: : : : 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?

: : I think everyone's life experience colors their worldview and thus would color a writers writing. The question is whether it is intentional or not. In the passage from Letters quoted above, Tolkien went on to say that the LOTR being a Catholic word was unintentional at first but intional in the revision.

: : However, it was not meant to be Catholic allegory. Rather, as Tolkien said, the book's Catholicism is subsumed within the symbolism and imagery in the book. Thus you don't see Catholic doctrine in LOTR but you do see Catholic philosophy and worldview. For example, the presentation of such ideas as grace, redemption, free will, etc are plainly Catholic and differ substantially from certain Protestant beliefs on these point.

: : Russ

: Yes, and would you have seen such catholic philosophy, if JRRT had been an atheist, or even of another religon. Would his catholism have made any difference ?

Again, the answer depends. A Catholic writer can write a book that does not reflect Catholic philosophy. As can a Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or atheist writer write works that do not reflect their personal worldview.

However, in the case of the LOTR, Tolkien specifically acknowledged that it at first unintentionally and later intentionally did reflect his Catholic phisosophy. Ultimately, Tolkien made a *choice* that the LOTR reflect Catholic philosophy. He could just have easily decided otherwise.

Russ