christian.

1. There exists an eternal, all-powerfull, all-knowing creator God, who, though of one essence, exists in three distinct, but not separate, persons.

2. There exists a devil, Satan, and numerous other demonic beings as well as angels, archangels, etc.

3. The earth is not billions of years in age, but created by God six to ten thousand years ago.

4. There was an actual Adam and Eve in a literal Garden of Eden who sinned and brought upon the world the horrible suffering it contains

5. God has a morally sufficient reason for permitting all the evil that ever has or ever will occur.

6. A first – century Galilean Jew, Jesus, was born of a virgin as an incarnate God in the flesh and performed numerous miracles during his life.

7. This Jesus was crucified according to specific prophecies in the Old Testament as a divine sacrifice to atone for the past, present and future sins of the world.

8. Jesus was resurrected

9. There is life after death, and only people who have ace[ted a legitimate form of Christian belief will go to eternal bliss in heaven, while all others, with a few rare exceptions, will suffer an eternity of torment in hell.

For each of these points, it seems to me questionable that Tolkien depicted a universe in which they are true with any fidelity in his books. For example, it is indeed unclear that Eru is all-loving, all-powerful, and all-knowing. There is certainly a significant demonic figure, Morgoth, but he is unlike Satan in many ways - he is incarnated and actually acts out deeds in person in the world. Moreover, any sufficiently powerful and malevolent being in Tolkien’s universe (e.g. Sauron, or Galadrial had she given in to temptation) would appear to mortals as a kind of Satanic figure. The precise age of the world in Tolkien is not really known, and certainly seems to be more than six to ten thousand years.

Of course there are vague similarities; Morgoth does resemble Satan in some respects, and Eru does indeed conjure a sense of the biblical God. Nevertheless I contend that it is in the moral dimension where Tolkien, consciously or not, most drastically departs from Christian doctrine. Unlike the Christian God, Eru is not in fact a lawgiver, nor does he make covenants with particular peoples, or punish others when they fail. Certainly, there is the example of Numénor, which is the most biblical of Tolkien’s stories, but in general Tolkien’s characters never decide upon their moral actions with reference to notions of “judgement” or “righteousness”. That which is good is good for its own sake (a very humanistic point that is often overlooked in Tolkien, I think).

Nor, in Tolkien, is there any notion of “Sin”. As I understand it, sin describes not merely wrongdoing, but wrongdoing that is in some sense an affront to God’s character, and which requires atonement. The ultimate atonement, the death of Jesus, is said, therefore, to be necessary because all humanity sins and only sacrifice is righteous enough in God’s eyes to expunge it. In Middle-earth, ethical choices carry great weight and consequence, but they are not made in the face of divine commandments or threats of retribution. Likewise, a Jesus figure would seem out of place in Middle-earth (and indeed we see no equivalent) as the whole notion of “sin” is never broached. Evil, both natural and human, in Tolkien does not come about as a result of some direct analogue to the Fall – whereby humans were once morally perfect before they descended into darkness – but from the beginning the capacity for evil in the world was incarnate within it. Likewise, notions like shame and guilt are out of place in Middle-earth: certainly individuals are morally judged by their peers, but they are never taught to be shameful of their humanity, due to some kind of inherent sinful nature.
In short, it seems to me that a case can be made that the Christian part of Tolkien’s work has been radically overstated, if you actually take his work and compare it to commonly held Christian doctrines. In the moral dimension especially Tolkien seems to drift away from Christian concepts of righteousness and wrongdoing, which revolve around the notion of sin, a concept that never makes itself apparent in Tolkien’s writing.

One might say, but of course Tolkien’s work is not explicitly Christian. In what way, then, is it Christian at all? If it lacks the Christian outlook on moral truth (that moral goodness is that which is pleasing to and sanctioned by God, and badness is “sin”) then how is Christianity manifested? Perhaps through the vague notion of a benevolent God? This is indeed more Christian, than, say, Buddhist, but it could equally be pantheistic or even polytheistic. For example, when Gandalf says to Frodo that he was “meant” to find the ring, nothing in the text leads the reader it is a somewhat Christianlike god pulling all the strings behind the scenes – the suggestion is suitably vague.

Thoughts?

[jallanite]

Your list of Christian beliefs appears to represent what may be called Fundamentalist Christian beliefs or Biblical Literalist Christian beliefs. Most people who identify themselves as Christians don’t accept some of them or at least are uncertain of some of them.

Tolkien was a self-identified Roman Catholic Christian and not a Biblical Literalist or Fundamentalist Christian. Like many Christians he was also a freethinker in many areas, rationalizing his own idiosyncratic beliefs as being in accord with his church or simply disagreeing with his church.

See http://www.simpletoremember.com/vita...redibility.htm for one example of where J. R. R. Tolkien very much disagreed with Roman Catholic practice. Did Tolkien think he was right and that the Pope and almost the entire Roman Catholic priesthood was wrong and most of the laity was wrong? Did he think God was against them? I can only guess what Tolkien might have thought.

What does the Roman Catholic Church believe? You will find many quibbles by teachers within that church about what they believe and many differences in opinions. In my own country of Canada the province of Quebec is over 83% Roman Catholic. Over 60% of the population of Quebec has voted in polls that they accept same-sex marriage (which became legal in Quebec in 2004). Do the math yourself. The Roman Catholic hierarchy still officially and vehemently oppose same-sex marriage but over a majority of their parishioners disagree. So what does the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec believe? It depends on whether you define the Roman Catholic Church as only the official Roman Catholic Church hierarchy or also include the Roman Catholic Church laity.

See here for another eye-opener. http://www.simpletoremember.com/vita...redibility.htm . Judaism Online sent some queries about statements in the Christian Gospels to Pope John Paul II in 1995 and these queries were eventually passed on for response by the theologian Raymond E. Brown.

Raymond E. Brown indicated that the Gospels were not complete enough or sufficiently accurate in what they said to necessarily support a physical resurrection of Jesus or a virginal conception of Mary. For Raymond E. Brown′s prestige as a Roman Catholic theologian, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_E._Brown .

Your supposed list of what Christians believe is nonsense when applied to all churches and even to all members of most churches.

Tolkien himself, like most Roman Catholics who considered it, accepted more-or-less the findings of modern geology over dead reckoning from Biblical genealogies for considering the age of the Earth. He wasn’t a crank. In Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, letter 211, he admits that his Three Ages of Middle-earth are entirely imaginary and writes:

I could have fitted things in with greater versimilitude, if the story had not become too far developed, before the question ever occurred to me. I doubt if there would have been much gain; and I hope the, evidently long but undefined, gap¹ in time between the Fall of Barad-dûr and our Days is sufficient for ‘literary credibility’, even for readers acquainted with what is known or surmised of ‘pre-history’.

I have, I suppose, constructed an imaginary time, but kept my feet on my own mother-earth for place. I prefer that to the contemporary mode of seeking remote globes in ‘space’.

———————————————

¹ I imagine the gap to be about 6000 years: that is we are now at the end of the Fifth Age, if the Ages were of about the same length as S.A. and T.A. But they have, I think, quickened; and I imagine we are actually at the end of the Sixth Age, or in the Seventh.

