Posted on 11/06/2003 7:47:49 AM PST by Pyro7480
"I should say," he wrote, explaining the final climatic moments on Mount Doom when the Ring is finally unmade, "that within the mode of the story [it] exemplifies (an aspect of) the familiar words: 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive [those who] trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.'"
As a Catholic, Tolkien knew March 25 was the date in which God had "unmade" Original Sin, which, like the Ring, has brought humanity under the sway of the Shadow. If the Ring, which is unmade at the culmination of Tolkien's Quest, is the "one ring to rule them all... and in the darkness bind them," the Fall was the "One Sin to rule them all... and in the darkness bind them." On the twenty-fifth of March the One Sin, like the One Ring, has been "unmade," destroying the power of the Dark Lord.
Very interesting article - thanks for posting it!
Dark days, indeed!! This production of LOTR is superlative! What a letdown there will be after Part 3 is released and been viewed. Perhaps, they will follow this with the original book The Hobbit.
With the possible exception of the Elves, his cosmology is quite Catholic.
I hope they make the Hobbit also, that would be the icing on the cake.
We need more movies like this.
I disagree. This is being like the Jews and Protestants who discarded a few books from the Old Testament because of they were no longer useful. If you read the Simirilion, Tolkien's account of what happened in Middle Earth in its First and Second Ages, there is DEFINITELY a God active in the story. His name is Iluvatar, or Eru, "the One." In fact, Gandalf, in his confrontation with Balrog in the Mines of Moria, refers to himself as "the Servant of the Secret Fire." The Secret Fire is the Holy Spirit, according to Tolkien.
Tolkien himself responed defensively in an interview in 1968 to this charge. "Of course God is in The Lord of the Rings. The period was pre-Christian, but it was a monotheistic world." When the interviewers asked him who the God in the trilogy was, Tolkien said: "The one, of course! The book is about the world that God created - the actual world of this planet." Please read the third chapter of Bradley Birzers' book, J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth before repeating such a statement.
That is simply incorrect. I am not Catholic, but I am a fan of both Tolkien and Potter. Not all Catholics condemn Harry Potter.
Let's take just one issue: there is no God in the books. No mention ever of a supreme being, no reference even to life after death. What happens to these characters when they die? From a truly Catholic perspective, that is the only issue that really matters. Yet LoR ignores it entirely, even though basic consistency of plot would require some explanation of what happens to elves when they die as opposed to living forever.
You need to read the books with understanding. God is all through the books, and the appendices and subsequent works by Tolkien. I don't mean to be rude, but if you don't see God in these works, you aren't paying attention.
As for the afterlife...what do you think is represented by the Grey Havens? It is most significant that "non-elves" (Frodo, Bilbo, Gimli) are invited to go on that journey. What could it mean except heaven?
And the Christlike symbolism is all through the books: Frodo the Deliverer, Gandalf the Resurrected, Aragorn the Returning King.
We're not talking about the Silmarillion, we're talking about the Lord of the Rings. And in the trilogy, there is no reference to God. The Silmarillion was written later and never finished in Tolkien's lifetime.
Gandalf, in his confrontation with Balrog in the Mines of Moria, refers to himself as "the Servant of the Secret Fire." The Secret Fire is the Holy Spirit, according to Tolkien.
Sorry, I can't buy this. The only reference to God is "the secret fire"? And somehow this makes the work all Catholic? This sounds totally pagan, which would be in keeping with Tolkien's sources in Norse mythology.
When the interviewers asked him who the God in the trilogy was, Tolkien said: "The one, of course! The book is about the world that God created - the actual world of this planet."
If the world of LoR is supposed to be our world, then all the more reason to make the absence of God inexcusable. Where, by the way, are Adam and Eve in the story? What about the condemnation of poly-genism that came out during the very time that Tolkien was writing the books? This is absolutely unacceptable from a Catholic perspective.
Please read the third chapter of Bradley Birzers' book, J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth before repeating such a statement.
If I need to read someone else's explanation before understanding where God fits into the story, then that is just perfect confirmation of the fact that it is not there in the text. I've read others besides Joseph Pierce promoting this theory, and none of them are credible.
According to Jane Chance, professor of English, Medieval Studies, and Women and Gender at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and author of "Tolkien's Art" and "Lord of the Rings."
Tolkien was a Roman Catholic, close to being Tridentine in his conservative Catholicism.
The Bible As 'The Ultimate Fairy Tale' A Tolkien expert explains how for the creator of hobbits, a tree was never just a tree.
I suppose that one needs to be able to appreciate this sort of logic in order to understand the "Catholic" symbolism of Lord of the Rings.
You need to read the books with understanding. God is all through the books, and the appendices and subsequent works by Tolkien. I don't mean to be rude, but if you don't see God in these works, you aren't paying attention.
Your ad hominem arguments have somehow failed to convince me.
the Christlike symbolism is all through the books: Frodo the Deliverer, Gandalf the Resurrected, Aragorn the Returning King.
These could just as easily be Hindu or Zoroastrian symbols. Next I'll be hearing that "Gilgamesh" is also a Catholic work. It has a hundred times more symbolism that could be interpreted as being "Christ-like."
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