THE LORD

OF THE KJV BIBLE

IS NOT

IN THE

LORD OF THE RINGS

BRINGING THE DARKNESS OF THE WORLD

OF J.R.R.TOLKIEN

TO LIGHT BY THE WORD OF GOD

AND OTHER SOURCES.

WRITTEN AND COMPILED BY: TERI JETER

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ALL BLACK FONT IS THE TEXT OF TERI JETER

ALL BLUE FONT IS THE TEXT OF REFERENCE MATERIALS

“Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.”Ephesians 5:10

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“Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for

darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20

CHAPTER ONE

In regard to the occultic imagery in the book and movie “The Lord of the Rings”

(TLOTR), here is what Berit Kjos (a Christian writer) says in her article entitled, “Tolkien’s

Lord of the Rings: Truth, Myth or Both?” (http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/rings.htm):

“Both stories [Harry Potter and TLOTR] involve wizards, spells, mythical creatures and magic charms. Both demonstrate the battle between a mythical ‘good’ and evil. Both pit heroic ‘white’ magic against dark menacing occultism.

But Potter wields his ‘good’ magic in an obviously occult setting with no claim to Christian symbolism. In contrast, Frodo, the hobbit hero of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ lives in a world that supposedly reflects Biblical truth and Christ’s redemptive love. But does it?

Does Frodo’s suffering really represent the suffering of Christ? Does wizard Gandalf’s self-sacrifice typify the crucifixion? Many Christian fans argue ‘yes.’ If they are right, what do these comparisons actually teach us about truth and redemption?

Or might this popular ‘gospel’ be distorting God’s truth? Perhaps Tolkien himself can provide some answers.

The man and his message. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) was a man of many contradictions. For example:

*Back in 1969, he wrote a letter affirming that ‘the chief purpose of life, for any one of us, is to increase according to our capacity our knowledge of God by allthe means we have, and to be moved by it to praise and thanks.’ 1

*In his personal letters (many are included in a book titled The Letter of J.R.R.Tolkien), he expressed caution toward occult practices. But he equipped his teamof mythical heroes – the fellowship of the Ring – with the pagan powers that Godforbids. For example, ‘Gandalf [a helpful wizard] is able to wield potent magic…To do battle with the forces of darkness, Gandalf the Grey can call upon notonly his spellcraft, but also his staff of power and the Elven sword Glamdring.’2

1 The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Humphrey Carpenter, editor (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981), page 400.3

*A staunch Roman Catholic, he affirmed his faith in the One God who createdthe universe. But his mythical God stopped creating before the work was finished, then turned the rest over to a group of lesser gods or ‘sub-creators.’ In other word, Tolkien invented a hierarchy of deities that defied the Biblical God’swise warnings concerning both real and imagined idolatry.3

…Dr. Ralph C. Wood, Professor of English at Baylor University and an expert on Tolkien’s work, described those ‘lesser gods’ or ruling spirits. Notice that the reigning God sounds more like the aloof deity of deism than the caring God of the Bible. Other ‘gods’ would fit right into Norse and Celtic mythology (two areas of research that fascinated Tolkien):

‘At the top stands Iluvatar, the All-Father, corresponding roughly to the One whom Christians call God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth. From him all things proceed, and to him all things return. He is the beginningand the end, the One who shapes all events to his own purposes. He…onlyrarely intervenes in his Creation, preferring instead to work through…fifteenbeings…

‘Manwe, the Good and Pure…is most concerned with air, wind, clouds, andthe birds that fly. Manwe’s spouse is Varda, the Exalted. She made the stars,established the courses of the Sun and Moon, and set the morning and eveningstar Earendil in the sky. Thus is she known to the elves as Elbereth (Star-Queen)and Gilthoniel (Star-Kindler). She listens to the cries of both men and elves in order to come to their aid and succor.

‘Next comes Melkor (“He who arises in Might”). Iluvatar gave to him greaterpower and knowledge than to any of the other Valar…He desired to have his ownpower to create things out of nothing—to give them true Being—as the All-Fatherdid. So he searched in the Void for the Flame Imperishable, disturbing the original Music which Illuvatar had created to keep the Timeless Halls in harmony…

‘Ulmo (“pourer, rainer”) is…lord of waters…he dwells in the Outer Ocean or in the waters underneath Middle Earth, governing the movement of all oceans and rivers. Ulmo cares greatly for the Children of Iluvatar, advising them by directappearances, by dreams, or through the music of waters…

‘Irmo (“master of desire”) is the author of visions and dreams…’4

Together, Iluvatar and the lesser gods suggest an unbiblical blend of impersonal monotheism and personal polytheism, for only the lesser gods become involved in the lives of the people. In contrast, Christian faith rests on a clear understanding of God as He has revealed Himself in His Word. He alone is Creator and Lord of all, and He continues to be intimately

2 Jude Fisher, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Visual Companion (Boston: New York, 2001), page 57.3 The Letters, page 284.4 Dr. Ralph C. Wood, “Tolkien’s Cosomogony” at http://www.leaderu.com/humanities/wood-cosmogony.html

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involved in the lives of His people. He does not delegate that Lordship to any other deity. [Unlike the Catholics who delegate authority to Mary.]

…Yet, many Christians argue that Tolkien’s spiritual hierarchy does indeed parallel the Biblical account. Even Tolkien, in spite of his denials, has compared parts of his myth with corresponding aspects of truth. But the obvious similarities tend to confuse rather than clarify Biblical truth. For Tolkien’s myth twists Scriptures enough to change their meanings and muddle the true nature of God. Like the serpent’s temptation in the garden, Tolkien’s illusions of truth appeal to human feelings and may lead to deception.

…Instead of the Christian’s hope of eternal life, Tolkien’s world offers re-incarnation—but only for a select group. This popular notion defies the Scriptures that tell us that ‘it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment…’ [Heb. 9:27] Concerned about this contradiction, the manager of a Catholic bookstore asked Tolkien if he might have ‘over-stepped the mark in metaphysical matters.’ Tolkien wrote this response,

‘”Reincarnation” may be bad theology (that surely, rather than metaphysics) asapplied to Humanity…But I do not see how even in the Primary world any theologian or philosopher, unless very much better informed about the relationof spirit and body than I believe anyone to be, could deny the possibility of reincarnation as a mode of existence, prescribed for certain kinds of rationalincarnate creatures.’5

Since Tolkien denies any supposed allegorical link between his myth and Biblical truth, it’s not fair to hold his stories accountable to that truth. Nor is it wise to continue claiming that they teach us God’s truth. Those who do could easily be tempted to lower their guard, set aside discernment, internalize the fascinating suggestions and be drawn to occult images—the opposite of God’s warning in Romans 12:9: “Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.”

The movie version of The Lord of the Rings idealizes occultism and cheers the pagan practices used by ‘good’ characters. Like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and the world’s pagan cultures, it seduces its fans into an imaginary world that pits ‘white’ or benevolent magic against dark, evil magic. Both sides of this imagined ‘battle between good and evil’ use occult practices that God forbids. [Deut. 18:9-12]. Those who walk with Him, cannot delight in what He calls evil.”

In talking about Gandalf, Ms. Kjos continues:

5 The Letters, page 189.5

“This incarnate ‘angel’ wouldn’t fit into the host of Biblical angels. But he could well fit in the hierarchy of ‘devas’ or ‘angels’ and ascended masters in the elaborate spiritual system called Theosophy or ‘Ancient Wisdom.’ Popularized by Madame Helena Blavatsky, this esoteric blend of Hinduism and Western occultism received its doctrines from ‘ascended masters’ or spirit guides such as Djhwal Khul who channeled his messages to the medium Alice Bailey.

The allure of Atlantis. The legendary Atlantis played an important part in the Theosophical world view – just as it did in Tolkien’s grand mythology. In the Secret Doctrine, written for the Theosophical Society, Madame Helena Blavatsky told about ‘revelatory spirits from the Orient’ who brought insights from Atlantis and described its people as one of humanity’s seven ‘root’ races.

…Tolkien paints a similar picture of Atlantis. He put the legend into the First Age of his mythical history. The destruction of Atlantis came in the Second Age. The Lord of the Rings takes place in the Third Age. But they all fit together:

‘The particular “myth” which lies behind this tale…is the Downfall of Numenor:a special variety of the Atlantis tradition. That seems to me so fundamental to“mythical history” – whether it has any kind of basis in real history…that some version of it would have to come in…’6

‘Numenor is my personal alteration of the Atlantis myth and/or tradition, andaccommodation of it to my general mythology. Of all the mythical or “archetypal” images this is the one most deeply seated in my imagination, andfor many years I had a recurrent Atlantis dream: the stupendous and ineluctablewave advancing from the Sea or over the land, sometimes dark, sometimes green and sunlit.’7

Myth and inspiration. In ‘Lord of the Rings: True Mythology,’ an introduction to a series of articles on Tolkien, Leadership U (sponsored by Christian Leadership Ministries) notes that ‘Many critics have scorned the trilogy as mere escapism, but Tolkien saw it as discovered reality, that his mythmaking was an attempt to uncover what is real in the clearest way possible: “true myth.”’8

Tolkien’s mythical reality sounds a bit like an oxymoron. Myth, by standard definition, implies something other than reality. Tolkien himself denies the link between his myth and God’s truth. Still, that link lingers in many

6 The Letters, pages 197-198.7 The Letters, page 361.8 “Lord of the Rings: True Mythology” at http://www.leaderu.com/focus/tolkien.html

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contemporary minds – especially among those who love the story. But can it represent Biblical reality?

Leadership U continues, ‘Biblical imagery, many claim, abounds within the tales—which actually contain no explicit mention of God, Christ or worship. This seeming ambiguity has left much room for neopagans and others to point out the abundance of gods, spirits, sprites and other mythical and pagan characters in the text.’9

Today’s culture is well accustomed to ambiguity. We see it in ads, in political propaganda, in the new laws being passed….Lofty promises are in; defining terms are out. The latter clarifies and allows rational choices rather than feel-good conformity.

To see through some of Tolkien’s ambiguity, one might look at his sources of inspiration. Once again, Tolkien expert, Professor Wood, can help us out. In his review of Verlyn Flieger’s A Question of Time: J. R. R. Tolkien’s Road to Faerie, he acknowledges that Tolkien was influenced by 19th century Romantics such as George Macdonald, ‘since his friend and literary companion C. S. Lewis was also decisively shaped by them.’ He continues,

‘What comes as a genuine shock is the news that Tolkien’s mind and work weremarked by the fictional dream-journeys of George DuMaurier, by the psychicexperiences of Charlotte Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain, by the time-travelfantasies of H. G. Wells…

‘Flieger has shown us a darker, less cheering Tolkien than many of his Christianapologists have acknowledged. Here again she is right: Tolkien was a man whosefaith was shadowed and doubt-filled…. Yet if the worth of a critical study lies in its illumination of an author’s main work, then Flieger’s book must be faulted even as it is to be praised. She fails to illuminate The Lord of the Rings nearly as much she explains two minor works that interest few folk other than Tolkienianarchivists….And because she finds Tolkien entertaining notions of reincarnationand psychic time-travel and occult experience at these particular points in his fiction, she assumes that they are at work everywhere in his work.