That is, the fall of Barad-dûr occurs approximately in 4,000 BCE, about the latest date which Biblical Literalists ascribe to creation, and in Tolkien’s legendarium the first year of the Sun occurs 7,063 years before that.

The Biblical creation takes seven days. Tolkien’s creation occurs as a model in a single musical session and then in reality in ages of time in which plants, and many living creatures are created, then ages later Elves first awaken, then Dwarves, and then Moon and Sun later still and Man awakens with the Sun, not even the order the same as the Biblical order.

In Morgth’s Ring (HoME 10) there are a group of late Tolkien essays under the group title of “Myths Transformed″ in which Tolkien attempts to reconcile his Silmarillion account, not with the Bible, but with science. Tolkien starts on it but finds it too destructive of the story to continue. Tolkien had been in a more playful mood when he invented the details of his cosmos. Tolkien then decides that his Silmarillion must be based on distorted Mannish histories in which Elvish truths are mixed with corruptions of Men.

In reality the Sun and Moon were not the fruit and flower of two trees and the Sun was at least coeval with the Earth.

There is no Sabbath day as the last day of creation upon which God rested. Tolkien has, somewhat carelessly provided modern English weekdays in The Hobbit and so is stuck with a seven-day week. He explains in Appendix D in The Return of the King that this as an expansion of an older six-days Elvish week, and explains that the English weekday names are simply substitutions in his English rendering for the Hobbit names. But the day of celebration in the week is Friday as in Muslim practice, instead of Saturday as in Jewish practice, and instead of Sunday as in Christian practice. Some days in the year have no special weekday which throws off any firm synchronism with our modern calendar.

Morgoth’s Ring also contains a somewhat vague story of the Fall in which there appear to be many people, not just Adam and Eve and death is shown to be misrepresented by Morgoth, not a punishment for the eating of a fruit.

Tolkien imagines his story as occurring in pre-Christian and probably pre-Abrahamic times. In a note to letter 153 Tolkien writes:

There are thus no temples or ‘churches’ or fanes in this ‘world’ among ‘good’ peoples. They had little or no ‘religion’ in the sense of worship. For help they may call on a Vala (as Elbereth), as a Catholic might on a Saint, though no doubt knowing in theory as well as he that the power of the Vala was limited and derivative. But this is a ‘primitive age’: and these folk may be said to view the Valar as children view their parents or immediate adult superiors, and though they know they are subjects of the King he does not live in their country nor have there any dwelling. I do not think Hobbits practised any form of worship or prayer (unless through exceptional contact with Elves). The Númenóreans (and others of that branch of Humanity, that fought against Morgoth, even if they elected to remain in Middle-earth and did not go to Númenor: such as the Rohirrim) were pure monotheists. But there was no temple in Númenor (until Sauron introduced the cult of Morgoth). The top of the Mountain, the Meneltarma or Pillar of Heaven, was dedicated to Eru, the One, and there at any time privately, and at certain times publicly, God was invoked, praised, and adored: an imitation of the Valar and the Mountain of Aman. But Númenor fell and was destroyed and the Mountain engulfed, and there was no substitute. Among the exiles, remnants of the Faithful who had not adopted the false religion nor taken pan in the rebellion, religion as divine worship (though perhaps not as philosophy and metaphysics) seems to have played a small part; though a glimpse of it is caught in Faramir’s remark on ‘grace at meat’. Vol. II p. 285.

From letter 165:

The only criticism that annoyed me was one that it ‘contained no religion’ (and ‘no Women’, but that does not matter, and is not true anyway). It is a monotheistic world of ‘natural theology′. The odd fact that there are no churches, temples, or religious rites and ceremonies, is simply part of the historical climate depicted. It will be sufficiently explained, if (as now seems likely) the Silmarillion and other legends of the First and Second Ages are published. I am in any case myself a Christian; but the ‘Third Age’ was not a Christian world.

There are other explanations which tend to repeat themselves.

If you really wish to understand Tolkien’s Christianity, then you should read all his writing carefully and note that, as people are usually polite about such things and not nosy and since Tolkien gave few interviews, there is not much information about his internal spiritual life.

You particularly should not assume the every Roman Catholic is a Biblical Literalist or Christian Fundamentalist. That shows enormous ignorance of religion as practised today.

[tumhalad2]

Originally Posted by jallanite

Your list of Christian beliefs appears to represent what may be called Fundamentalist Christian beliefs or Biblical Literalist Christian beliefs. Most people who identify themselves as Christians don’t accept some of them or at least are uncertain of some of them.

As I said...

Originally Posted by jallanite

Tolkien was a self-identified Roman Catholic Christian and not a Biblical Literalist or Fundamentalist Christian. Like many Christians he was also a freethinker in many areas, rationalizing his own idiosyncratic beliefs as being in accord with his church or simply disagreeing with his church.

I agree, Tolkien certainly was an open thinker about many things, I never meant to stipulate otherwise.


Moreover, I don't disagree that many Christians believe many different things and always have. I was merely setting a baseline: these are some common Christian doctrines that have been widely believed throughout history. It is only in recent times that moderate Christians have even been able to reinterprete many biblical stories and dogmas less literally.

Originally Posted by jallanite

Your supposed list of what Christians believe is nonsense when applied to all churches and even to all members of most churches.

That's rediculous. Do most Christians not believe in an all-powerful, all loving god? Do most Catholics NOT believe in the virginal conception of Jesus? I'm not talking about reified theologians, I'm talking about the general beliefs of most people who call themselves Christians. Indeed, I don't disagree that Tolkien probably accepted modern geology and science, indeed he was a scientist, but most many Christians do indeed believe in a literalist take on the bible.

In any case this was not meant to be about religion and as I said the kinds of precepts I outlines are not going to describe all Christians.

Originally Posted by jallanite

If you really wish to understand Tolkien’s Christianity, then you should read all his writing carefully and note that, as people are usually polite about such things and not nosy and since Tolkien gave few interviews, there is not much information about his internal spiritual life.

You particularly should not assume the every Roman Catholic is a Biblical Literalist or Christian Fundamentalist. That shows enormous ignorance of religion as practised today.

I'm glad you're here to order me about. Did I ever say every Roman Catholic is a Biblical Literalist? No, strawman fallacy. Before you accuse me of ignorance, read my post carefully. In any case, and I'll reiterate, that list was meant as a baseline. Throughout history, Christians have believed some or all of these things. Tolkien probably didn't believe all of them, of course not, and that was not the point. But writers often talk about "Christianity" in Tolkien's work, so I was keen to make a list of some of the dogmas Christians have believed throughout history and interrogate Tolkien's work in light of them.

Moreover, as I mentioned, I was particularly interested in the moral vision of Christianity. Do Catholics, in general, not believe in the necessity of the atonement for sin? Do Catholics, in general, not believe that original sin is a real force in the world? Perhaps not nowadays in the era of psychology and other social sciences, but it's much more likely that Tolkien wouldh've believed in some variant of it.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by tumhalad2

It is only in recent times that moderate Christians have even been able to reinterprete many biblical stories and dogmas less literally.

This is not historically true. The steadfast, sole belief in biblical literalism is in fact a recent development.

