Science fiction, fantasy and faith: Part 5, Tolkien

(The previous section is here.)

Thanks very much to all those who commented or posted in response to my 'intermission.' It's got me thinking in a number of new directions, and given me new authors to explore. Please keep it up! Feel free to expand on any books or authors I've mentioned, particularly the ones in the intermission.

Sententiae has posted twice (so far) with some of his interesting insights into the topic - first, and second. In his second post he spends a little time discussing Tolkien, and says:

"Anyone who is a Christian could probably find parallels, though I never thought Tolkien was trying to produce Christian allegory like Lewis (Tolkien disliked the Narnia stories). Yet the Ring Trilogy deserves to be in our list because its main theme, that informs almost every scene, is the struggle between Evil and Good: of the creation of evil, how it corrupts, and how Good can triumph at great sacrifice. It's told on an epic scale in a totally non-Christian world, but its theme is the essence of Catholicism. Of Christianity in general."

I think that's a good summary. I haven't said much about Tolkien, simply because he's already so well-known among Christians, especially after the movies. However, a few months ago I was talking with a Jewish coworker who's a great fan of The Lord of the Rings. When I mentioned that I felt they were deeply Catholic books, he seemed surprised. When I listed a few of the features that seemed Catholic in a broad sense, though, he was nodding in agreement. I guess he had thought of them as broadly traditional Western values, which they are. But I would think that the roots of those values, particularly for Tolkien, are in Christianity (though my coworker could very well respond that they run back even farther to Judaism!)

It reminded me that things which now seem self-evident to me may not be for others, so I'll quickly list a few concepts from The Lord of the Rings which strike me as profoundly Catholic/Christian:

• The One Ring is coercive power, which invariably corrupts, and the struggle to resist the temptation to use it defines who's good and who's evil (Gandalf, Galadriel, Aragorn - Boromir fails but repents ; Faramir is more successful). Sam is the only one who gives it up without a struggle, because he's truly meek and humble, a servant in the best sense of the word.
• Galadriel's appearing to Frodo in Shelob's den was meant to be reminiscent of the Virgin Mary's support of individual Catholics in seemingly hopeless situations.
• The Fellowship leaves Rivendell on December 25th (my coworker chuckled at this one, and it isn't especially profound, but Tolkien did it purposefully.)
• Sauron and the evil powers cannot create anything new, only corrupt existing good things. Similarly, the more evil Sauron and the Nazgul get, the more insubstantial and wispy they get. Evil is an absence, a privation, and lacks creativity.
• The people who fail are the ones who lack hope, who give into despair, who buy into Evil's nihilistic lies (Saruman, Denethor). There's a great focus on people struggling with hope and despair (Theoden, Aragorn, Frodo, almost everybody).
• The burden is borne and the victory won, not by coercive magic power, military prowess, or dramatic heroism, but by two lowly hobbits, the meek and foolish of the earth.
• The Free Peoples of Middle-Earth are diverse. The Good is broad and pluralistic. They have to compromise and trust one another to work together - Elves and Dwarves don't particularly like each other ; many people resent Rohan and Gondor for past wars - everyone has their own baggage. But they're all welcome and needed parts of the Alliance (like a broad, catholic church where all kinds of diverse cultures, talents and gifts can be redeemed and put to work.)
• Many characters have Christ-like qualities: Frodo, for being the innocent who, in bearing the cross-like burden of the Ring through pain and suffering, saves the world. Gandalf, for many things, but especially for dying and being resurrected. Aragorn, for being the King who is equally renowned as a Healer.

I'm sure other people can list many, many more, and there many books out there (The Gospel According to Tolkien, or Following Gandalf, for example) which go into a lot more detail. Some people (China Mieville, for example) seem to hate Tolkien for talking about Good and Evil and being so darn Catholic. I think, though, that he's more ambiguous about Good and Evil than his detractors will admit - the Good characters, at least, are always having to struggle with themselves and their own sins. Likewise, I think he presents his ideas in such a way that most readers can fall in love with the story and agree with his points without feeling alienated. All kinds of people have found LOTR agreeable to their own values, from conservative Christians to anti-Nixon hippies to environmentalists.

[Edited to add: see this letter to First Things for some background information on The Fall and Incarnation in Tolkien's world.]

I'll leave it for now, but next time I want to post about Fletcher Pratt, Roger Zelazny, Stephen Donaldson, The Grail of Hearts, Neuromancer, and those anthologies I mentioned a while back.

(Part 6 is here.)