‘Flieger is right to contend that Tolkien shared their neo-gnostic critique of ourcentury’s decadent and violent materialism. Yet she fails to see that Tolkien alsoresists what is spurious in the attempt to have God without incarnation or cross orresurrection—in short, to have God without God…’10

Yes and no. On this point, ambiguity reigns. Tolkien’s mythical world does include a ‘God without God.’ A God is there, but not the cross or resurrection. Christians, like pagans, may interpret him in whichever way

9 Ibid.10 Dr. Ralph Wood, “A Question of Time: J. R. R. Tolkien’s Road to Faerie” at http://www.leaderu.com/humanities/wood-review.html

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best fits their worldview or satisfies their lust for imaginary flights into the occult realms of magic and mysticism.

Terry Donaldson, the Founder and Director of the London Tarot Training Centre makes this imaginary flight seem easy..Already steeped in occult practices, he packaged his interpretation of Tolkien’s myth in an attractive gift box. Its title reveals its nature: ‘The Lord of the Rings Oracle: A Mystical Pack with Middle-earth Cards, Map, and Ring for Divination and Revelation.’ The back explains:

‘The realm of the Middle Earth lies within each of us, so cast the gold ring overthe map, and foretell the future through the cards. The Lord of the Rings Oracleis a new and extraordinary divinatory system based on the bestselling Lord of theRings…a story laden with mysterious magic.’11

Surrounding the gift box were Harry Potter books and a multitude of more recent publications on witchcraft, palmistry, tarot cards and spell casting. Together they show the growing acceptance of a forbidden world once regarded with a sobering caution.

This spiritual shift has taken many Christians by surprise. For others, it took little more than an initial glimpse into occult mysteries to stir curiosity and cravings that drove them ever deeper into the unseen world their minds have unlocked.

The Lord of the Rings is no exception. Decades ago, when witchcraft and wizardry were hidden from public view, young ‘Middle-earth’ visionaries had no real-life place to test the new suggestions. That has changed. Through books, local covens, the Internet and other available sources, seekers can easily find tutors and practices that turn wizardly fantasy into practical occult reality. This sobering fact makes our world today radically different from the times when Tolkien and his friends shared their stories with each other.

…Finding God through ‘myth-making’ can easily lead to compromise. And when ‘myth comes together with God’ it produces an illusion of Biblical faith – a faith based on a misleading blend of truth, myth and human philosophies. We see this deceptive process today in the post-modern church movement. But long ago, God told us to –

11 Terry Donaldson, The Lord of the Rings Oracle (New York: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 1998). “The Lord of the Rings Deck & Book Set includes the tarot and card game deck plus a spread sheet for card readings and The Lord of the Rings Tarot Book, by Terry Donaldson. Donaldson’s discussion of the cards wends through Tolkien’s works, traditional tarot inspirations, astrological associations and original spreads and meditations. The Lord of the Rings Tarot is the ultimate guide for all visitors exploring Middle-earth via the tarot.”

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‘Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not enduresound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itchingears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their earsaway from the truth, and be turned aside to fables [myths]. But you be watchfulin all things…’ 2 Timothy 4:2-5

To be ready and watchful, we need to fill our minds with God’s truth, not enticing myths. We need to put on the whole Armor of God – a set of vital truths about God and of our source of righteousness, peace, faith and salvation – then take our stand on His Word and refuse to compromise, no matter how unpopular our position.

Those who trust their imagination more than God will neither see God’s greatness nor tolerate those who follow Him. That’s why Jesus continues to warn His disciples,

‘If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you….If they persecuted Me they will persecute you…for they do not know the One who sent Me.’ John 15:19-21”

Here is what the Childcare Action Project (CAP): Christian Analysis of American Culture had to say about the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in their alert and addendum dated January 12, 2002 (http://www.capalert.com/capreports/lordofrings_fellowship.htm):

“This movie is likely another maneuver to capitalize on the new found infatuation of visually oriented youth with bright and dazzling display of the occult, witchcraft and evil. It is another presentation of the ‘good’ using evil to fight evil. And it presents sorcery as both ‘good’ and evil….the imagery of evil you have seen before now does not match the evil in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. And there are two more Lord of the Rings coming.

There are inevitable comparisons being drawn between Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by the secular worldview and the Christian faith….

Such a comparison follows since both movies present wizards, sorcery and evil magic and both titillate the skyrocketing popularity of mystical occult in movies in the shadow of the attack on Christianity, feeding on it and nurturing it at the same time. Both movies use evil as good: ‘white magic’ to fight dark and evil occult forces. Both present fine personal qualities in characters with heroic missions to defeat evil. And both present the use of evil, namely witchcraft and sorcery, as a tool for good….

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I am not going to try to debate the claims that Tolkien’s Rings trilogy parallels shards of the Truth shattered from the Bible. Satan is very good at making the truth into a lie through the most innocent vehicles and by the least obvious methods. Nor am I going to try to debate the involvement of C. S. Lewis in Tolkien’s life who placed the Gospel on the level of a myth in 1931 after a dinner with Tolkien:

‘Now the story of Christ is simply a true myth: a myth working on us the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference that it Really happened:and one must be content to accept it in the same way, remembering that it isGod’s myth where the others are men’s myths…’

…The bottom line is that God clearly commands that witchcraft, sorcery and wizardry are evil. He gives no situations under which these evils are not evil: no conditions under which these evils may be tolerated. There is no such thing as a ‘good’ witch. Not even Wendy.

Deut. 18:9-12 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

Rev. 21:8 But the [unforgiven] cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts [sorcery, witchcraft, wizardry, divination, etc.], the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.

Gal. 5:19-21 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

**********Food for Thought********* 1 Cor. 15:33 (KJV) Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good

manners…. Jude 4 For certain men* whose condemnation was written about long

ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. [*men: anthropos {anth’-ro-pos}, generic, a human being, whether male or female]

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Matt. 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto [or for] one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto [or for] me.”

The addendum to this report was added to “those who have expressed animosity toward the subject and/or the CAP ministry and its services.”

“After nearly 300,000 visits and hundreds of emails attributed directly to our analysis of The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (and, to a lesser degree, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone), it has become clear that many readers are not understanding the purpose of the CAP ministry and/or are not bothering to read all that is necessary to understand.

This addendum speaks directly to our adversarial readers and the issues raised by them….

Our service is not ‘reviews.’ The CAP Ministry provides analyses to moms and dads to reveal the truth about the content of popular entertainment using God’s Word to discern what to tell them so they can make an informed decision on their own whether a vehicle of entertainment is fit for their kids or themselves without having to sit through it to know.

…Jesus indeed TELLS us to be judging of the behavior of others [e.g., 1 Cor. 6:2-3], just not their Salvation….If we do not judge the behavior of others, how could we discern the ‘swine’ and the ‘dogs’ [Matt. 7:6] from the righteous?…Matt. 7:1 does NOT tell us not to judge at all. It tells us not to judge unfairly or selfishly AND, later in Matthew, tells us to do so in accordance with His Word.

…Sin is no respecter of age. That which is sinful for a child is also sinful for an adult.

God defines what is sinful. We just repeat Him. Anger at being shown in His Word through our service that a chosen behavior is a sin is a matter that needs to be taken to the Cross.

God says sorcery and wizardry are evil. There is no debate. He does not give any conditions or situations in which these evils are not evil. In applying His Truth to The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, for the ‘good’ to use evil to fight evil is serving the evil: to use sorcery/wizardry to fight sorcery/wizardry for whatever reason is serving sorcery/wizardry.

…The source of the power determines the holiness of it, not the use of it nor the user. And this very issue is yet another corruptive influence of The Lord

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of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: to get people to think about P*O*W*E*R over others through sorcery/witchcraft; emboldening the viewer to be desirous of such power; emboldening the viewer to experiment or dabble…just to see or find out for themselves. If you think movies and other forms of entertainment do not or cannot influence even our basic thought patterns, behavior management and coping skills, the American Medical Association disagrees with you. The American Psychological Association disagrees with you. The American Academy of Pediatrics disagrees with you. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry disagrees with you. God disagrees with you [1 Cor. 15:33]. And I disagree with you.

Comparisons are being drawn of Frodo to Jesus because of the portrayal of self-sacrifice. Both Jesus and Frodo gave up ‘everything’ for their quests; Frodo his home and Jesus His Life. And both Frodo and Jesus focused on saving mankind, on defeating sinful influence (which is what the CAP Ministry is doing); Frodo by trying to defeat Melkor (which may be viewed as Satan, the father of sin) and Sauron (as the antichrist) by destroying The One Ring (the symbol of sin and lust) and Jesus by defeating Satan and death because of our sin. Frodo taking the ring but not submitting to it and being skewered by the evil sword making him turn into evil can very loosely be compared to Jesus taking on all our sins without ever submitting to sin and being wounded by the whip, club, nails and spear. Yes, both Frodo and Jesus were wounded for their efforts to save mankind, but Jesus was not healed. He was killed by His wounds because of our sins. No sorcery or incantation healed Jesus as they ‘healed’ Frodo. And Jesus never sinned. Not once did Jesus e-v-e-r sin. No sorcery raised Jesus from the dead, no man or woman, no incantation, no magic wand, no amulet, broach or medallion and no Tolkien story. God raised Jesus from the Dead. Period. It is fine that there are symbolisms of the Gospel and behaviors expected of Christians in The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, however ‘adapted’ or ‘adjusted’ they may be. More power to it. But my original point still stands firm: the ‘good’ used evil (sorcery/witchcraft) to fight evil.

Gandalf dying in sacrifice of himself for the lives of others and later being resurrected does not fit the picture of the Crucifixion and Resurrection but is a counterfeiting of them.

…The source of the power determines the holiness of it, not the use of it.”

“I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes…” Psalms 101:3

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Even the “Christian” magazine, Christianity Today, in an article by Michael G. Maudlin entitled “Books & Culture Corner: Saint Frodo and the Potter Demon,” February 18, 2002, states in comparing Harry Potter with TLOTR (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/106/13.0.html):

“…This primitive shunning of Harry Potter is made all the more strange when contrasted with the Christian response to The Lord of the Rings, the fantasy trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien and the blockbuster movie by director Peter Jackson. Superficially, there are many similarities between the projects. Both are fantasies by British authors who not only populate their stories with magical creatures but with magic as well. In fact, in both series magic is seen as a neutral instrument that can be used for either good or evil. And both authors allow their heroes to make full use of magic in their cause. So why are not both condemned equally?