Originally Posted by Karen Armstrong, The Bible: A Biography

Readers have encountered what seems like a presence in these writings, which thus introduce them to a transcendent dimension. They have based their lives on scripture--practically, spiritually and morally. When their sacred texts tell stories, people have generally believed them to be true, but until recently literal or historical accuracy has never been the point. The truth of scripture cannot be assessed unless it is--ritually or ethically--put into practice. p.2

Her book examines the many traditions of biblical interpretation, particularly those which have argued for a symbolic or allegorical or spiritual reading as the highest form of understanding. For the sake of brevity, here is one example, from Origen.

Originally Posted by Armstrong, from Origen "On First Principles"

Divine wisdom has arranged for certain stumbling blocks and interruptions of the historical sense . . . by inserting in the midst a number of impossibilities and incongruities, in order that the narrative might, as it were, present a barrier to the reader and lead him to refuse to proceed along the pathway of the ordinary meaning. . . . p.112

Or, further:

Originally Posted by Armstrong quoting Origen

By means of the "impossibility of the literal sense", God led us "to an examination of the inner meaning." (quotations from Origen) p. 113

Or her discussion of Philo's use of the allegorical method.

Originally Posted by Armstrong, p. 50

In applying this method to the biblical narratives, Philo did not think he was distorting the original. He took the literal meaning of these stories very seriously, but like Daniel he was looking for something fresh. There was more to a story than its literal meaning. As a Platonist, Philo believed that the timeless dimension of reality was more 'real' than the physical or historical dimension. . . . The process of allegoria 'translated' the deeper meaning of these stories into the inner life of the reader.
Allegoria was a term used by rhetoricians to describe a discourse that meant something different from its surface meaning. Philo preferred to call his method hyponoia, 'higher/deeper thought' because he was trying to reach a more fundamental level of truth.

Armstrong is not the only scholar who has examined the multitudinous ways the Bible has been understood over the centuries, but she's the quickest and easiest one for me to reference here.

And, finally:

Originally Posted by Armstrong, p. 3

It is, for example, crucial to note that an exclusively literal interpretation of the Bible is a recent development. Until the nineteenth century, very few people imagined that the first chapter of Genesis was a factual account of the origins of life. For centuries, Jews and Christians relished highly allegorical and inventive exegesis, insisting that a wholly literal reading of the Bible was neither possible nor desirable.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Okay, let's start anew. Also, taking any religious beliefs or similar things into discussion is always like handling a barrel of gunpowder, because it can easily happen somebody with personal interest (either for or against) will take it personally or say something that will start an avalanche. But yes, from purely academic point of view... why not work with it.

Your list, tumhalad, with the note that it is selective, and also with the note what Bethberry had said, let's say we can work with it; after all, it's your thread and the question you pose. Although for the sake of discussion, even with regard to the questions you pose, I would put a bit different emphasis on some things.

For example, the sin of Adam and Eve - or so-called "original sin", a pretty important doctrine especially from the mainstream Catholic perspective. I would put a bit more emphasis on the fact of the sin itself, for the sake of your discussion, and also in regards to what we can tell from Tolkien's writings: the belief in single Adam and Eve is not really that important, but simply that there is a certain sinfulness present in human nature, or brought upon every human by the tangle of evil that exists already when an innocent child comes into the world, and humans cannot avoid it - that definitely is there in Tolkien's works. (And also, many Christians, even in the past, understood it not literally, but the way I have just outlined, as a metaphore.)

You very much omit one important thing, which is necessary part and in any case at least equally important to some things: "good deeds". Since you are asking about moral emphasis of Christianity, you cannot omit this. Because especially in Middle Ages, the appeal on morality has been very strong. The Reformation put more emphasis on the certainity of salvation despite one's sinfulness, but it never disappeared (and again some branches of Reformation put again even more emphasis on "personal holiness"). In any case, the moral appeal - the Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule, most of all Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in general, they are pretty essential and every Christian knows about them.

About the "similarity". You could speak of so-called "outward similarities", like that the world is couple of thousands of years old, that there is some supranatural battle between angels and some fall of angels (Valar x Morgoth and co.), the fact that praise to Elbereth resembles Catholic prayers to Virgin Mary, the fact that some people like Gandalf are resurrected, the fact that the Istari come in flesh just like Jesus did, and so on. Then there are the "inner similarities", like in the mode, or in e.g. what values are emphasised. Love, forgiveness, humility, gratitude. And so on. I think exactly those values are important and they are the main thing that connects LotR and Christianity. These values are essential to the Christian teaching, the attribute of God to be loving and forgiving is one of the most important ones, despite the abovementioned human sinfulness. Thinking of course especially about the famous words of Gandalf's about Bilbo not deciding to kill Gollum, but there are many other examples.

And what can be more humble than to have Hobbits as those who save Middle-Earth, instead of the shiny armies of powerful heroes? The refusal of power in the story of Jesus and his temptation by the Devil in the desert has the same basic ideas as e.g. Bilbo's refusal of the Ring. Gandalf's favourite "fool's hope" is the same thing - many draw the example of Frodo and Jesus, who is no big hero with shiny sword, but comes humbly in human's body, is born in a manger, and does not fight his enemies in power, but goes to the bitter end, knowing he must carry his cross (or his Ring, as far as the metaphore can go)... or (in my opinion with more trouble, but still) Jesus and Aragorn, because both are "Kings" in the same way, yet start with pretty humble beginnings, and only some people see them for what they truly are. Speaking of this, here's another core Christian belief you forgot to mention - the belief that Jesus will return, not anymore as the defeated one, but victorious, at the end of the days, when the evil shall be finally destroyed. *That* is, of course, the Return of the King, and also the view of Middle Earth, to the End of Days. Lots of it depends on the unpublished stuff, there are hints scattered throughout LotR and Silmarillion, but not much.

What you said about there not being "sin against Eru" present in Middle-Earth - well, there of course IS. It is not so common, of course, but it appears. Just think about the Númenoreans making bloody sacrifices to Melkor and then the divine punishment coming only after Manwë and all called to Eru, who changed the shape of the world. Indeed, the sins of the Númenoreans were so terrible at that point that they "cried unto the heavens", to use that terminology.

Moreover, even in Christianity, there are two levels of sin, always, not just the one towards God, which you seem to emphasise. There is also sin towards fellow humans, and that of course can be seen in Tolkien a lot. They are interlinked, as is shown especially in the Old Testament understanding of holiness. The "twin commandment of love", which is called the essential summary of all the "law", goes this way: Love thy god with all thy strength, and love thy neighbour as thyself. One cannot exist without the other. Sin to human is also a sin towards God (or in Jesus' words: "whatever you have done to one of your bretheren, you have done to me").

Also, Tolkien seemed to work with the "looking towards redemption" in his unpublished works. To add, if you have access to it, you could read the tale of Finrod and Andreth. If there is anything that could bring some light to the topic of what is the role of Men in Middle-Earth and their relationship to divinity, it is this.

[jallanite]

Originally Posted by tumhalad2

I was merely setting a baseline: these are some common Christian doctrines that have been widely believed throughout history. It is only in recent times that moderate Christians have even been able to reinterprete many biblical stories and dogmas less literally.

