April 22, 2002

Tolkien's Religious Views: Tom Bombadil
Olwarz

This is just a quick commentary in regards to Quirk's article entitled "Who is Tom Bombadil?" on April 19th, 2002.

In his article Quirk expounds on his own views of who Bombadil was, as a spiritual allegory, while at the same time asking for a deeper explanation to clarify the topic.

Tolkien was not just a professing Catholic, but highly devout...to the point of "rejecting" other religious thought such as deism or eastern religion. Tolkien was a good friend of C.S. Lewis and played an instrumental role in leadeing Lewis from a posture of atheism to Christianity. Lewis then became one of the most creative Christian writers of the last century.

All of the "spiritual" undertones of LOTR can be traced back to Judeo-Christian theology. Being a Catholic, Tolkien would have held to the traditional creationist view of humanity and earth, which would establish the God of the Bible as the first religious belief of the human race. That is why you find traces and mutations of Judeo-Christian thought in all religions we have today; though you certainly find vast differences.

If Quirk, and others, would read the Silmarillion, you would find the "creation" of Middle-Earth from the being which involved a character named Eru (God). You would also find that Gandalf was a Miar (angelic being), as was Sauron, who possessed supernatural powers (magical, if you will). In Biblical theology you find that both the heavenly and demonic kingdoms possess supernatural abilities and powers since Lucifer (the devil) and his demons (fallen angels) came from heaven. Though perverted and against God, they have retained a measure of their angelic abilities.

At the beginning of the most recent addition of the Silmarillion Christopher Tolkien includes a letter written by his father to his publisher explaining the purpose of LOTR and it's Christian influence. This piece is also very helpful in understanding the spiritual thinking behind the trilogy.

I believe the key "message", though others will disagree, of LOTR from Tolkien's perspective was to communicate that in our lives we find that there is a greater purpose at work in the world...namely the will of God. He causes all things to work towards His ends and we are found to either be working with Him (even unknowingly at times) or against Him (yet still serving His purposes...i.e. Gollum "destroys" the ring, even though he lusted after it for his own gain and greed). There is no "chance" in Tolkien's world, just a stumbling across the orchestration of a Higher Power.

Just as in our world, evil seems to be so great and mighty. Yet for all it's planning and power, even when there seems to be no hope, the will of God prevails in the end through outrageous events. I believe Tolkien desired that his readers found a message of hope in a greater purpose amidst the evils of this world, through the vehicle that he held most dear to his own heart...a love for epic fairy tales.