If one indulged in this paranoid game of spotting evil, then I think a case could be made that Tolkien stinks more of hell than Rowling—as my pen pal would say. First, Middle Earth is surprisingly secular. We do not see any churches or temples, only monuments to past kings and historical figures. In fact, no wizard, elf, dwarf, human, or hobbit prays or mentions a deity….At least Harry Potter celebrates Christmas. Suffice it to say that religious piety is not modeled in Tolkien.

Second, if you want to condemn a work for what it has inspired, then turn up the heat for Tolkien. While neither Tolkien or Rowling has ever encouraged people to mistake their magical worlds for the real one (in fact, both have made quite the opposite point), many fans have voluntarily entered Middle Earth. It would be hard not to link the occult-friendly role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons to the influence and popularity of Lord of the Rings…One Web site even sells Lord of the Rings Tarot Cards. Have some people used Tolkien as an entry point to the occult? The answer must be yes.

And yet, where is the brouhaha over Lord of the Rings? I have not heard it. All I have heard are desperate, wrong-headed attempts at explaining why Tolkien’s (and Lewis’s Narnia series’) use of magic is fine while Rowling’s is bad. Even Harry’s critics feel compelled to defend Tolkien.

…Bruner and Ware [Finding God in The Lord of the Rings] are right about Tolkien, but their observations apply equally to Rowling’s Harry Potter books. Neither series makes much sense apart from a Christian ethic…Both works convey a palpable sense of Providence; both lift up agape love as the highest virtue; both flesh out what it means to have noble character; both see evil as coming from the heart and not ‘out there.’

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…But here is where Bruner and Ware make their stand: ‘The Lord of the Rings is a tale of redemption in which the main characters overcome cowardly self-preservation to model heroic self-sacrifice [which is true of each of the Potter books]…

I smell the same spiritual scent in both works, and it is not sulfur.”

One more article found in the Last Trumpet Newsletter, Volume XXI, Issue II, February 2002 (http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/2002/February2002a.html) states in an article entitled, “The Sure Sign of a Dying Nation!”:

“’When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee.’Deuteronomy 18:9-12

‘And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? For the living to the dead? …. And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.’Isaiah 8:19, 22

‘And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.’Acts 19:18-20

When we see a nation preoccupied with occult fantasy and the magic of the dark and shadowy realm, we know that a great curse will come upon it. What is wrong with people who have such an appetite for the macabre, the eerie stories, and fantasies of hobbits, elves, gnomes, and other creatures from the nether world or ‘middle earth?’ Why would a nation, whose economy is sick unto death, spend countless millions of dollars to feed its occult cravings?…

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Strangely enough, the people that give me even more trouble than the witches are so-called ‘Christian’ ministers who defend Harry Potter materials, as well as the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. It is a sad day when hell rises and ‘Christian’ leaders applaud it….

…What does truly amaze me is the acceptance of occultism by ‘fundamental Christian organizations.’…there is no difference between what is called fantasy witchcraft and any other form of witchcraft. It is all of the devil, and no good can come of it. Initiated witches make heavy use of fantasy, legends, sagas, and myths. That is what invokes the power of evil spirits, as all of it is wrapped up in ritual….

…J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings has taken the country by storm. Tolkien’s stories are about ‘middle earth’, hobbits, trolls, elves, and wizards. Here let it be noted that Wiccan witches truly believe that they are descendants of the ascended masters and little people from middle earth….J.R.R. Tolkien was a devout Roman Catholic, and he described his witchcraft trilogy as ‘Fundamentally religious and Catholic.’12 I have in front of me an advertisement from Focus on the Family featuring a book by one of that ministry’s vice presidents, Kurt Bruner. It is called, “Finding God In The Lord of The Rings.”13 The book is offered for a suggested donation of 13 dollars along with the words, ‘…The epic themes of hope, redemption and faith against all odds in Tolkien’s famous trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, that grew out of his strong Christian faith.’14 Can anything be more blasphemous than that? We know that salvation is only in the precious blood of Jesus Christ and to compare what He did for us on the cross of Calvary to a world of hobbits, wizards, gnomes, and elves is reprehensible! Clearly, these are days of great spiritual treachery, for the powers of darkness have risen to the full!”

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” Thessalonians 5:21

CHAPTER TWO

While many Christian men and women believe they see Biblical truths in TLOTR, J.R.R.

Tolkien seems to have been confused. Here are two different views from Mr. Tolkien himself:

12 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dec. 16, 2001, by Tom Heinen, Milwaukee, WI.13 Focus on the Family Magazine, Dec. 2001, advertisement.14 Ibid.

15

From Letter #142:

“The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like ‘religion’, to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism.”

From Letter #165:“It is not ‘about’ anything but itself. Certainly it has no allegorical intentions, general, particular, or topical, moral, religious, or political. The only criticism that annoyed me was on that it ‘contained no religion’ (and ‘no Women’, but that does not matter, and is not true anyway). It is a monotheistic world of ‘natural theology’. The odd fact that there are no churches, temples, or religious rites and ceremonies, is simply part of the historical climate depicted. It will be sufficiently explained, if (as now seems likely) the Silmarillion and other legends of the First and Second Ages are published. I am in any case myself a Christian; but the ‘Third Age’ was not a Christian world.”

Above sources taken from: http://www.members.cts.com/king/e/erikt/tolkien/jrrtcrst.htm

“Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Matthew 7:20

“…Well, these parents had come to faith as adults, and wanted their children to be kept free from the dangers of the world; especially the ones they remembered as destructive in their own coming-of-age years. The Hobbit?their only familiarity was that they used to sit around with their hippie friends smoking dope and reading Tolkien’s tales of Bilbo and hisadventures.” 15

“Children, Hippies, and Environmentalists have always read J.R.R. Tolkiens ‘The Lord of the Rings’, but have they correctly understood the myth?”16

“Severe critics blamed The Lord of the Rings success on the ‘sinister influence of hallucinatory drugs that were fashionable in some studentcircles.’17 Fred Cody, manager of Berkley’s campus bookstore, said

15 Steve Garber, “Learning from Tolkien About Life: The Lord of the Rings Revisited” (http://www.princeton.edu/~ivgrad/Learning%20from%20Tolkien%20about%20Life.html).16 Book Review #2, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle-Earth (http://www.literaturehistoryhub.com/J_R_R_Tolkiens_Sanctifying_Myth_Understanding_MiddleEarth_1882926846.html).17 Humphrey Carpenter, Tolkien: A Biography, 230.

16

that The Lord of the Rings was ‘more than a campus craze; it’s like adrug dream.’18”19

Mr. Tolkien was also an environmentalist. Here are some quotes to back up that fact:

“…But why were students attracted to The Lord of the Rings?

Several theories suggest why American students became so enchantedwith The Lord of the Rings. One indicates the ‘emphasis on the protection of natural scenery against the ravages of an industrial society harmonizedwith the growing ecological movement.’20 When a university decided to remove some trees to build a Culture Center, students were upset. They wrote ‘another bit of Mordor’ on the concrete blocks that replaced theirpark trees.21 Simon Morgan-Russell, assistant chair of the English department at Bowling Green State University, explains that Tolkienwas a ‘proto-environmentalist before it was in fashion.’ His passionfor landscapes is apparent in his books and is attractive to students,during the counter-culture period.22 A 1972 letter from Tolkien confirmshis love for nature: ‘In all my works I take the part of trees as against alltheir enemies. The savage sound of the electric saw is never silent wherever trees are still found growing.’23”24

“In the 1960s he [Tolkien] was taken up by many members of the nascent‘counter-culture’ largely because of his concern with environmental issues.”25

“In a letter to his [Tolkien] publisher, Houghton Mifflin, in 1955, he wrote,‘There are of course certain things and themes that move me specially. Theinter-relations between the “noble” and the “simple” for instance. The ennoblement of the ignoble I find specially moving. I am (obviously) much in love with plants and above all trees, and always have been; and I findhuman maltreatment of them as hard to bear as some find ill-treatment ofanimals.’ Those few words not only tell us of his understanding of people,and of what is to be prized, but also give us a window into his own deepest

18 Phillip Norman, “The Prevalence of Hobbits” (New York Times, 15 January 1967).19 Tracie S. Speake, “The Power of the Ring: J.R.R. Tolkien and American Popular Culture,” The Sextant, Vol. 1, No. 1, Summer 2003, p. 73-74.20 Carpenter, Tolkien: A Biography, 230.21 Norman, Ibid.22 Jordan Fouts, “An Icon Re-Emerges: A Look at Why The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Continues to Surface in American Culture”, Miscellany (Fall 2001). Online edition at (www.bgsu.edu/offices/sa/pub/miscellany/archive/fall2001/9_icon/story9.html) [Accessed 21 February 2003].23 Humphrey Carpenter,ed., The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981), 419.24 Tracie S. Speake, “The Power of the Ring: J.R.R. Tolkien and American Popular Culture”, The Sextant, Vol. 1, No. 1, Summer 2003, p. 73.25David Doughan, “Who was Tolkien?” (http://www.tolkiensociety.org/tolkien/biography.html).

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loves.”26

Regarding occultic imagery:

“Abstain from all appearance of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5:22

No Christian ought to read anything that smacks of the occult, including these books.

The verse quoted previously from Acts 19:18-20, states what we should do with these books.

Again, Isaiah 8:19-20 states, “And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that

have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek

unto their God? For the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak

not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” For Mr. Tolkien to

“speak” through his books by using wizards and spells to “relate Scriptural Truths” is a sin

against God.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,

whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good

report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those

things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the

God of peace shall be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9

And what did Paul do? In Acts 13:6-11 it says, “And when they had gone through the

isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was

Barjesus: Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who

called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the

sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the

deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set

his eyes on him, And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou

enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And

now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun

for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about

seeking some to lead him by the hand.” Nave’s Topical Bible lists this section of verses under

“Sorcery” to which one is pointed when looking up the topic, “Wizard”.

Some Christians argue that TLOTR is a fable which is defined in the Old English

Dictionary as “a short story devised to convey some special lesson, especially one in which

animals or inanimate things are the speakers or actors.” They continue their justification of

TLOTR by saying that the Old Testament uses fables; however, the Old Testament “fables” use

26 Garber, Ibid.18

animals or inanimate things to convey a special lesson, but they don’t use wizards and spells!