True also for Islam, Hinduism and other faiths. The turning point may have been Galileo, when a major change in wordview came from scientific investigation. In the 19th century the age of the Earth became a major focus of study. Then Darwin came along.

Yes, there are today those who still believe the medieval Christian worldview. There are even those who believe the world is actually flat rather than spherical. There are Hindus who literally believe the Mahabharata.

But to choose the medieval Christian worldview as a baseline doesn’t fit in a discussion supposedly about Tolkien’s religion. Tolkien didn’t believe in the medieval worldview in reality, any more than he believed in Elves in reality. If you want to talk about Tolkien’s religious beliefs, a supposed baseline that does not represent many of those beliefs is far less useful compared to one which represents those beliefs. But that would mostly be guesswork outside of areas where Tolkien has expressed a particular belief.

One finds oddities, such as Tolkien’s casual treatment of the Sabbath day, which historically apparently derives from a continuous seven-day planetary cycle apparently known both to Hebrews and Phoenicians. Tolkien casually breaks up the cycle and ignores the Biblical connection with creation. Your baseline misses much that should be there, either because Tolkien agrees with the traditions of traditional Christianity or presents a drastic modification of them which should equally be mentioned.

That's rediculous. Do most Christians not believe in an all-powerful, all loving god? Do most Catholics NOT believe in the virginal conception of Jesus?

Possibly.

But most Christian probably don’t believe in a literal Adam and Eve or a creation in approximately 4,000 BCE. If you feel otherwise, I can′t change your feelings, but without firm figures you are not convincing. I can’t find any figures that seem convincing either. I formerly belonged to the United Church of Canada, by far Canada’s largest Protestant Church, which strongly did not and does not believe that everything in the Christian Bible is literally true and very strongly supports same-sex marriage. That may influence my opinions of your attempts to use a baseline that seems to me to be a parody created by ignorance.

But if you want to gratuitously insult your reader, go ahead.

There was formerly a large site on religious toleration which contained all sorts of religious statistics and studies but it seems to be gone.

Yes most Roman Catholics do believe in the virginal conception of Jesus. But Raymond E. Brown, who was arguably the most prestigious Roman Catholic theologian considered it very unlikely. I suspect Tolkien believed, but I don’t know because, so far as I know, he never explicitly said. Either did his friend C. S. Lewis. But Lewis tried to avoid talking about issues that divide Christians.

I'm not talking about reified theologians, I'm talking about the general beliefs of most people who call themselves Christians. Indeed, I don't disagree that Tolkien probably accepted modern geology and science, indeed he was a scientist, but most many Christians do indeed believe in a literalist take on the bible.

That is where you are confusing things, saying that because some or even many Christians have beliefs that your find superstitious and silly and because J. R. R. Tolkien was a Roman Catholic Christian, that you can assume that all the beliefs in your baseline apply to J. R. R. Tolkien. Then you admit that some of them don’t. And there are many other points that don’t fit, like my statistics showing that a majority of Quebec Roman Catholics support same-sex marriage despite the official position of their church. And Tolkien was definitely not a scientist in the normal meaning of the term, other than arguably in the field of linguistics. His friend C. S. Lewis was even less arguably that.

Tolkien apparently did not even believe in the Old Testament Bible sufficiently to even care that his legendarium didn’t fit into Biblical chronology. Tolkien very much did not try to fit his legendarium into Bible history and even put in some clear conflicts. Tolkien did base some of the moral underpinnings of his The Lord of the Rings on traditional Christian moral teaching.

I'm glad you're here to order me about. Did I ever say every Roman Catholic is a Biblical Literalist? No, strawman fallacy. Before you accuse me of ignorance, read my post carefully. In any case, and I'll reiterate, that list was meant as a baseline.

That was a Biblical Literalist baseline, representative of medieval Christianity, not of Tolkien’s faith. Order me to accept it all you want if you are talking about ordering. It still doesn’t fit with much of what Tolkien believed so far as I can tell. It looks like something devised to show how stupid Tolkien’s belief was. Your response seems to me to come down to: “If he didn’t believe it, well other Christians did, so its inaccuracy in respect to Tolkien doesn’t matter.” Accuracy does matter in scholarship, or at least it should.

Throughout history, Christians have believed some or all of these things. Tolkien probably didn't believe all of them, of course not, and that was not the point.

It is very much to the point if you really want to discuss Tolkien’s religion instead of to troll the poor benighted Christies who revere Tolkien by presenting a parody of Fundamentalist Christianity and apply that to Tolkien’s faith.

But writers often talk about "Christianity" in Tolkien's work, so I was keen to make a list of some of the dogmas Christians have believed throughout history and interrogate Tolkien's work in light of them.

Some of them fit, some of them partly fit, and some of them don’t. To take an extreme example I know of no Roman Catholic belief that requires even a belief in Elves. And the war between the Valar and Morgoth obviously represents the war between angels and Satan in Christian tradition, but then is Manwë to be equated with St. Michael, or is Tulkas?

Nor do I know of any Christian belief that the Earth was created flat and was changed into a round world on the fall of Atlantis. Tolkien was largely just having great fun and was fitting in some Christian moral tradition as part of that fun. It was a game, which Tolkien sometimes took very seriously, otherwise it wouldn’t be as much fun. And Tolkien was usually very much offended by literary works which were preaching any religion. Probably because it was too obviously easy to invent anything in a fiction and attribute it to God or to present as a fictional truth that the author’s religious opinion is real.

One finds books now written by Christians which amount to a plea that since the reader likes Tolkien’s fantasy, and Tolkien was a Christian, the reader should become a Christian. But Galadriel is really not much like the traditional Virgin Mary. She was a wife with a daughter named Celebrían and in Tolkien’s later writings a rebel against the Valar. And lembas being Christ in the guise of bread thousands of years before Christ existed doesn’t really make sense either. To begin with the writers forget it is not lawful in the Roman Catholic Church to allow any but Roman Catholics to eat the Holy Bread.

But no matter how often Tolkien would insist that he was not writing allegory, commentators will find it. Not only obviously Christian commentators either.

Perhaps not nowadays in the era of psychology and other social sciences, but it's much more likely that Tolkien would've believed in some variant of it.

Read “Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth” in Morgth’s Ring (HoME X) which is a story by Tolkien about original sin in Tolkien’s legendarium (without including the words “original sin”). This includes a parallel to the story of the Fall in which early people turn to Morgoth and reject Eru and Eru shortens their lives, although in this tale the early people have apparently always been mortal. You blame me for treating you as ignorant, yet you have apparently not even begun to read much that would answer many of your questions (and provide more questions).

[littlemanpoet]

I am probably the most conservative Christian posting on this thread. That said, I propose that we refuse to take offense if another post-er says something insulting. For one thing, the one posting may not be aware that his or her words are insulting, having a worldview quite at odds to our own.

This has been said in a way already, but I hope to say it with greater clarity if I may be so bold. Also, much of what I say has been said by Tolkien, better, in his Letters.

Tolkien held that it is legitimate for a Christian author to create a Secondary world that is at odds with the Primary world in (a) details & (b) what is presented as true, on condition that the Secondary world has an inner consistency of reality, i.e., the that which is true within the world, makes sense to the reader. Another condition which Tolkien may not have felt necessary but I think is, is that the morality of a Secondary world cannot offend humanity; that is to say, murder can't be good and helping one's neighbor can't be evil. And if it is so in a Secondary world, the author had better explain why in order to keep the reader reading.

