April 21, 2002

Bombadil and Tolkien
Peter C.

Whoa, whoa whoa, Quirk.

If you've ever read Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories" you will know that he absolutely HATED allegory of any kind. He particularly disliked any hidden references to God of any kind in literature, thinking it detracted from the art.

This is part of the reason he was so critical of his contemporaries Charles Williams and CS Lewis, as well as his predecessors John Bunyan and George McDonald. (These four are giants in the Christian literature genre).

Furthermore, he meant in no way to have Middle Earth to be representative of Christianity or what have you. The way I read it, he simply wished to create a completely immersing fantasy world. Complete with its own creation myths. By no means does Middle-Earth relate to an understanding of Christianity (apart from moral lessons and the heroic ethos).

By the way, I think Tolkien was a strong Orthodox Catholic.

Does that answer any questions, concerns, speculations?