tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post605887539022180258..comments2024-03-27T17:15:37.606-04:00Comments on Triablogue: Is Tolkien Christian?Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17809283662428917799noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-957774871179921292014-12-22T01:48:53.031-05:002014-12-22T01:48:53.031-05:00I'd hesitate to say that any of Hayao Miyazaki...I'd hesitate to say that any of Hayao Miyazaki's films (or Akira Kurosawa's) really "point to the one great story". We could suggest that the Lewis/Tolkien proposal about the mythology that is true could still have been restricted to more Western than Eastern mythology and that even this approach isn't exactly the same as Campbell's reductionist monomyth that flattens out too many variables to account for the European and American variations on the Faust legend. Wenatchee the Hatchethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13208892745502555715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-55461863014660235942014-12-21T21:23:19.538-05:002014-12-21T21:23:19.538-05:00The title is shorthand for is his fiction Christia...The title is shorthand for is his fiction Christian?stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16547070544928321788noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-5858733743204125912014-12-21T20:20:41.405-05:002014-12-21T20:20:41.405-05:00The phrasing in the title seems to me to be asking...The phrasing in the title seems to me to be asking the wrong question.<br /><br />Tolkien believed himself to be a faithful Catholic. However, unlike Lewis, he was not writing to specifically to explore Christian ideas. Indeed, his writing was influenced by Danish myths (such as Beowulf) and re-working them in an English context. So while the Hobbit, LotR, and other works are heavily influenced by Christian thought, they are not "Christian". Short version: Tolkien may well have been a Christian, but his works are not specifically so.<br /><br />In contrast, Lewis's works of fiction are mostly "Christian", in that they are written with explicitly Christian ends in mind.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-29160010460901092202014-12-21T13:55:50.442-05:002014-12-21T13:55:50.442-05:00"There is [another] way in which the Virgin M...<i>"There is [another] way in which the Virgin Mary is present, and that is through her reflections in certain feminine characters, specifically Galadriel and Elbereth. Galadriel is one of the pivotal elvish characters: Bearer of one of the three Rings and preserver of the land of Lothlorien, Tolkien himself calls her 'unstained' (a word that Catholics normally only use of the Virgin Mary), adding that 'she had committed no evil deeds.' In another letter he wrote: 'I think it is true that I owe much of this character to Christian and Catholic teaching and imagination about Mary.'"</i><br /><br /><a href="http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=15-01-051-f" rel="nofollow">The Lord & Lady of the Rings: The Hidden Presence of Tolkien’s Catholicism in The Lord of the Rings</a>axisoflogoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01900827016670354389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-24863402670281299222014-12-20T00:07:52.742-05:002014-12-20T00:07:52.742-05:00I would analyze this question differently. All em...I would analyze this question differently. All emotionally stirring stories point to the one great story. The one great story is the story of an ugly duckling who returned as a swan. It is the story of a man who died to save the one he loved, the story of a hero who went alone to face the enemy and died. And, in The Lord of the Rings, it is at least three stories: one about a king, who comes into his kingdom unannounced, to heal the sick; one who dies to save his friends, and returns transformed; and one who sacrifices his ability to feel the pleasures of human life, so that the world may be redeemed.seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00843345930627586208noreply@blogger.com