The New Testament also warns against fables: “Neither give heed to fables and endless

genealogies, which minister questions [isn’t that what Tolkien’s books have caused], rather

than godly edifying which is in faith [found in the Word of God alone]: so do.” 1 Timothy

1:4

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their

own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers [Mr. Tolkien?], having itching ears; And

they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables [TLOTR].”

2 Timothy 4:4

CHAPTER THREE

Another “justification” put forward by some Christians is that while J. R. R. Tolkien was

a Roman Catholic at one point in his life, there is absolutely no proof that he was up to his death.

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Whether or not Mr. Tolkien was Roman Catholic up to his death really has no bearing in

this argument. The fact remains that he wrote TLOTR when he was a Catholic (a devout,

staunch Catholic as many sources cite).

Here are some quotes about his work. This will be quite lengthy; please take the time to

read:

From Letter #142:“The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work…”From Letter #195:Actually I am a Christian, and indeed a Roman Catholic, so that I do not expect ‘history’ to be anything but a ‘long defeat’ – though it contains (and in a legend may contain more clearly and movingly) some samples or glimpses of final victory.”From Letter #213:“…I was born in 1892 and lived for my early years in ‘the Shire’ in a pre-mechanical age. Or more important, I am a Christian (which can be deduced from my stories), and in fact a Roman Catholic. The latter ‘fact’ perhaps cannot be deduced; though one critic (by letter) asserted that the invocations of Elbereth, and the character of Galadriel as directly described (or through the words of Gimli and Sam) were clearly related to Catholic devotion to Mary. Another saw in waybread (lembas)=viaticum and the reference to its feeding the will (vol. III, p. 213) and being more potent when fasting, a derivation from the Eucharist. (That is: far greater things may colour the mind in dealing with the lesser things of a fair-story.)”From Letter #320:“…I think it is true that I owe much of (the character of Galadriel) to Christian and Catholic teaching and imagination about Mary…”27

“J.R.R. Tolkien was a staunch Catholic……One way in which Christianity obviously influenced Tolkien’s writing is in his treatment of the centuries-old debate over the nature of evil. The official Church position was formulated in 410 AD by St. Augustine in his De Civitate Dei (The City of God). In Book XII, Augustine asks why the angels who rebelled against God are miserable. He concludes that the condition of blessedness comes from cleaving ‘to Him who supremely is’, which amplifies one’s own being. In turning away from God, the angels therefore diminished their own existence…”28

27 “Was Tolkien a Christian?”, taken from (http://www.members.cts.com/king/e/erikt/tolkien/jrrtcrst.htm).28 “Christianity”, taken from (http://www.csun.edu/~sk36711/WWW/tolkien/christianity.htm).

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[In regard to a colleague of Tolkien’s, G.K. Chesterton] “Chesterton adds that faith: ‘…is not a process but a story….The life of man is a story; an adventure story; and in our vision the same is true even of the story of God. The Catholic faith is…a story and in that sense one of a hundred stories; only it is a true story. It is a philosophy and in that sense one of a hundred philosophies; only it is a philosophy that is like life.’ Tolkien echoes this in his remark (ibid.):‘So the only perfectly consistent allegory is a real life; and the only intelligible story is an allegory….the better and more consistent an allegory is the more easily it can be read “just as a story”.’ Of the New Testament he says that ‘The Gospels contain a fairy-story, or a story of a larger kind which embraces all the essences of fairy stories.’ …(Lecture at St. Andrew’s University, 1937).…In the lady Galadriel the reader can be allowed to hear an echo of the Virgin Mary ‘Our Lady, upon which all my own small perceptions of beauty, both in majesty and simplicity is founded’ (letter to Fr. Robert Murray SJ [by Tolkien]); Galadriel’s grand-daughter, Arwen, also has a Marian role, saving both Frodo’s life and soul as she utters the words ‘What grace is given me, let it pass to him. Let him be spared.’Galadriel bestows upon the Fellowship seven mystical gifts, which are surely analogous to the seven sacraments, and as such are real signs of grace, and not mere symbols (and hence this is a specifically Catholic feature of the book).…Or, in the provision of lembas, can we not see the Eucharist….Given Tolkien’s remark that ‘I fell in love with the Blessed Sacrament from the beginning and by the mercy of God never have fallen out again’ some comparison with the Last Supper is inevitable….…Compare also the man-eating trolls and orcs with the elves—the disfigured (fallen) creatures and the beautiful and immortal elves, who eat the lembas, the mystical bread—the bread of angels which nourishes and heals. Lembas ‘had a potency that increased as travelers relied on it alone, and did not mingle it with other goods. It fed the will, and it gave strength to endure.’ This allusion reminds us of the manna that fed the people of Israel and of saints such as Theresa Neumann who survived by eating nothing other than the holy Eucharist.Another compelling image is that of the Suffering Servant…Frodo is clearly representative of this…There are echoes here of The Magnificat, but it also resonates with the teachings of St. Francis—the humble, little man of Assisi--, with the life of the little flower, St. Therese of Lisieux, who taught that to become greater we must become smaller—and with the works of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.…In the Shire and other lands where the ‘good’ live, there is a social hierarchy, and, some might argue, even a sort of papacy in the wizard

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Gandalf—after all, he acts as leader to the free and faithful people, and he even crowns kings, as did popes of old. Tolkien himself said of the papacy: ‘I myself am conviced by the Petrine claims…for me the Church of which the Pope is the acknowledged head on earth has as chief claim that it is the one that has (and still does) ever defended the Blessed Sacrament, and given it most honour, and put it (as Christ plainly intended) in the prime place. “Feed my sheep” was his last charge to St. Peter.’…Politically Tolkien was of a piece with Chesterton. The latter had been an old fashioned Gladstonian Liberal who had become disenchanted with its Edwardian heirs, particularly as they slipped into a creed of social eugenics. Attacks on Catholic schools, the corruption of government, brought to a head by the Marconi scandal, and the lack of radicalism in combating state socialism by encouraging a fair and just spread in the ownership of property, all contributed to Chesterton’s refashioning of his political outlook. Influenced also by ground-breaking Catholic encyclicals, such as Rerun Novarum and Quadragesimo anno—with their calls for Catholic political action, social justice, and for workers to be given a share in the rewards of their endeavours—Chesterton’s Distributism was a creed that was immensely attractive to Tolkien.…In many respects Tolkien was also the first Green and would doubtless have been a member of today’s Countryside Alliance. He had an especial hatred of the deformation of our natural environment and the assault on our ecology. His love of the trees, and the wondrous creation of the endangered Ent, is a clarion call against the decimation of our countryside. The bulldozers and chainsaws hack down the forests and woodlands, the aircraft spray their defoliants, the factory ships ruthlessly deplete fish stocks, and the prospectors extract minerals while destroying flora, fauna and anything else that stands in the way of the bottom line….Tolkien’s writing is both religious and political. Beneath the fantasy is a manifesto for radical change and an attack on the modern world….29”

“…In Pearces biography, we learn that Tolkiens Faith is significant in discovering the themes put before us in “The Lord of the Rings”. Inferred in both Birzer and Pearces books, the reader must have a clear vision--a vision that is one with the ‘True Church’, then and only then will your perception of Tolkien and his legendarium be clear and complete.…But I suggest as the world continues in its understanding of Tolkien, he will be placed in the elite group of 20th Century Catholic Writers: G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, Christopher Dawson, Romano Guardini, Josef Pieper, Fulton J. Sheen and todays, Ralph McInerny. These writers present

29David Lord Alton, “The Fellowship of the Ring: J.R.R. Tolkien, Catholicism and the Use of Allegory”, text of a lecture to be given by David (Lord) Alton at the Catholic Society of Bath University and Bath Spa University College on Thursday 20th of February 2003. (http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-chat/911760/posts).

22

the ‘Catholic World View’, not in the sense of a religious denomination, but as its primary definition, that which is Universal.”30

“…Then there is the Lembos – the Elf bread – which sustains the members of the Fellowship through their journeys. What more specific example of the Catholic view of the Eucharist does one need? One final example is the date chosen for the destruction of the Ring – March 25th. In the Catholic liturgical calendar, this is the date of the feast of the Incarnation – the date when Christ became incarnate in the womb of Mary and the saga of the Redemption of Man began…”31

“…There is, on the other hand, a feminine character in the trilogy who is described as: ‘Snow white! Snow white! O Lady clear! O Queen beyond theWestern seas! O light to us who wander here amidst the world of woven trees!’ Here is a genuine reference to the Immaculate Conceptionconnected to a person, not a place. This ‘queen’ of all, not just Lothlorien,is associated with stars, like the woman in chapter 12 of Revelation. Theelves sing of her; the Company of the Ring invoke her; the light of her stars,captured in Galadriel’s phial, illuminates the worst parts of Frodo’s quest.

Her name is Elbereth Gilthoniel, ….When Frodo and his three hobbitcompanions are being pursued by the Black Riders, servants of Sauron, Gildor the elf is prompted to cry out, ‘May Elbereth protect you!’ Whenthese riders attack Frodo and company on Weathertop, Frodo is saved frompersonal destruction by calling out Elbereth’s name at the critical moment.And in the lair of Shelob the spider, when the fate of the quest rests in Sam’shands, he cries out to Elbereth in an elvish tongue he doesn’t even knowand is given the ability to overcome.