Some of what we are talking about here goes deeper than some of us may realize. Tolkien and Lewis, for example, did actually prefer a medieval worldview to the modern, one that was quite at home to the Roman Catholic church. Jallanite refers to Galileo and Darwin. These two scientists could not have said and did what they did, if not for a virtual Continental Shift in philosophical point of view that occurred in the late middle ages, from a Platonic worldview to an Aristotelian. Lewis, especially, preferred the Platonic, and wrote about it in The Discarded Image. If you have read his space trilogy, you will get a sense for some of what he was trying to portray about the medieval worldview.

But what about Tolkien? He deplored modernism and technological advancement for its own sake. But is that particularly Christian? Well, sort of. It is from the medieval worldview. Honestly, it would take a book to properly address Tumhalad's thoughts, and some have been written. Suffice it to say that Tolkien's Christianity was most certainly an influence upon his work, at least in terms of worldview, evil, and morality. But there are other influences as well, such as (1) his view of language and how language changes, (2) his love for things Nordic and Finnish, & (3) his love for Oxfordshire before it was 'ruined' by the encroachments of technology, just to name three.

[jallanite]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

For one thing, the one posting may not be aware that his or her words are insulting, having a worldview quite at odds to our own.

Very true. And it is difficult to respond to a poster when the post appears to me to contain assumptions that don’t altogether fit with the subject of the post. The same is of course true of Tumuhald2 in reverse.

Also, much of what I say has been said by Tolkien, better, in his Letters.

Yes. Tumhalad2 nowhere indicates what Tolkien he has read. Has he read the Letters? Recently, in light of his concerns?

Tolkien and Lewis, for example, did actually prefer a medieval worldview to the modern, one that was quite at home to the Roman Catholic church.

Dubious. They very much understood the medieval viewpoint. But I doubt either really wanted to see the Holy Inquisition return, for example. And neither has much favourable to say about the French chansons de geste which are obsessed with the fighting of Christians and Muslims but continue to stress that Muslims are pagans who worship idols, and to be opposed for that reason. Particularly four gods named Mohammed, Apollyon, Termagant, and Kahu appear, only one of which is even known to Muslim tradition and that one, Muḥammad, was and is not considered to be a god. Medieval Christianity with its images of saints and veneration of individual saints was far more like paganism than was Islam. But lies about the gods of the Muslims persisted and persisted.

Jallanite refers to Galileo and Darwin. These two scientists could not have said and did what they did, if not for a virtual Continental Shift in philosophical point of view that occurred in the late middle ages, from a Platonic worldview to an Aristotelian.

Mostly agreed. Suddenly people were actually looking at the universe to see what they could find rather than mainly codifying received wisdom. But was it a change in philosophical view that caused the new viewpoint or was it the widespread discovery of new ideas not found in received wisdom that caused the philosophical shift to something more Aristotelian?

Discoveries about the nature of the universe were made by the early philosphers. The world was a sphere. Its size was measured. But then interest in investigation and discovery mostly ceased, until the Renaissance. Sir Isaac Newton, possibly the greatest scientist who has every lived, wrote mainly on the Christian Bible, attempting to date the Earth from its records.

Honestly, it would take a book to properly address Tumhalad's thoughts, and some have been written. Suffice it to say that Tolkien's Christianity was most certainly an influence upon his work, at least in terms of worldview, evil, and morality. But there are other influences as well, such as (1) his view of language and how language changes, (2) his love for things Nordic and Finnish, & (3) his love for Oxfordshire before it was 'ruined' by the encroachments of technology, just to name three.

Agreed. If Tumhalad2 finds it difficult that Tolkien was a Roman Catholic, then what must he think of a Roman Catholic science-fiction writer like Gene Wolfe or a Mormon science-fiction writer like Orson Scott Card? Neither of them are creationists and the writings of both are extremely popular, because they are good writers whose writings don’t appeal only to their co-religionists.

And there are many other religious people who write scence-fiction.

[Draugohtar]

Originally Posted by tumhalad2

Christianity and Tolkien

My questions are these: Do you think it is reasonable to approach an author, from an academic point of view, with a religious world view already in mind? Secondly, how do you think your faith or lack of it informs your reading of Tolkien? For example, are you more disposed to feel that Eucatastrophe should define Tolkien’s stories, and are wont to explain away its absence, as in The Children of Hurin?

Yes, it's reasonable, everyone brings their particular world view to bear in any work of interpreation. Not more or less disposed, the Eucatastrophe is a feature of an overarching plot/theme. As per Eru speaking about taking any evil and turning it his own end ultimately, creating good and beauty the originator did not think of.

The second part of my question concerns Christianity itself in Tolkien.
Christians will probably believe one, some or all of these following propositions...


For each of these points, it seems to me questionable that Tolkien depicted a universe in which they are true with any fidelity in his books.

Well of course Tolkien didn't set out to make an allegory or alternative history of Christianity.

For example, it is indeed unclear that Eru is all-loving, all-powerful, and all-knowing.

The Ainulindalë is very clear that Eru is indeed all of these things.

There is certainly a significant demonic figure, Morgoth, but he is unlike Satan in many ways . ..

Of course, he's not an allegory. He represents the same motif though: the most powerful of the Valar (angels) who turns to evil through pride.

Of course there are vague similarities;... Unlike the Christian God, Eru is not in fact a lawgiver, nor does he make covenants with particular peoples, or punish others when they fail. ... That which is good is good for its own sake (a very humanistic point that is often overlooked in Tolkien, I think).

The highest ideal of Christianity is to be good for the sake of love of God, not fear of punishment. Further with regards to divine retribution, the Valar as proxies do make proclamations first against the Eldar of Feanor, and later against the men of Ar-Pharazon. Banishing any of the eldar from Aman is alike to eternal damnation in the context of their existences.

Nor, in Tolkien, is there any notion of “Sin” ...Likewise, a Jesus figure would seem out of place in Middle-earth (and indeed we see no equivalent)

You have multiple Christ-motifs: Frodo, Gandalf and Aragorn at various times are strongly Christ-like: Frodo, the suffering servant; Gandalf who returns from Death reborn and in new raiment; Aragorn who is the returning King who brings peace and healing.

There is indeed a concept of 'sin,' people's choices and deeds is hugely influential in how their natures develop and their ultimate fates. Gollum is a fallen soul who struggles to find redemption and fails for example. Aragorn is redeeming the fallen line of the kings and making it new and worthy. Earendil restores the covenant between the Children of Illuvatar and the Valar etc. Where you have redemption, you have sin.

Likewise, notions like shame and guilt are out of place in Middle-earth: certainly individuals are morally judged by their peers, but they are never taught to be shameful of their humanity, due to some kind of inherent sinful nature.

And yet the Elves are inherently suspicious of the worth of Men from their actions in ancient days. Further there's an incredibly regular motif of both Eldar and Men, and Dwarves, getting things horribly wrong and needing some sort of divine intervention to get back on the right track.

