Tolkien/Christian commentary
[email protected]
While the Potter works prompted Christians to write works like "Harry Potter
and the Bible: the Menace Behind the Magick" and "What's a Christian to do
with Harry Potter?", Christians have written positive books about the Tolkien
trilogy such as "Finding God in 'The Lord of the Rings' " by Kurt Bruner and
Jim Ware.
"I think one main difference between the two is that J.R.R. Tolkien develops
an entire world, Middle-earth, that you understand does not exist," Stewart
said. "Rowling does not make the same thing obvious with Harry Potter. You
can't look at Harry Potter as fantasy because she confuses the lines between
reality and make-believe."
http://www.cesnur.org/tolkien/033.htm
(I can't believe such a nice-looking site didn't put breaks between
paragraphs.)
---------------
Another nice-looking webpage.
Someone can be really slow-thinking and still make a nice webpage, it seems:
-=-Is the Lord of the Rings harmless fantasy or perhaps even a wholesome
Christian allegory? We think not. I read The Hobbit and the three volumes of
The Lord of the Rings in 1971 when I was in Vietnam with the U.S. Army. I was
not saved at the time, and, in fact, I was very antagonistic to the Christian
faith; and had the books contained even a hint of Bible truth, I can asse
details of the books, I can recall very vividly that they are filled with
occultic imagery. The books were published in inexpensive paperback editions
in the late 1960s, and they became very popular with that generation of drug
headed hippies. -=-
http://logosresourcepages.org/rings.htm
From that same article:
he remained a Catholic throughout his life. In his last interview, two years
before his death, he unhesitatingly testified, "I’m a devout Roman Catholic."
J.R. Tolkien married his childhood sweetheart, Edith, and they had four
children. He wrote them letters each year as if from Santa Claus, and a
selection of these was published in 1976 as "The Father Christmas Letters."
One of Tolkien’s sons became a Catholic priest. Tolkien was an advisor for
the translation of the Roman Catholic Jerusalem Bible.
. . . .
One of Tolkien’s drinking buddies was the famous C.S. Lewis. They and some
other Oxford associates formed a group called the "Inklings" and met
regularly at an Oxford pub to drink beer and regale about literary and other
matters. Tolkien, in fact, is credited with influencing Lewis to become a
Christian of sorts. Like Tolkien, though, Lewis did not accept the Bible as
the infallible Word of God and he picked and chose what he would believe
about the New Testament apostolic faith. . . .
(Proof he wasn't REALLY a Christian...)
Though the aforementioned reviewers would have us believe that Tolkien’s
books contain simple allegories of good vs. evil, Tolkien portrays wizards
and witches and wizardry as both good and evil. There is white magic and
black magic in Tolkien’s fantasies. For example, a wizard named Gandalf is
portrayed as a good person who convinces Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit to take
a journey to recover stolen treasure. The books depict the calling up of the
dead to assist the living, which is plainly condemned in the Scriptures.
Though not as overtly and sympathetically occultic as the Harry Potter
series, Tolkien’s fantasies are unscriptural and present a very dangerous
message.
- - - -
n his last interview in 1971, Tolkien plainly stated that he did not intend
The Lord of the Rings as a Christian allegory and that Christ is not depicted
in his fantasy novels. When asked about the efforts of the trilogy’s hero,
Frodo, to struggle on and destroy the ring, Tolkien said, "But that seems I
suppose more like an allegory of the human race. I’ve always been impressed
that we’re here surviving because of the indomitable courage of quite small
people against impossible odds: jungles, volcanoes, wild beasts... they
struggle on, almost blindly in a way" (Interview by Dennis Gerrolt; it was
first broadcast in January 1971 on BBC Radio 4 program "Now Read On…"). That
doesn’t sound like the gospel to me. When Gerrolt asked Tolkien, "Is the book
to be considered as an allegory?" the author replied, "No. I dislike allegory
whenever I smell it."
Thus, the author of The Lord of the Rings denied the very thing that some
Christians today are claiming, that these fantasies are an allegory of
Christ’s victory over the devil.