Elbereth, then, is the actual ‘Mary’ character in The Lord of the Rings….32

“The answer to both phenomena comes down to one thing: He and his workare inescapably Catholic. Tolkien: Man and Myth looks at the ways in which Catholicism is woven into The Lord of the Rings by focusing on the Catholicism of the author himself, apart from which his work cannot be appreciated or understood.…If you ask where Tolkien got the inspiration for the heroism, adventure, and epic grandeur of The Lord of the Rings, literary critics will direct you to the Norse myth, old English, and classical antiquity from which he borrowed certain terms and concepts. This misses the true source, however, which

30 J.R.R. Tolkiens Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle-Earth Book Reviews, Review #2 (http://www.literaturehistoryhub.com/J_R_R_Tolkiens_Sanctifying_Myth_Understanding_MiddleEarth_1882926846.html)31 Ibid, Review #1.32 Helen Valois, “Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: A Trilogy of Total Consecration”, reprint from Immaculata Magazine, Mar/Apr 2000 Issue. (http://www.consecration.com/rings.html)

23

Tolkien made clear in a letter to one of his sons: ‘Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament….There you will find romance, glory, honor, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth, and more than that.’…”33

“…Apart from the scriptural influence, the other over-riding influence is Augustinian theology. Evil, as symbolized by darkness, has no value of its own but is only a negation of that which is good, as symbolized by light.…Catholic theology, explicitly present in The Silmarillion and implicitly present in The Lord of the Rings, is omnipresent in both, breathing life into the tales as invisibly but as surely as oxygen.”34

“…The Lord of the Rings is not a book about religion, but it is the expression of a religious soul working under God. It is an act of ‘sub-creation’……Tolkien has no intention of writing in contradiction to Christian orthodoxy. He is a devout and well-instructed Catholic, a daily communicant….Tolkien has no doubt that evil is the result of free decisions by a created nature that was good at the outset….In Tolkien’s perspective, history is a ‘long defeat,’ but it ends in a great healing, when ‘the themes of Iluvatar shall be played aright.’…Tolkien was also a Roman Catholic Christian, and in this final part of my essay I want to explore another theme that is characteristic of that Roman Catholicism which was so dear to him. It is an aspect of Roman Catholicism that many…find alienating, namely, its veneration of the Virgin Mary….‘I think I know exactly what you mean by the order of Grace,’ J.R.R. Tolkien wrote to his Jesuit friend Robert Murray in 1953, just before the first volume of The Lord of the Rings appeared, ‘ and of course by your references to Our Lady, upon which all my own small perception of beauty both in majesty and simplicity is founded.’35…In what sense could ‘Our Lady’ …be the foundation of Tolkien’s perceptions and understanding of these things? Would this in any case not detract from his relationship to Our Lord, who is surely the true foundation of beauty, as he is of truth and goodness?……One way is by first recalling some words the Virgin Mary sings in the Gospel of Luke (1:52): ‘He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.’ Tolkien’s novel is about many things—….But

33 “Inescapably Catholic”, a review of the new Tolkien biography, Tolkien: Man and Myth, by Joseph Pearce, reprint from Immaculata Magazine, Mar/Apr 2000 Issue (http://www.consecration.com/rings.html).34 Joseph Pearce, “True Myth: The Catholicism of The Lord of the Rings” (http://www.malaysia.net/lists/sangkancil/2001-12/msg00743.html).35 Letters, page 172 (142). The page number refers to the British edition published by Allen & Unwin (1981) later reprinted by HarperCollins. Since the US edition by Houghton Mifflin may have different page numbers, I have placed in parentheses the number of the letter in question, throughout these notes. (Stratford Caldecott)

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as he himself states, it is particularly about ‘the ennoblement (or sanctification) of the humble.’36…This quality of innocence and childlikeness, which was reintroduced into the world by Christ and taught in the Sermon on the Mount, is one of the most marked characteristics of the good Hobbits in Tolkien’s tale….The first way in which ‘Our Lady’ of Tolkien’s Catholicism is present in The Lord of the Rings is, therefore, in the form of humility, which occupies the central place in the hierarchy of virtues within Tolkien’s cosmos. In the Catholic tradition, the spirit of childlikeness and innocence is associated particularly with the Blessed Virgin Mary….It is associated with her in Catholic teaching because she is its primary vessel: the human container, the sacred ‘chalice’ as it were, into which the waters of grace were poured, once they had been released by the sacrificial Passion of Our Lord. She is thus viewed as more than a symbol or biblical ‘type’ of the Church; she is its first member, and indeed its most perfect member, having been preserved …from all stain and damage of sin, in order to become a suitable Mother to the divine Child and all the subsequent sons and daughters of the Church.

There is a second way in which the Virgin Mary is present, and that is through her reflections in certain feminine characters, specifically Galadriel and Elbereth. Galadriel…Tolkien himself calls her ‘unstained’ (a word that Catholics normally only use of the Virgin Mary), adding that ‘she had committed no evil deeds.’37 In another letter he wrote: ‘I think it is true that I owe much of this character to Christian and Catholic teaching and imagination about Mary.’38

…Galadriel, however, remains an earthly figure. In Roman Catholic devotion and dogma, Mary, having been assumed into heaven at the end of her earthly life, has long been venerated as Queen of Heaven and ‘Star of the Sea.’ We find this cosmic aspect of the Marian archetype expressed in the person of Galadriel’s own heavenly patroness, Elbereth, Queen of the Stars, who plays the role in Tolkien’s lengendarium of transmitting light from the heavenly places. It is to Elbereth that the Elves sing the following invocation:

Snow-white! Snow-white! O Lady clear!O Queen beyond the Western seas!O light to us that wander hereAmid the world of woven trees!O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!We still remember, we who dwellIn this far land beneath the trees,Thy Starlight on the Western seas.

36 Ibid., page 237 (181).37 Letters, page 431(353).38 Letters, page 407(320).

25

Tolkien would have been familiar with one of the most popular Catholic hymns from his childhood, the tone and mood of which are markedly close to those of Tolkien’s song to Elbereth:39

Hail, Queen of Heaven, the ocean star,Guide of the wand’rer here below:Thrown on life’s surge, we claim thy care—Save us from peril and from woe.Mother of Christ, star of the sea,Pray for the wanderer, pray for me.

There is a third way in which the Virgin Mary’s presence would be clearly noticed by Catholics in The Lord of the Rings, and it is under the symbol of light. Galadriel’s parting gift to Frodo is a phial containing light from the Morning Star….Not only does it create a further link between Galadriel and Elbereth the ‘Star-Kindler,’ but it also establishes an important connection to the great saga of the Silmarils, which I mentioned earlier….Light shining in darkness, representing the life, grace, and creative action of God, is a theme we find in the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel, and it is at the very heart of Tolkien’s writing. To a Catholic such as Tolkien, who believes Mary to be the universal mediatrix of that grace, she is present implicitly wherever her Son is present; that is, wherever grace is present in the world. For Tolkien, then, the light of the Silmaril, which beautifies whoever wears it, and which is carried by Frodo into the darkness of Mordor, is a reminder of the beauty of the ‘first creation’ before the Fall, and a symbolic anticipation of the new creation that would begin with the Incarnation. For Catholics, the Virgin Mary has all the beauty lost by Eve, the ‘Mother of the living,’ and is therefore the Mother of the world to come.…The final example of Mary’s presence in The Lord of the Rings comes close to the end of the book, when the Ring has been destroyed and Sauron’s work undone….[Gandalf] says, ‘the New Year will always now begin upon the twenty-fifth of March when Sauron fell, and when you were brought out of the fire to the King. He has tended you, and now he awaits you. You shall eat and drink with him. When you are ready I will lead you to him.’

In our world, Tolkien’s ‘Primary World,’ March 25 is the Christian feast day of the Annuciation. It used to be called Lady Day, and was indeed the first day of the year….In our world, March 25 is the day when Christ was conceived, celebrated with readings that describe the Virgin Mary’s ‘yes’ to God (Luke 1:38).40

39 This has also been noted by Charles Coulombe, in his helpful essay, “The Lord of the Rings—A Catholic View,” in Joseph Pearce (ed.), Tolkien: A Celebration (HarperCollins, 1999). Of course, people had already pointed it out to Tolkien in his lifetime: see Letters, p. 288(213).40 The significance of these dates is also noted by Tom Shippey in his recent book, J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century (HarperCollins, 2000), p. 208. John Saward’s Mysteries of March: Hans Urs von Balthasar on the Incarnation and Easter (Collins, 1990) examines the relationship of all the Christian mysteries associated with this date. For ancient authors such as Tertullian, it was also the date of the Crucifixion, and of the creation and fall of Adam.

26

…You could say the Ring is sin itself….Its destruction, therefore, is a type or figure of the great reversal of sin begun at the Annunciation when Mary welcomed the Word of God into our world. Her fiat, ‘Let it be to me according to your word,’ overturns the human refusal of God’s will that we call Original Sin….…This is the Mary who is ever-present to Tolkien, at the center of his imagination, who in Catholic teaching is mantled by all natural beauty, the most perfect of God’s creatures, the treasury of all earthly and spiritual gifts. What Elbereth, Galadriel, and other characters, such as Luthien and Arwen, surely express is precisely what Tolkien said he had found in the Blessed Virgin: beauty both in majesty and simplicity….…in addition to the obvious types and symbols of Christ, the Virgin Mary is present in a hidden, implicit way throughout The Lord of the Rings. The way the fragrance of the Our Lord’s Beatitudes and the Magnificat of the Blessed Virgin Mary permeates Tolkien’s great work of fiction is typical of the authentic products of a Christian civilization….”41

“The work’s author, J.R.R. Tolkien, was a lifelong devout Catholic who poured his Catholic heart into the writing of the myth that is now captivating a new generation half a century after its first publication….…At its most profound level, The Lord of the Rings is a sublimely mystical passion play….…A Catholic and an Oxford don, Tolkien was well aware of the significance of ‘the twenty-fifth of March.’ It signified the way in which God had ‘unmade’ the Fall, which, like the Ring, had brought humanity under the sway of ‘the Shadow.’……there are of course many other examples of the Catholic truth shining forth from the pages of Tolkien’s masterpiece…”42

“…The saga of The Ring most certainly draws upon Norse and Icelandic saga for its ethos and not, apparently, on Catholic categories….…All of this seems distant from Catholicism, unless we wish to suppose Tolkien’s religion was a mere fancy that found a lodging in the immense mystery of the Church of Rome….But first, Tolkien never converted to Catholicism: he was born into it. And second, no convert to Catholicism finds anything like the Pre-Raphaelite magic that he might, in his non-Catholic days, have fancied lay in the region across the Tiber River.