One might say, but of course Tolkien’s work is not explicitly Christian. In what way, then, is it Christian at all? If it lacks the Christian outlook on moral truth (that moral goodness is that which is pleasing to and sanctioned by God, and badness is “sin”) then how is Christianity manifested? Perhaps through the vague notion of a benevolent God? This is indeed more Christian, than, say, Buddhist, but it could equally be pantheistic or even polytheistic. For example, when Gandalf says to Frodo that he was “meant” to find the ring, nothing in the text leads the reader it is a somewhat Christianlike god pulling all the strings behind the scenes – the suggestion is suitably vague.

Thoughts?

I disagree, I think that Tolkien's work is inherently Christian. You have Christ motifs and figures wandering all over the place, you have falls from Grace, and redemption. You have the value of suffering, and the hand of providence. You have one God who ultimately ensures all things end in good. You also have men who's fate is not known (but we know they go to an afterlife of some sort), and death as a 'gift' to men, not a punishment.

Yes, Tolkien's work is not one big Christian allegory, but if you take the Chrisitanity out of it, you'd have something very very different.

[littlemanpoet]

After doing a quick search on the two words that most caught my attention, "worldview" and "evil", it appears that my thoughts have not yet been represented.

First for the necessary background: I am an orthodox Christian. Enough said about that.

As to worldview, I think that not bringing a world view to a piece of literature is impossible. Everyone has a worldview. What that worldview consists of is going to determine the filters through which one reads a piece of literature. If, for example, one believes that only that which can be observed by the five senses are true, one will find it necessary to suspend one's disbelief when confronted with phenomena that don't fit that description.

As to evil, the curious thing about Tolkien (and C.S. Lewis as well) is that their view of evil is at odds with the modern view (think Star Trek). This has much to do with their worldview. Their view of evil is also at odds with that presented in the Star Wars mythos. In Star Trek (i.e. the modern), evil is seen as largely brought about by misunderstandings between people or cultures, and be overcome by enlightened discussion and a meeting of minds. In Star Wars, evil is seen as an equal and opposite to good, and the possibility that good can be ultimately defeated, is real. In Tolkien, the view of evil is that it is real, and it is a twistedness (think 'wraith') and a negative, "less than" good. That good will ultimate prevail is a given. This does not take away from the reality of evil, nor its power to ruin and hurt. Nor does it take away from its ability to corrupt that which is or once was good. But this view of evil is fundamentally Christian.

It is true that T.A. Shippey argues that Tolkien keeps the appearance of a Manichaean evil (i.e. Star Wars) before the reader, but if one does a keen reading of LotR, one finds that the prevailing view is that evil will not in the end prevail, indeed cannot. This is a Christian view of evil.

Even though it is a Christian view, that does not mean that it will not appeal to a non-Christian or atheist, because humans have an inherent need for good to prevail. It's just the way we're wired.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by tumhalad2

Christianity and Tolkien

For what it’s worth, I’m an atheist, and an anti-theist. By this I mean that I not only disbelieve in any god, I also find many forms of theism morally objectionable.

I just got around to reading this. I am willing to bet that somewhere in this diatribe you will mention The Children of Hurin, as that subject obsesses you, and no matter how many times your theories have been proven to be littered with fallacy and nearsightedness, you return to the subject in one form or another.

But for the moment, I shall pretend this is a well-meaning post. I am an atheist as well, and a lapsed Roman Catholic. I don't find theism morally objectionable. Why should I? What one believes is one's own choice. What I do object to is when religion or religious zealots attempt to impose their beliefs on others, but that would also be true of various secular political systems run by fanatics; god does not corner the market on impositions.

Originally Posted by tumhalad2

From the outset I want to say that this is not a post about religion per se, its merits or demerits. It is about the curious fact that as an atheist, and as an anti-theist, I still enjoy Tolkien’s books. On one level this isn’t really surprising at all: Tolkien’s books obviously appeal to a wide range of individuals of all types: his creations are diverse enough to accommodate many different world views.

There is nothing curious about a wide range of readers appreciating Tolkien's work, because it is not analogous to Christianity, nor was Tolkien allegorical in the way C.S. Lewis was. I never really cared for what the Pevensies discovered in the wardrobe.

Originally Posted by tumhalad2

Nevertheless, Tolkien was himself a Christian and his Catholicism was evidently a very central part of his self-identity. Along with the myriad other influences in his persona and especially professional life, Tolkien’s religion contributed to the form that his creation eventually took. There is one god, a set of demigods and a whole ambiguous theology that relates the destinies, fates and choices of these immortals to the more folkloric Elves and the hobbits.

One could say the same for an impossibly wide gamut of authors. We are informed by our experience, which in turn shapes our beliefs. That being said, Tolkien's religion was a contributing factor to his creation, but not more so than linguistics or the synthesis of world mythos and folklore that combined to imbue Middle-earth with its unique structure.

Originally Posted by tumhalad2

There have been myriad books about Tolkien written from an explicitly Christian perspective. The most recent “The Christian World of the Hobbit”, by Devin Brown, continues this tradition. Of course most of the most well known and highly regarded critical work on Tolkien has taken place from a neutral perspective – Rosebury and Shippey come to mind. Nevertheless, there is a definite trend for academic and other works on Tolkien to approach his work from a perspective that already considers Christianity in some form to be true.

Being a cynic, I would suggest that looking at Tolkien's work from different angles offers a greater chance of publication.

Originally Posted by tumhalad2

My questions are these: Do you think it is reasonable to approach an author, from an academic point of view, with a religious world view already in mind? Secondly, how do you think your faith or lack of it informs your reading of Tolkien? For example, are you more disposed to feel that Eucatastrophe should define Tolkien’s stories, and are wont to explain away its absence, as in The Children of Hurin?

AHA! Tummy, you are so utterly predictable. One could set a clock to the uniformity of your specious suppositions. Yes, we are all aware that there is no eucatastrophic moment in The Children of Hurin. But there was no eucatastrophe for the Fëanorians either. Hundreds of characters in Tolkien's work missed out on their own private eucatastrophe. It is not unique to Turin and his family.

Now, some uncharitable folk would say that you are being a ...hmmm...what's the Internet designation for someone who makes inflammatory posts to provoke emotional responses? Ah well, it doesn't matter; I think that you are merely being obsessive. You touch on this subject, tinged with inveterate religion bashing in several posts, which can be readily reviewed by pulling up your posting history. In addition, the remaining balance of your threads contain negative criticisms of Tolkien from elsewhere: Mieville, Moorcock, Brinn, some imbecile named Dickerson (who wrote a thin volume entitled "How Tolkien Sucks"), a host of Internet blogging "dons", and, of all things, the addled worshipers of the Star Wars monomyth. Again, this continuing theme of referring to Tolkien's work in a pejorative manner can be easily discerned from your other posts.

That being said, given the corpus of your posting history it does make one question your objective, and your objectivity. You profess to love the works of Tolkien; however, you spend the greater part of your time attacking him (or acting as the fait accompli of other poison pens). I find that odd. Have you noticed this about yourself?

Originally Posted by tumhalad2

1. There exists an eternal, all-powerfull, all-knowing creator God, who, though of one essence, exists in three distinct, but not separate, persons.

