Posted: July 04, 2000 at 18:11:54: by Jan
: : : Tolkein was a devout Catholic, but in all of LotR there is no evidence of any kind of organised religion practised by any of the numerous races. Did he deliberately decide not to complicate matters with this, or is LotR partly intended to be a very in-depth moral parable (as I believe the bible to have originally been meant to be)? I incline towards the latter view myself but would welcome any other views or insights.: : I think you can find some references to this in his letters. Especially those to his friend Father Murphy. Tolkien did not want to introduce specific religious practices as such would either make the story too much of a Christian parable, or else drive a wedge between the boch and religion. Tolkien critices C.S.Lewis over his handling of religion in the Narnia books, where religious ceremonies and symbolism are much more present. : I think that in one of his letters Tolkien did describe the Lord of the Rings as "a fundamentally religious and Catholic" book. Of course, there is no evidence of any form of Christian religious practice in the book as it is set several thousand years B.C. What I think he meant was that the Free Peoples were monotheists who lived by the same ethical standards as Jews and Christians. In one of his letters, he makes the point that the Free Peoples identified organised religion with the worship of Morgoth and Sauron; accordingly, organised religion had evil connotations for them. : Sean
But does it then not follow, that any book written by a catholic, could be portrayed as a catholic book?
Jan
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