---------------
and the Bible: the Menace Behind the Magick" and "What's a Christian to do
with Harry Potter?", Christians have written positive books about the Tolkien
trilogy such as "Finding God in 'The Lord of the Rings' " by Kurt Bruner and
Jim Ware.
"I think one main difference between the two is that J.R.R. Tolkien develops
an entire world, Middle-earth, that you understand does not exist," Stewart
said. "Rowling does not make the same thing obvious with Harry Potter. You
can't look at Harry Potter as fantasy because she confuses the lines between
reality and make-believe."
http://www.cesnur.org/tolkien/033.htm
(I can't believe such a nice-looking site didn't put breaks between
paragraphs.)
---------------
Another nice-looking webpage.
Someone can be really slow-thinking and still make a nice webpage, it seems:
-=-Is the Lord of the Rings harmless fantasy or perhaps even a wholesome
Christian allegory? We think not. I read The Hobbit and the three volumes of
The Lord of the Rings in 1971 when I was in Vietnam with the U.S. Army. I was
not saved at the time, and, in fact, I was very antagonistic to the Christian
faith; and had the books contained even a hint of Bible truth, I can asse
details of the books, I can recall very vividly that they are filled with
occultic imagery. The books were published in inexpensive paperback editions
in the late 1960s, and they became very popular with that generation of drug
headed hippies. -=-
http://logosresourcepages.org/rings.htm
From that same article:
he remained a Catholic throughout his life. In his last interview, two years
before his death, he unhesitatingly testified, "I’m a devout Roman Catholic."
J.R. Tolkien married his childhood sweetheart, Edith, and they had four
children. He wrote them letters each year as if from Santa Claus, and a
selection of these was published in 1976 as "The Father Christmas Letters."
One of Tolkien’s sons became a Catholic priest. Tolkien was an advisor for
the translation of the Roman Catholic Jerusalem Bible.
. . . .
One of Tolkien’s drinking buddies was the famous C.S. Lewis. They and some
other Oxford associates formed a group called the "Inklings" and met
regularly at an Oxford pub to drink beer and regale about literary and other
matters. Tolkien, in fact, is credited with influencing Lewis to become a
Christian of sorts. Like Tolkien, though, Lewis did not accept the Bible as
the infallible Word of God and he picked and chose what he would believe
about the New Testament apostolic faith. . . .
(Proof he wasn't REALLY a Christian...)
Though the aforementioned reviewers would have us believe that Tolkien’s
books contain simple allegories of good vs. evil, Tolkien portrays wizards
and witches and wizardry as both good and evil. There is white magic and
black magic in Tolkien’s fantasies. For example, a wizard named Gandalf is
portrayed as a good person who convinces Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit to take
a journey to recover stolen treasure. The books depict the calling up of the
dead to assist the living, which is plainly condemned in the Scriptures.
Though not as overtly and sympathetically occultic as the Harry Potter
series, Tolkien’s fantasies are unscriptural and present a very dangerous
message.
- - - -
n his last interview in 1971, Tolkien plainly stated that he did not intend
The Lord of the Rings as a Christian allegory and that Christ is not depicted
in his fantasy novels. When asked about the efforts of the trilogy’s hero,
Frodo, to struggle on and destroy the ring, Tolkien said, "But that seems I
suppose more like an allegory of the human race. I’ve always been impressed
that we’re here surviving because of the indomitable courage of quite small
people against impossible odds: jungles, volcanoes, wild beasts... they
struggle on, almost blindly in a way" (Interview by Dennis Gerrolt; it was
first broadcast in January 1971 on BBC Radio 4 program "Now Read On…"). That
doesn’t sound like the gospel to me. When Gerrolt asked Tolkien, "Is the book
to be considered as an allegory?" the author replied, "No. I dislike allegory
whenever I smell it."
Thus, the author of The Lord of the Rings denied the very thing that some
Christians today are claiming, that these fantasies are an allegory of
Christ’s victory over the devil.
---------------