2. There exists a devil, Satan, and numerous other demonic beings as well as angels, archangels, etc.

3. The earth is not billions of years in age, but created by God six to ten thousand years ago.

4. There was an actual Adam and Eve in a literal Garden of Eden who sinned and brought upon the world the horrible suffering it contains

5. God has a morally sufficient reason for permitting all the evil that ever has or ever will occur.

6. A first – century Galilean Jew, Jesus, was born of a virgin as an incarnate God in the flesh and performed numerous miracles during his life.

7. This Jesus was crucified according to specific prophecies in the Old Testament as a divine sacrifice to atone for the past, present and future sins of the world.

8. Jesus was resurrected

9. There is life after death, and only people who have ace[ted a legitimate form of Christian belief will go to eternal bliss in heaven, while all others, with a few rare exceptions, will suffer an eternity of torment in hell.

This list seems to be compiled by someone who hasn't the faintest idea about Catholicism or Catholics. Whether Tolkien believed in three or four of these precepts matters about as much as what Tolstoy believed when he wrote War and Peace.

Originally Posted by tumhalad2

Nor, in Tolkien, is there any notion of “Sin”. As I understand it, sin describes not merely wrongdoing, but wrongdoing that is in some sense an affront to God’s character, and which requires atonement.

The Kinslaying and the Doom of Mandos, an integral part of The Silmarillion, would be an obvious choice. The destruction of Númenor in The Akallabeth would be another. Are we reading the same books?

Originally Posted by tumhalad2

Evil, both natural and human, in Tolkien does not come about as a result of some direct analogue to the Fall – whereby humans were once morally perfect before they descended into darkness – but from the beginning the capacity for evil in the world was incarnate within it.

I offered two specific instances that disprove your supposition.

Originally Posted by tumhalad2

In short, it seems to me that a case can be made that the Christian part of Tolkien’s work has been radically overstated, if you actually take his work and compare it to commonly held Christian doctrines. In the moral dimension especially Tolkien seems to drift away from Christian concepts of righteousness and wrongdoing, which revolve around the notion of sin, a concept that never makes itself apparent in Tolkien’s writing.

One might say, but of course Tolkien’s work is not explicitly Christian. In what way, then, is it Christian at all? If it lacks the Christian outlook on moral truth (that moral goodness is that which is pleasing to and sanctioned by God, and badness is “sin”) then how is Christianity manifested? Perhaps through the vague notion of a benevolent God? This is indeed more Christian, than, say, Buddhist, but it could equally be pantheistic or even polytheistic.

Tolkien's works were not allegorical (the author states so on a number of occasions). But there is certainly a Christian ethos that moves through the books. Evil does not triumph. Wrongdoers are never rewarded for their wrongs. Faith is rewarded. In any case, Tolkien refers to the entire cycle as pre-Christian; therefore, Jesus as savior does not enter into the 1st through 3rd Ages, and Tolkien comments (in Letter 131) on the nature of Eru and the Valar not being directly parallel Christian deities, but rather a synthesis of ancient myth:

On the side of mere narrative device, this is, of course, meant to provide beings of the same order, beauty, power, and majesty as the 'gods' of higher mythology, which can be accepted - well, shall we say baldly, by a mind that believes in the Blessed Trinity.

The Silmarillion is quite different from Lord of the Rings in the subsumed nature of Christian intent. Tolkien mentions this on several occasions. Other posters have mentioned this on several occasions. Why are you beating a dead horse? Again, in the same Letter 131, Tolkien refers to The Silmarillion as having "Truths" that do not necessarily follow Christianity, but which represent ancient mythos:

In the cosmogony there is a fall: a fall of Angels we should say. Though quite different in form, of course, to that of Christian myth. These tales are 'new', they are not directly derived from other myths and legends, but they must inevitably contain a large measure of ancient wide-spread motives or elements. After all, I believe that legends and myths are largely made of 'truth', and indeed present aspects of it that can only be received in this mode; and long ago certain truths and modes of this kind were discovered and must always reappear.

Originally Posted by tumhalad2

For example, when Gandalf says to Frodo that he was “meant” to find the ring, nothing in the text leads the reader it is a somewhat Christianlike god pulling all the strings behind the scenes – the suggestion is suitably vague.

Did you want Gandalf to quote scripture in order to make the symbology more evident? The mere fact that Gandalf is there at all implies divine intervention, not to mention his subsequent resurrection. Again, I am not sure how you could miss such major plot points. But if Tolkien had been more strident it would have alienated many readers, including myself, and The Lord of the Rings would have been relegated to the status of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and we most likely would not be having this discussion.

But as I mentioned previously, your posts seem to be inciteful rather than insightful, a recurrent theme that runs through your posting history.

[Boromir88]

This has been a very good compilation of essays talking about Tolkien's "Catholic Imagination."

http://tolkienandchristianity.blogsp...r-tolkien.html

This is not a statement that I agree with all of these authors, but I still maintain Tolkien's religious beliefs played an integral part in writing his "myth." Mind you a part, not the whole, possibly not even the most important influence, but an influence nonetheless.

I have not read all of these essays, and personally some of them like Joseph Pearce's "Why Tolkien says The Lord of the Rings is Catholic" seems to be reaching too far for my own tastes. A lot also tend to latch onto Tolkien's Letter stating it is "a fundamentally Catholic work." However, Clyde Kilby's "Meeting Professor Tolkien" and David Mills' essay about Divine Providence were illuminating and bring up if nothing else an interesting, thoughtful argument. And in my opinion, it's been a valuable set of links to give a comprehensive look to the Catholic interpretation of Tolkien's writing.

Declaring there is NO hidden message. Not even
'partially Catholic'. NO message at all. And
emphasies his annoyance with literary
incapacity to distinct allegory from
application & reader insistence to see
what the author doesn't intend.~Rhod the Red

This is rather a skewed gloss of what's written in The Foreward. First, the context is Tolkien saying there is no allegory, or message, was his annoyance of people thinking the Lord of the Rings was an allegory of World War II. To which, Tolkien correctly points out much of this story was conceived before that War. Broadly applied, I agree, one of Tolkien's stringent positions is he did not like allegory, he did not write it, and he just wanted to write a story he hoped that a variety of people could enjoy. However, lets also not take the position to anyone who says "there is a Catholic/religious influence of Tolkien's faith in the story" to mean people are arguing there is Catholic allegory. It's not the same.

Other arrangements could be devised according to the tastes or views of those who like allegory or topical reference. But I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presense. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse 'applicability' with 'allegory'; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of author.

The bold is my emphasis, and to expand on the meaning of reader applicability, let's look at what he writes a little later in the Foreward:

It is also false, though naturally attractive, when the lives of the author and critic have overlapped, to suppose that the movements of thought or the events of times common to both were necessarily the most powerful influences. One has indeed personally to come under the shadow of war to feel fully its oppression; but as the years go by it seems now often forgotten that to be caught in youth by 1914 was no less hideous an experience than to be involved in 1939 and the following years.

Simply because two peopled lived through common events does not mean their views and experiences are going to be the same. And this seems to be reflected in Tolkien's preference to history, in all its varied applicability, and not allegory, which would be (as Tolkien viewed it) "the purposed domination of the author."

