August 12, 2002

Re: Tolkien and Christianity
Matthew

I'd just like to post this quick response to Danny's message regarding Tolkien's writing being targeted towards "all religions" and not specifically Christianity. You have some valid points, but I tend to disagree with you.

It's true that Tolkien did not deliberately inject blatant Christianity into his books. I do not believe, however, that his books were written for "all religions." Tolkien was writing from a standpoint of this being a world with a God (Illuvatar) and right and wrong. I believe he was writing something that trascends Christianity as a mere religion. In Tolkien's world, the God of Christianity was real.

The Elves and the Numenoreans were not "believers" in the way that is commonly thought of. Rather, they knew the truth of the matter: that Illuvatar existed and that there was both good and evil in the world, and this good and evil was not relative, but was defined by Illuvatar, the Creator. Tolkien's writing is not Christianity. Tolkien's writing is from a perspective that views the universe as being created by an omnipotent, omniscient God with a plan for humanity. He put the God of Christianity, the true God, into his books; he did not inject the human-created and often flawed religious "structure" of Christianity itself into his books.

To put it another way, in Tolkien's world, the peoples of Middle Earth served either Illuvatar or Morgoth... they did not serve an impersonal "force" or "spirit guide," they did not serve a mortal "Buddah," they did not think of themselves as being gods (humanism), and they did not serve a god who advocated the murder of innocent human beings. All were on one side or the other. There was no in between.

Ultimately, although good and evil is certainly not as well defined in this world as it was in Tolkien's world, everyone in this world is still on one side or the other. There is no in between... there is no gray area. People can work very hard to try to rationalize or avoid this truth, but it remains.