41 Entire preceding excerpt with footnotes is taken from: “The Lord & Lady of the Rings: The Hidden Presence of Tolkien’s Catholicism in The Lord of the Rings” by Stratford Caldecott, Touchstone Magazine (http://www.touchstonemag.com/docs/issues/15.1docs/15-1pg51.html).42 Joseph Pearce, “Why Tolkien Says The Lord of the Rings Is Catholic” (http://catholiceducation.org/articles/arts/al0161.html)

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Tolkien’s Catholicism was…utterly and unsentimentally matter-of-fact. We would never have found Tolkien rhapsodizing about The Faith. He got himself to Mass regularly, and he said his prayers, and he counted on the Sacraments and banked on the Magisterium of the Church as the authoritative teacher of Sacred Scripture—and that was that.Tolkien’s Catholicism was as intractable and given as the stones of the old buildings at Merton College. Odd as it may seem, there isn’t much to say about Tolkien’s faith unless one wants to embark on a log of Catholic dogma. He simply bought the whole package….His ‘faith’ was of one, seamless fabric with his body, his teaching, his daily routine, his writing, and his family.…First, Catholics are profoundly narrative….Catholics characteristically come to rest on events: Creation; Annunciation; Gestation; Parturition; the Agony in the Garden; the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension. The Mass is an enactment…with its center of gravity in the sermon.Second, Catholicism is sacramentalist. The point where the Divine touches our humanity is a physical one….The entire Gospel is enacted—physically, in the Catholic liturgy. Hence the ease with which the Catholic mind reaches for narrative. Tolkien believed he could not have written the saga if he had not been a Catholic….Tolkien’s saga is also sprinkled with ‘sacramentals’: the lembas, the athelas (a healing plant), mithril (finely woven magical armor), Bilbo’s sword ‘Sting’: these aren’t magic, much less omnipotent. But they do have virtu—spiritual character, excellence. Tolkien was used to holy water stoups, crucifixes, relics, the Rosary, and so forth, which stand on the cusp between the seen and the Unseen.Third, good and evil in Middle-earth are indistinguishable from Christian notions of good and evil in our own story. To be sure, we do not find Gollum about today, but what does a soul en route to damnation look like?…Ultimately, the hobbits and the rest must struggle on in faith--…But Tolkien, being a Catholic, would never smuggle in a paragraph to that effect. We must find it in the narrative, as Catholics do in the whole treasury of Catholicism.”43

“…As earlier observed, the Catholic view of the world is a sacramental one; the center of Catholic life, according to C. G. Jung, ‘…is a living mystery, and that is the thing that works…’ Opponents of the Church have often claimed that the sacraments are ‘mere’ magic. The phrase hocus pocus is a parody of the words of consecration, Hoc est enim corpus meum. As Galadriel observes, ‘…this is what your folk would call magic, I believe; though I do not understand clearly what they mean; and they seem also to use the same words of the deceits of the enemy.’ Indeed, one may go so far

43 Thomas Howard, “Sacramental Imagination: Catholicism anchored Tolkien’s life and suffused his writings”, Christianity Today.com (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/2003/002/9.23.html).

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as to say that the effect of magic, wielded for good, is in Lord of the Rings the same as that of the Sacraments upon the life of the devout Catholic. Protection, nourishment, knowledge, all are held to flow in supernatural abundance from them. In his prayer after communion, St. Thomas Aquinas asks that the Blessed Sacrament be ‘…a strong defence against the snares of all enemies, visible and invisible.’ St. Bonaventure declares it to be ‘…the fountain of life, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, the fountain of eternal light…’ In a word, as the Sacraments are the means of Grace in the Catholic world, magic—wielded by the wise—is the means of Grace in Middle Earth.…It has been said that the dominant note of the traditional Catholic liturgy was intense longing. This is also true of her art, her literature, her whole life. It is a longing for things that cannot be in this world: unearthly truth, unearthly purity, unearthly justice, unearthly beauty. By all these earmarks, Lord of the Rings is indeed a Catholic work, as its author believed; but it is more. It is the age’s great Catholic epic, fit to stand beside the Grail legends, Le Morte d’Arthur, and The Canterbury Tales. It is at once a great comfort to the individual Catholic, and a tribute to the enduring power and greatness of the Catholic tradition, that JRRT created this work. In an age which has seen an almost total rejection of the Faith on the part of the Civilisation she created, the loss of the Faith on the part of many lay Catholics, and apparent uncertainty among her hierarchy, Lord of the Rings assures us, both by its existence and its message, that the darkness cannot triumph forever.”44

In regard to Mr. Tolkien’s love of ancient pagan mythology:

“Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is probably the best-known and most widely

read of the Inklings’ works…..there are periodic discussions on whether it is

a Christian book or not. Christians often claim that it is, whereas non-

Christians often claim that it is a ‘pagan’ book. The elements of pagan

mythology are plain to see, whereas there are none of the externally-

recognisable elements of Christian ‘religion’.”45

44 Charles A. Coulombe, “The Lord of the Rings—A Catholic View” (http://www.cheetah.net/~ccoulomb/articles/j_r_r_tolkien_-_tradcat.htm).45 Steve Hayes, “Christianity, Paganism and Literature” (http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/xnpaglit.htm).

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“Even though Tolkien claims his work ‘is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision,’46 there is a distinct lack of organised religion in Middle-Earth. That is one of the points which makes Middle-Earth so different from our world. Here we have almost too much religion, yet in Tolkien’s world, the characters follow a pagan belief system. They have no gods who created the world, for the children of the gods are among them: the Elves. How their world came to be is therefore clear to them. So they look to inexplicable phenomena for their gods. The natural powers play a great role in their religious rites, as we see when Boromir’s body is given to the waters. Aragorn and Legolas speak of the North, South and West winds bringing tidings of Boromir’s death to his home city of Minas Tirith. Gimli deliberately leaves out the East wind, as Mordor and the Enemy lie to the East.

The belief system in Lord of the Rings is similar in form to the belief system of the ancient Germanic races in central Europe during the Bronze and Iron Ages. The burial customs of the peoples of Middle-Earth as well as the reverence of their ancestors is very similar to the cult rituals of the ancient Germanic cultures. Tolkien probably used this form of belief system in order to show the distinct difference between good and evil. While the Christian view is somewhat muddied, the pagan view is very simple: ‘Those who have no cult rituals cannot be good, for they have no respect for their dead.’”47

“At least Lewis does say that the incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection really happened which is more than can be said for many church leaders today. But he is quite wrong to say that ‘the story of Christ is simply a true myth.’ Here we see the real danger of the whole attempt to Christianise mythology and to claim that pagan myths prefigure the Gospel account of the death and resurrection of Jesus. This goes right back to the problems encountered by the early church. Christianity began to lose its way when it absorbed Greek and Roman mythology and philosophy and placed them alongside the New Testament. In doing this they were moving away from the vital teaching of Romans 9-11 that the church must draw from its roots in the history and teaching of the Jewish people found in the Old Testament (Tenach).

The roots of our faith are to be found in the events of Israel’s history in which God called out a nation through whom he would reveal his Torah (Law) and to whom he would prophesy the coming Messiah. Especially in the event of the Passover and Exodus, we see vivid types of our exodus from the slavery of sin through the blood of the Lamb of God shed at the time of

46 The Letters of J.R.R.. Tolkien, quote taken from Contemporary Authors, Vol. 36; P. 419. 47 “Brief Analysis of Lord of the Rings” (http://dr.morgenes.tripod.com/fr_lotr.htm).

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the Passover so that we can ‘pass over’ from death to life. These were events which really happened in space and time, as did the events of the Gospels, through which God was demonstrating that he is not a remote powerless deity, but is actively involved in his creation and able to move in history and establish a living relationship with people on the earth.

By contrast pagan myths never really happened. They are the product of human imagination influenced by demonic powers which far from leading people to understand the true God, oppress them by evil spirits and create a barrier of confusion and unbelief. In this confusing world ‘good’ or white magic is pitted against ‘bad’ or black magic, but in God’s word all magic is condemned.

Today we see that many people are denying that the events of the Bible really happened and as a result not just liberal churches but many supposedly Bible believing churches are wobbling in their commitment to the historic truths of the Bible. We see also that many charismatic churches are placing emphasis on experience rather than doctrine and on what appears to work rather than on what is true. As a result they become incapable of separating truth from error.

The danger of this comes out in a comment on ‘The Lord of the Rings’ film by a reader of Elim’s ‘Direction’ magazine already referred to. He writes: ‘In a strange way the film made me think more highly of my Christian faith. When I saw Gandalf wrestling the Balrog deep into the earth’s core, I couldn’t help but think of Jesus, a lone figure of purity diving into the depths of hell to wrestle away the keys of death.’

According to Tolkien Gandalf is a wizard who ‘is able to wield potent magic’ and use ‘spellcraft to do battle with the forces of darkness’. The Lord Jesus is the sinless Son of God who laid down his life as a sacrifice for sin. Tolkien’s world includes the possibility of re-incarnation for characters who have done good and so Gandalf’s re-appearance as Gandalf the White with transformed body and clothes has much more in common with the non-Christian idea of re-incarnation than the resurrection of Jesus.

It is also entirely wrong to describe Jesus as ‘a lone figure of purity diving nto the depths of hell to wrestle away the keys of death.’ Jesus never ‘dived into the depths of hell’ to take away the keys of death from Satan. Jesus defeated Satan once and for all by shedding his blood on the cross in fulfillment of clear prophecies like Isaiah 53. He did this at the time of the Passover which is the true event prefiguring Jesus’ death and resurrection. His word from the cross, ‘It is finished’, meant that no further suffering or sacrifice was needed in order to redeem us.

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The idea of Jesus ‘diving into hell’ is a mythological idea which has come into the charismatic movement through the erroneous teaching of Kenneth Copeland and the so-called ‘faith movement’. This teaches that Jesus’ death on the cross was not enough to atone for sin, but that he had to spend ‘three horrible days and nights’ in hell being tormented by the Devil before he could be ‘born again’ and resurrected, bringing the keys of death with him. There is not a word about this in the Bible, but it ties in very much with the mythological world of ‘Lord of the Rings’ and the influence of paganism on contemporary Christianity, which is having disastrous results on the spiritual life of many Christians and churches.

From the point of view of New Testament Satan is not at present in hell anyway. He is the ‘prince of this world’ (John 12.31) now ruling the fallen world system through the powers of darkness in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6.12). This is not of course the same as heaven where God is, but is the invisible realm, from where Satan now exercises power on the earth. He will only be cast into the lake of fire after the Great White Throne judgment at the end of the world (Revelation 20.10-15). Since that is the place of eternal punishment for the wicked, it is blasphemous to suggest that the Lord Jesus could ever have entered that place.

In conclusion a comment from an article posted on the Internet by Joseph Chambers is apt and to the point. ‘No writer has ever portrayed the blending of pagan myths with distorted Christianity more cleverly than Tolkien. These books can be and are being heralded by the liberal Christian world and the pagan world at the same time. The Christian bookstores and many ministries speak of Tolkien’s great message of espousing values and even some hidden form of the Messianic hope. The pagan world promotes it right in the middle of witchcraft and occultic ideas. It is a perfect pattern for the ‘global spirituality’ of the coming One World Government and One World Church.’”48

Mr. Tolkien’s companions and the places he frequented also reflect his lost condition:

“It was nurtured by weekly meetings with his friends and colleagues including the philosopher and novelist C.S. Lewis and his brother, W.H. Lewis, and the mystical novelist Charles Williams. The Inklings, as they called themselves, gathered at Magdalen College or a pub to drink beer and share one another’s manuscripts.”49

48 “JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and the power of the myth”, Light for the Last Days website (http://www.lightforthelastdays.co.uk/docs/current_events/j_r_tolkien.html).49 “Obituary: J.R.R. Tolkien, The Sunday Times, Sunday, September 2, 1973 (http://www.thelordoftherings.com/multimedia/text-files/article-tolkien-obituary.html).