This again doesn't mean if someone sees the religious influence in Tolkien's writing that they are arguing "Tolkien is a lying liar who lied about disliking allegory." It's a simple acknowledgement that his beliefs influenced his writing, just as his love for Anglo-Saxon myth, or Norse, or any other experience you want to plug in.

Much tends to be made by the Letter to Father Murray:

The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like ‘religion’ to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism.

I believe there is much misunderstanding made by all sides when it comes to this one. First, it's important to remember Bethberry's point about using Tolkien's Letters. They were personal correspondence by Tolkien to someone else, not intended nor probably written with the mind of a wider public audience. My counter question to Bb, however, is what reasons would Tolkien have to deceive the recipients of his written letters?

I think the trickier part is understanding, as Tolkien also admits, there is much of his story that escaped him, or he forgot, because much had been written decades before writing all these letters responding to family, friends, and fans. Also, Tolkien becomes a conscious commentator and critic, and not the writer who did write in the "unconscious." However, there is no reason that Tolkien would have to be purposefully deceptive to anyone, whether it be to his variety of readers, or to a single correspondent. Now there may be unintentional misleading if Tolkien mis-remembered something he had previously written, but he's honest about that too! So, really, when reading Letters I don't see any reason to think Tolkien was not being upfront and honest in his responses. You've even pointed out to me before where he did not send a certain letter about the possibility of orc redemption because he seemed to be "taking himself too importantly."

My point here is, if the context and audience is known, and seeing no reason why Tolkien would purposefully deceive the recipients of his letters, then there can still be value in them beyond individual curiosity in wanting to know everyone's business.

So, with Letter 142 to Tolkien's Catholic friend, he does say it is a "fundamentally religious and Catholic work" at first when he was unconsciously writing, but in consciously revising he only re-affirmed and stuck to whatever religious influences were present when writing it. This does not mean, as some of the authors in the link I provided at the start of this post are correct in their interpretations, as some do reach too far into what I would define as allegory. And thus it assumes Tolkien was deliberately lying when he consistently stated a dislike for allegory.

However, to take the rest of that quote to mean all religion and Catholic thought was completely excised and eviscerated out of the story, is also misleading. Quite the opposite, it's directly in both his writing process and the revision process it was a fundamentally religious work. What he says was not put in, or what he did end up cutting out is any direct reference to established real world 'religion' in terms of their cults or practices. Instead the religious influeced is "absorbed in the story and the symbolism." I actually like Tolkien's word choice of "absorbed" here since it implies the religious influence is a part of the story. Not the whole, maybe not even the most important part, but a part nonetheless. And that is, in my opinion, different from allegory.

[Bêthberry]

My apologies for a very late reply to Boromir's question to me. It's been difficult to find enough time to be able to frame the kind of thoughtful reply his post deserves.

Originally Posted by Boromir88

My counter question to Bb, however, is what reasons would Tolkien have to deceive the recipients of his written letters?

LadyBrooke provided the gist of my response.

Originally Posted by Lady Brooke

I'm not Bb, but I wouldn't consider it so much deception, as tailoring what you say to your audience - I wouldn't go in and tell my college professors half the things I might tell my best friend. I don't speak the same way around my mom and her family as I do around my dad and his family. I think it's natural human behavior to stress certain things around certain audiences, and that could have played into what Tolkien wrote to certain people. And like you said, memory plays a huge part in it.

Indeed, I never used or implied any sense of dishonesty or deliberate misrepresentation in my comments about the nature of letters. It is not a matter of deception but of degree of emphasis and of enthusiasm that makes a personal statement between friends differ from a general public or critical statement.

Tolkien's Letter, No. 142 to Robert Murray, (written December 2, 1953) is very clearly written to a dear and close friend, of the family as well as of Tolkien himself. It is a lovely, personable letter, one of the most personable ones the we have in the selected letters and I've always found it a fascinating fact that Father Murray was the grandson of the founder of the OED. Tolkien's first academic position was working on the OED, the letter W.

There are a couple of points I would make simply as a scholarly or pedantic analysis of the letter as we have it. It is edited, as two ellipses point out. And it is a response to a letter from Father Murray, with his critiques of the LotR, read in manuscript. In fact, apparently Tolkien himself had invited Father Murray to make comments. Even with Carpenter's summary of Murray's letter, I would be interested to see that letter in its entirety and even the previous one from Tolkien with the invitation to comment, nosy little stalker that I am. It would help to know, for instance, if Tolkien had asked for any particular direction in comments or critique. When we ask friends for their opinion, often the shared subjects of interest (and shared dislikes!) form part of an expected context of conversation. Did Tolkien invite religious interpretation? (And if so, did he do so with any other of the people to whom he showed the manuscript and pre-publication copies?) Or was it a spontaneous readerly response on Murray's part?

First of all, clearly this letter is part of an extended discussion about LotR. As Tolkien writes,

Originally Posted by Letter 142

I have been cheered specially by what you have said, this time and before,

It would be so nice to know what Murray had said not just this time, but "previously". We don't have the full discussion here in this letter.

Second, Tolkien makes an interesting claim about Murray's comments.

Originally Posted by Letter 142

you are more perceptive, especially in some directions, than any one else, and have even revealed to me more clearly some things about my work.

It is quite interesting for an author to say to a reader that the reader has pointed out things the author had not fully realised. Often this kind of comment is a compliment to the reader. Is is simply a courteous way of saying, "Well, I never meant that but you could be right" ? The remaining part of the paragraph does say that this direction was originally unconscious on Tolkien's part, and then "consciously so in the revision", but that of course raises the question of what it was originally and how much of that original impetus was edited out or changed. The other point about this comment is that Tolkien says Murray speaks "in some directions", a phrase which suggests that those directions are not all-inclusive: there are other directions which Murray does not address. This suggests at least the possibility of a caveat on the interpretation that LotR is exclusively a Catholic book. Certainly Tolkien ends the paragraph not with more detail about the Catholicity of the book but of his own personal faith. He slides into personal psychology rather than literary statement. Of course a book will show evidence of an author's personal beliefs and psychology because that is part of his world vision. But that is not quite the same thing as saying the book is exclusively about that world vision.

Another point also suggests this, the subject of the paragraph following this one, in which Tolkien discusses his love of the Classics in contrast to works of English Literature and his great interest in Philology.

Originally Posted by Letter 142

Also being a philologist, getting a large part of any aesthetic pleasure that I am capable of from the form of words (and especially from the fresh association of word-form with word-sense), I have always best enjoyed things in a foreign language, or one so remote as to feel like it (such as Anglo-Saxon).

Again, this is personal. But elsewhere in other letters and essays Tolkien has talked about how the Legendarium had its genesis in his creation of the elvish languages and that the stories necessarily became the fleshing out of those languages.

Perhaps Tolkien, a private man, was very reticent to speak about his faith, a faith which was censored and derided in the England of his time, to anyone who did not share it. And perhaps he thought identifying the book as Catholic would harm its sales. We don't know and can merely conjecture.

But my point about most claims for religion is that they don't explain the non-religious motivation. One of the links in Boro's link does attempt to discuss how the pagan world view and Catholic world view coincide, but very few discussions consider the relationship between the philology and the faith. That is why I think this Letter is so misused (although not the only one misused).