Posted on 05/09/2019 1:45:37 PM PDT by OddLane
He did a good job with LOTR.
But then he stretched The Hobbit into a trilogy, probably to bring in more money.
I watched LOTR a few times, but refused to watch The Hobbit even once.
It’s really a Fox Searchlight production rather than Disney.
“Another Disney movie to skip.”
No argument about Disney output.
But in this case it was made by Fox.
So discouraged by you clowns that refuse to acknowledge Disney’s corrupt nature.
Next time you bemoan the MSM, at least make reference to the parents corps driving the agenda: Comcast, Disney, and now ATT.
I agree. He lived his faith so any writing would natural flow from him carrying his beliefs although he did not intentionally do so. Like speaking one’s native tongue. One does it without thinking..
Isaiah 55:8-9 8”For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. 9”As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
And what.a group that must have been. Oh to have been a fly on the wall at just one of their meetings. 2 of my favorite authors and brilliant all around.
I don’t see the Catholicism in Tolkien’s work. The Christian themes however are central to the story
Ah. Your statement is the jewel-lotus of Zen.
:o)
Do some digging. In 5 minutes I found the following. If your mind is not completely closed you will see Tolkein’s hand in all of this, molding the Ring trilogy into a christian story.
One of the main Christian themes in Lord of the Rings is the the treatment afforded many of the most despicable characters of the story by the main characters. Although Gollum is thoroughly evil and a scoundrel, he is repeatedly shown mercy even after deserving death. Similarly, Wormtongue is given chance after chance to turn from his evil ways. God’s grace as we’re taught by Jesus and Paul is like that. Even when completely unworthy of favor, we sinners are constantly the recipient of additional chances.
Gandalf gave an important speech capturing the theme as he was talking to Frodo about Gollum. Frodo said it was a “pity” Bilbo didn’t kill Gollum when he had the chance. Gandalf responded:
Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity and Mercy: not to strike without need. And he has been well rewarded, Frodo. Be sure that he took so little hurt from the evil, and escaped in the end, because he began his ownership of the Ring so. With Pity.
Eru, the supreme being in Tolkien’s universe, is akin to the Christian God in his role as creator, life-giver and divine intervener.
Morgoth, the original big-bad of Middle-Earth, is akin to Satan. Originally one of Eru’s Ainur (akin to angels) rebelled against the creator and introduced evil into the world through his corruption and destruction.
Creation is good, evil is derivative. Eru creates a world that is fundamentally good. Morgoth, Sauron and Saruman cannot truly create, they twist and warp the good. Hence, Orcs are twistings of Elves and Gollum is a warped Hobbit-like creature. Good and evil are not held in balance. In a state of nature, the world is good. It is only when Morgoth casts a shadow over Middle-Earth that evil seeps in. Tolkien has “baked-in” the Christian concept of good and evil into the very foundations of Middle-Earth.
, The Silmarillion, which recounts the larger mythic context of Middle-earth, beginning (notwithstanding his antipathy for allegory) with a magnificent allegorical retelling of the Creation and the Fall according to Genesis 1-3.
Here Tolkien does name the creator-God of Middle-earth, Eru (”the One,” also called Ilúvatar, “All-Father”), as well as the mighty spirit Melkor, who rebelled against Eru and went into darkness. We also learn that Sauron, maker of the One Ring, is himself an agent of this Melkor. Tolkien thus establishes a direct relationship between the theistic, even Judeo-Christian cosmology of The Silmarillion and the war for the One Ring recounted in The Lord of the Rings.
In fact, he specifically excluded allegory in which there is a pre-planned, one-to-one correspondence between fantasy personalities and Biblical personalities, fantasy events and Biblical events.
What he did say is that his work was infused with the meaning that infused his own life, the truth of Christ which he imbibed with his Catholic faith..
That is different from allegory and, I would say, deeper. love, desire and imagination, not the level of the discursive, analytical mind.
No CS Lewis? Too bad. Always wanted to know more about the relationship between two of my favorite authors and the role Tolkein played in Lewis’s conversion. This movie doesnt seem worth seeing now.
Please forgive me for not responding to you inquires sooner. I am presently reading the Tolkien letters to get a better understanding of Tolkien and well, I really enjoying reading letters from that era and I’m a big Tolkien junkie. I will respond when I have read the last of the them and writing a roper reply.
Thank you for your patient. I have not forgotten.
Redmonqey
Thanks, but I don’t want to have to read the biography and letters of Joseph Heller before I can enjoy Catch-22. The work stands on its own. And so should ‘Tolkien.’
“And what.a group that must have been.”
A couple of the Inklings were more New Age than Christian. Owen Barfield being one. Can’t recall the other offhand. The Inklings had around a dozen members.
I look forward to your insights on Tolkein’s letters.
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