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“In addition, he and Gordon founded a ‘Viking Club’ for undergraduates devoted mainly to reading Old Norse sagas and drinking beer.”50

“Tolkien’s friend, drinking partner, and fellow ‘Inkling’ C.S. Lewis is well known…”51

“Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.” 1 Corinthians 15:33

“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be

destroyed.” Proverbs 13:20

J. R. R. Tolkien influenced the writings of the so-called Christian writer, C. S. Lewis:

“According to Colin Gunton, Professor of Christian Doctrine in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King's College, London, the three friends were discussing the truthfulness of myths. Lewis questioned the compatibility of Christianity and paganism, and Tolkien explained why myths ‘are not lies:’

‘Man is not ultimately a liar. He may pervert his thoughts into lies, but he comes from God, and it is from God that he draws his ultimate ideals ... Not merely the abstract thoughts of man but also his imaginative inventions must originate with God, and in consequence reflect something of eternal truth.

‘In making a myth, in practicing “mythopoeia,” and peopling the world with elves and dragons and goblins, a story-teller .. is actually fulfilling God's purpose, and reflecting a splintered fragment of the true light.’52

The God of the Bible has a far lower view of the human imagination than does Tolkien, and He certainly does not take credit for its mythical speculations. Instead, He warns us repeatedly that ‘the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.’ [Genesis 8:21, NKJ] While Tolkien seems to view Christianity and oneness with Christ from a universal perspective, God tells us that only those who

50 “Who Was Tolkien?” by David Doughan (http://www.tolkiensociety.org/tolkien/biography.html).51 “The Lord & Lady of the Rings: The Hidden Presence of Tolkien’s Catholicism in The Lord of the Rings” by Stratford Caldecott, Touchstone Magazine (http://www.touchstonemag.com/docs/issues/15.1docs/15-1pg51.html).52 Quoted by Colin Gunton, Professor of Christian Doctrine in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King's College, London. His article first appeared in the King's Theological Review (Vol. 12, No 1), in 1989. Included as a chapter in Tolkien: A Celebration, edited by Joseph Pearce (London: Fount, 1999), page 130.

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are ‘born of the Spirit’ can understand His truths and receive His thoughts. And even this select group is easily tempted to imagine or ‘invent’ unholy myths and images.

… Commenting on the same ‘momentous’ event, historian Glenn J. Giokaris wrote,

‘Lewis had insisted myths were lies but Tolkien responded, “they are not . . . We have come from God, . . . and reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal-truth that is with God. Indeed, only by myth-making . . . can man aspire to the perfection he knew before the fall.”

‘This conversation led Lewis to see that the relationship between the images of literature and the myth of truth was such that myths inevitably led to a point where myth comes together with God to form reality. Eleven days later, C.S. Lewis wrote to Arthur Greeves , “I have passed from believing in God to definitely believing in Christ-in Christianity. My long night walk with Dyson and Tolkien had a great deal to do with it."53emphasis added” 54

“As Tolkien himself said, in his famous talk with C. S. Lewis and Hugo Dyson, which Lewis credited as being integral to his acceptance of the Christian faith:

‘We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed, only by myth-making, only by becoming a 'sub-creator' and inventing stories, can Man aspire to the state of perfection that he knew before the Fall. Our myths may be misguided, but they steer however shakily towards the true harbor, while materialistic "progress" leads only to a yawning abyss and the Iron Crown of the power of evil.’”55

“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe,

and tremble.” (James 2:19)

53 The Philosophical Journey of C.S. Lewis at http://www.stanford.edu/group/ww1/spring2000/Glenn/Lewis.htm by Glenn J. Giokaris. This paper was used in a history class at Stanford University.54 “Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings: Truth, Myth or Both?” by Berit Kjos (http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/rings.htm).55 Mark Eddy Smith, “Why The Lord of the Rings Is Dangerous”, Christianity Today, Week of December 16, 2002 (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/149/31.0.html).

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In an article in World Magazine (December 8, 2001, Vol. 16, No. 47), the author,

Gene Edward Veith, stated in defense of TLOTR and regarding J. R. R. Tolkien’s

influence on C. S. Lewis, “As Lewis tells the story of his conversion in Surprise by Joy, it

was Tolkien’s witnessing—and his arguments—that led him away from atheism into the

Christian faith. Those stories they both loved…about a Dying God, about resurrection

and redemption:” “’…These are not just myths,’ Tolkien argued. ‘They became true in

the Jesus Christ of History. Jesus is really who He said He was, God in the flesh, who

died and rose again to bring human beings new life.’”

Catholics also believe Christ died and rose again. Here are some definitions from

an online Catholic dictionary:

“JESUS. The name of Our Lord. It is the Latin form of the Greek Iesous, whose Hebrew is Jeshua or Joshua, meaning Yahweh is salvation. It is the name through which God the Father is to be invoked and by which the Apostles worked miracles (Acts 3, 6). In standard usage the name ‘Jesus’ is applied to the Son of Mary, who is also the Son of God; as distinct from ‘Christ,’ which refers to his Messianic role as the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies.

HOLY SPIRIT. The third person of the Holy Trinity, who is distinct from the Father and the Son but one in being, coequal, and coeternal with them, because, like them, he is in the fullest sense God. The Holy Spirit proceeds not only from the Father but also from the Son as from a single principle, through what is called a single spiration. He is the personal infinite term of the eternal act of mutual love of the Father and the Son; hence his name of Spirit, as the issue or term of God's eternal love or act of will. He is also called the Spirit of Truth, the Creator Spirit, the Sanctifier, as the gifts of revelation, of creation (and re-creation), and of sanctification are the outpourings of God's love, and therefore appropriated to the Spirit of Love, though whatever God does outside the Trinity (in the world of creatures) belongs to the common or united action of the three divine persons. He is called Dove, because it was in this form that he descended visibly upon Christ in the Jordan (Mark 1:10).

GOD. The one absolutely and infinitely perfect spirit who is the Creator of all. In the definition of the First Vatican Council, fifteen internal attributes of God are affirmed, besides his role as Creator of the universe: ‘The holy, Catholic, apostolic Roman Church believes and professes that there is one true, living God, the Creator and Lord of heaven and earth. He is almighty, eternal, beyond measure, incomprehensible, and infinite in intellect, will and

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in every perfection. Since He is one unique spiritual substance, entirely simple and unchangeable, He must be declared really and essentially distinct from the world, perfectly happy in Himself and by his very nature, and inexpressibly exalted over all things that exist or can be conceived other than Himself’ (Denzinger 3001).

Reflecting on the nature of God, theology has variously identified what may be called his metaphysical essence, i.e., what is God. It is commonly said to be his self-subsistence. God is Being Itself. In God essence and existence coincide. He is the Being who cannot not exist. God alone must be. All other beings exist only because of the will of God.

RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. The rising from the dead of Christ on the third day after his death and burial. Christ's Resurrection is a basic truth of Christianity, which is expressed in all the Creeds and in all rules of faith of the ancient Church. He rose through his own power. The source of his Resurrection was the hypostatic union. The principal cause was the Word of God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit; the instrumental cause was the parts of Christ's humanity, soul, and body, which were hypostatically united with the Godhead. When Scripture asserts (Acts 2:24; Galatians 1:1) that Christ was raised by God or by the Father, these statements are to be understood as referring to his humanity. All forms of rationalism in ancient and modern times – deceit  hypothesis, apparent death hypothesis, vision hypothesis, symbolism hypothesis – deny Christ's Resurrection. Yet nothing is more central in the faith as attested by Peter's sermon on Pentecost and as defended ever since by the Church's most solemn teaching authority.

The body of the risen Christ was in a state of glory, as is evident from circumstances of the appearances recorded in the Gospels and Acts, and from Christ's supremacy over the limitations of space and time. The risen Christ retained the wounds in his transfigured body as tokens of his triumph over death (John 20:27).

Theologically the Resurrection, unlike the death of Christ, is not the meritorious cause of human redemption. It is the victorious completion of redemption. It belongs to the perfection of redemption and is therefore associated in the Scriptures with Christ's death on the Cross as one  complete whole. It is the model and, in the person of the risen Christ, the channel of grace for our spiritual redemption from sin and for our bodily resurrection on the Last Day.

REDEMPTION. The salvation of humanity by Jesus Christ. Literally, to redeem means to free or buy back. Humanity was held captive in that it was

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enslaved by sin. Since the devil overcame human beings by inducing them to sin, they were said to be in bondage to the devil. Moreover, the human race was held captive as to a debt of punishment, to the payment of which it was bound by divine justice.

On all these counts, the Passion of Christ was sufficient and superabundant satisfaction for human guilt and the consequent debt of punishment. His Passion was a kind of price or ransom that paid the cost of freeing humanity from both obligations. Christ rendered satisfaction, not by giving money, but by spending what was of the highest value. He gave himself, and therefore his Passion is called humanity's Redemption. (Etym. Latin redemptio, a buying back, ransoming, redemption.)”56

CHAPTER FOUR

Here is an interview with J. R. R. Tolkien in which Mr. Tolkien inferred that Christ is not

depicted in his fantasy novels. I have put the interview, in its entirety, below and put in bold

print the pertinent comments.

Tolkien's Last Interview

First broadcast in January 1971 on the BBC's Radio 4 programme 'Now Read On...'

The interviewer was Dennis Gerrolt.

T: ...long before I wrote The Hobbit and long before I wrote this I had constructed this world mythology.

56 Pocket Catholic Dictionary (http://www.therealpresence.org/cgi-bin/getdefinition.pl).37

G: So you had some sort of scheme on which it was possible to work?

T: Immense sagas, yes ... it got sucked in as The Hobbit did itself, the Hobbit was originally not part of it at all but as soon as it got moving out into the world it got moved into it's activities.

G: So your characters and your story really took charge.

T: [lights pipe]

G: I say took charge, I don't mean that you were completely under their spell or anything of this sort...

T: Oh no no, I don't wander about dreaming at all, it isn't an obsession in any way. You have this sensation that at this point A, B, C, D only A or one of them is right and you've got to wait until you see. I had maps of course. If you're going to have a complicated story you must work to a map otherwise you can never make a map of it afterwards. The moons I think finally were the moons and sunset worked out according to what they were in this part of the world in 1942 actually. [pipe goes out]

G: You began in '42 did you, to write it?

T: Oh no, I began as soon as The Hobbit was out - in the '30s.

G: It was finally finished just before it was published...

T: I wrote the last ... in about 1949 - I remember I actually wept at the denouement. But then of course there was a tremendous lot of revision. I typed the whole of that work out twice and lots of it many times, on a bed in an attic. I couldn't afford of course the typing. There's some mistakes too and also [re-lights pipe] it amuses me to say, as I suppose I'm in a position where it doesn't matter what people think of me now - there were some frightful mistakes in grammar, which from a Professor of English Language and Lit are rather shocking.

G: I hadn't noticed any.

