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.
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.
Can you point me to where he said this?
Not doubting you, I'd just like confirmation...last I knew this wasn't proven, and the Secret Fire debate raged on.