February 28, 2004

Tolkien Satanic?????
Everett

Jevic, I guess I can see your grandfather's point, especially considering that he hasn't read the books. However, his claim is ridiculous on its face. If you want some evidence to counter his claims, I recommend my pieces from 8/5/02 and 2/27/03 entitled "Replies Out the Wazoo" and "On Oral Tradition and Religion." I take a slightly different view of LotR than you appear to take. I don't claim that LotR is a Christian allegory, but I do claim that a Christian (Roman Catholic, actually) worldview and Christian principles undergird LotR and are used to build the story. It is not an apologia for Christianity, but it is possible to take Christian principles from LotR and apply them accordingly to real life.

If you want a source outside of The Forum, I recommend Bradley J. Birzer's "J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle Earth," though I must do cautiosly because I haven't read it. The only work of his I've read is his Tolkien vs. Jackson series up on the homepage.

Also, Tolkien was very much a Roman Catholic.

As to your grandfather's point about almost no Godly work coming out of Hollywood, he's right. However, that isn't necessarily a reason to avoid everything coming out of Hollywood.