T: There was one where I used bestrode as the past participle of bestrides! [laughs]

G: Do you feel any sense of guilt at all that as a philologist, as a Professor of English Language with which you were concerned with the factual sources of language, you devoted a large part of your life to a fictional thing?

T: No. I'm sure it's done the language a lot of good! There's quite a lot of linguistic wisdom in it. I don't feel any guilt complex about The Lord of the Rings.

G: Have you a particular fondness for these comfortable homely things of life that the Shire embodies: the home and pipe and fire and bed - the homely virtues?

T: Haven't you?

G: Haven't you Professor Tolkien?

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T: Of course, yes.

G: You have a particular fondness then for Hobbits?

T: That's why I feel at home... The Shire is very like the kind of world in which I first became aware of things, which was perhaps more poignant to me as I wasn't born here, I was born in Bloomsdale in South Africa. I was very young when I got back but at the same time it bites into your memory and imagination even if you don't think it has. If your first Christmas tree is a wilting eucalyptus and if you're normally troubled by heat and sand - then, to have just at the age when imagination is opening out, suddenly find yourself in a quiet Warwickshire village, I think it engenders a particular love of what you might call central Midlands English countryside, based on good water, stones and elm trees and small quiet rivers and so on, and of course rustic people about.

G: At what age did you come to England?

T: I suppose I was about three and a half. Pretty poignant of course because one of the things why people say they don't remember is - it's like constantly photographing the same thing on the same plate. Slight changes simply make a blur. But if a child had a sudden break like that, it's conscious. What it tries to do is fit the new memories onto the old. I've got a perfectly clear vivid picture of a house that I now know is in fact a beautifully worked out pastiche of my own home in Bloemfontein and my grandmother's house in Birmingham. I can still remember going down the road in Birmingham and wondering what had happened to the big gallery, what happened to the balcony. Consequently I do remember things extremely well, I can remember bathing in the Indian Ocean when I was not quite two and I remember it very clearly.

G: Frodo accepts the burden of the Ring and he embodies as a character the virtues of long suffering and perseverance and by his actions one might almost say in the Buddhist sense he 'acquires merit'. He becomes in fact almost a Christ figure. Why did you choose a halfling, a hobbit for this role?

T: I didn't. I didn't do much choosing, I wrote The Hobbit you see ... all I was trying to do was carry on from the point where The Hobbit left off. I'd got hobbits on my hands hadn't I?

G: Indeed, but there's nothing particularly Christ-like about Bilbo.

T: No...

G: But in the face of the most appalling danger he struggles on and continues, and wins through.

T: But that seems I suppose more like an allegory of the human race. I've always been impressed that we're here surviving because of the indomitable courage of quite small people against impossible odds: jungles, volcanoes, wild beasts... they struggle on, almost blindly in a way.

G: I thought that conceivably Midgard might be Middle-earth or have some connection?

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T: Oh yes, they're the same word. Most people have made this mistake of thinking Middle-earth is a particular kind of Earth or is another planet of the science fiction sort but it's just an old fashioned word for this world we live in, as imagined surrounded by the Ocean.

G: It seemed to me that Middle-earth was in a sense as you say this world we live in but at a different era.

T: No ... at a different stage of imagination, yes.

G: Did you intend in Lord of the Rings that certain races should embody certain principles: the elves wisdom, the dwarves craftsmanship, men husbandry and battle and so forth?

T: I didn't intend it but when you've got these people on your hands you've got to make them different haven't you. Well of course as we all know that ultimately we've only got humanity to work with, it's only clay we've got. We should all - or at least a large part of the human race - would like to have greater power of mind, greater power of art by which I mean that the gap between the conception and the power of execution should be shortened, and we should like a longer if not indefinite time in which to go on knowing more and making more.Therefore the Elves are immortal in a sense. I had to use immortal, I didn't mean that they were eternally immortal, merely that they are very longevical and their longevity probably lasts as long as the inhabitability of the Earth.The dwarves of course are quite obvious - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic. Hobbits are just rustic English people, made small in size because it reflects (in general) the small reach of their imagination - not the small reach of their courage or latent power.

G: This seems to be one of the great strengths of the book, this enormous conglomeration of names - one doesn't get lost, at least after the second reading.

T: I'm very glad you told me that because I took a great deal of trouble. Also it gives me great pleasure, a good name. I always in writing start with a name. Give me a name and it produces a story, not the other way about normally.

G: Of the languages you know which were the greatest help to you in writing The Lord of the Rings?

T: Oh lord ... of modern languages I should have said Welsh has always attracted me by it's style and sound more than any other, ever though I first only saw it on coal trucks, I always wanted to know what it was about.

G: It seems to me that the music of Welsh comes through in the names you've chosen for mountains and for places in general.

T: Very much. But a much rarer, very potent influence on myself has been Finnish.

G: Is the book to be considered as an allegory?

T: No. I dislike allegory whenever I smell it.

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G: Do you consider the world declining as the Third Age declines in your book and do you see a Fourth Age for the world at the moment, our world?

T: At my age I'm exactly the kind of person who has lived through one of the most quickly changing periods known to history. Surely there could never be in seventy years so much change.

G: There's an autumnal quality throughout the whole of The Lord of the Rings, in one case a character says the story continues but I seem to have dropped out of it ... however everything is declining, fading, at least towards the end of the Third Age every choice tends to the upsetting of some tradition. Now this seems to me to be somewhat like Tennyson's "the old order changeth, yielding place to new, and God fulfils himself in many ways". Where is God in the Lord of the Rings?

T: He's mentioned once or twice.

G: Is he the One?

T: The One, yes.

G: Are you a theist?

T: Oh, I'm a Roman Catholic. Devout Roman Catholic.

G: Do you wish to be remembered chiefly by your writings on philology and other matters or by The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit?

T: I shouldn't have thought there was much choice in the matter - if I'm remembered at all it will be by The Lord of the Rings I take it. Won't it be rather like the case of Longfellow, people remember Longfellow wrote Hiawatha, quite forget he was a Professor of Modern Languages!57

CHAPTER FIVE

What follows are some quotes from sources that agree that Mr. Tolkien’s books spawned

Dungeons & Dragons:

“We must also note the words of Gary Gygax of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, who helped create the game ‘Dungeons and Dragons.’ Gygax said, ‘There is no question we were influenced by Tolkien. It became apparent to me that the more of Tolkien’s creatures I put in there, the more people would enjoy playing fantasy.’58”59

57 http://www.jrrtolkien.org.uk/tolkien_last_interview.htm58 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dec. 19, 2001, sec. E, p. 1, by Stanley A. Miller II, Milwaukee, WI.59 Last Trumpet Newsletter, Volume XXI, Issue II, February 2002, “The Sure Sign of a Dying Nation!” (http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/2002/February2002a.html).

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“The original D&D game allowed players to assume the roles of fighters, magic-users (wizards), clerics (priests), Hobbits (called by that specific name in the original rules), Dwarves, or Elves.”60

“…Tolkien fans had one outlet for their desire to experience Tolkien: Dungeons & Dragons. Even Gary Gygax, creator of D&D told us in an interview: ‘Just about all the players were huge JRRT fans, and so they insisted that I put as much Tolkien-influence material into the game as possible. Anyone reading this that recalls the original D&D game will know that there were Balrogs, Ents, and Hobbits in it. Later those were removed, and new, non-JRRT things substituted—Balor demons, Treants, and Halflings.’”61

“…And you can draw another straight line from Gygax to J.R.R. Tolkien, the British linguistics professor who cobbled together Anglo-Saxon and Norse mythology into what we now call the fantasy genre—with its wizards, orcs, swords, spells and epic quests….Tolkien didn’t invent the fantasy genre; rather, he created the modern, popular version of fantasy folklore with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, drawing upon common mythology throughout Western culture…. It’s a testament to Tolkien’s influence that when you say ‘role-playing game in a fantasy world,’ what you really mean is wizards, orcs, swords, spells and epic quests in a Tolkien-esque setting.”62

Original D&D Set                                                 

Yes, the "granddaddy of them all".  Published by Tactical Studies Rules, a fledgling company (at the time) of Gary Gygax, Don Kaye, and Brian Blume.  The game is based on the fantasy portion of the earlier Chainmail rules, and also requires the Outdoor Survival wargame (by Avalon Hill) to play.

Original D&D Set (woodgrain box) by Gary Gygax and Dave ArnesonOriginal D&D Set (white box) by Gary Gygax and Dave ArnesonOriginal D&D Set (white box, OCE) by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson

Contains three booklets (Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasure, Underworld & Wilderness Adventures) plus a Reference Sheets booklet (unstapled, loose sheets) and one errata sheet (the errata sheet is only present in the Second and Third prints).

The rule set was further expanded upon with the five Original D&D Supplements.  It was superceded in 1977 with the

60 “Dungeons & Dragons” from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_&_Dragons)61 (http://haven.theonering.net/current/baldurs/)62 “Gary Gygax and J.R.R. Tolkien,” Game Spy articles (http://www.gamespy.com/articles/march02/top30/1813/index.shtm).

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release of the D&D Basic Set (and to some extent, the Advanced D&D system).

Printing Information                                                                              

First (Jan 1974) o Wood-colored box, showing a mounted warrior on a rearing horse (the artwork is an adhesive sheet

affixed to the box cover) and the price ($10.00) o Outside cover of Men & Magic shows a mounted warrior (same as box) o Outside covers of all three booklets have a price ($3.50) o Inside covers are white, and do not indicate any printing number o Inside rear covers of books 2 and 3 show the printer's imprint -- Graphic Printing of Lake Geneva o References to Hobbits and Ents are present (copyrighted names of the Tolkien estate; easy check:

page 9 of Men & Magic) o Internal typeface is rather rough and difficult to read o 1000 copies of this set were printed by Graphic Printing (and hand-assembled by Gygax and friends in his

home).  This print was originally available at the 1973 EasterCon, but was probably in an unpublished state at that point

o Thanks to Jon Peterson, Bruce Robertson, and Steve Vogel for help with this info 

Second (Jan 1975) o Wood-colored box, showing a mounted warrior on a rearing horse (the artwork is an adhesive sheet

affixed to the box cover) and the price ($10.00) o Outside cover of Men & Magic shows a mounted warrior (same as box) o Outside covers of all three booklets have a price ($3.50) o Inside covers are white, and state "Second Printing – January 1975" o Inside rear covers of books 2 and 3 show the printer's imprint -- Graphic Printing of Lake Geneva o References to Hobbits and Ents are present (easy check: page 9 of Men & Magic) o Internal typeface is rather rough and difficult to read o Contains an errata sheet o 2000 copies of this set were printed, and hand-assembled by Gygax and friends

o Thanks to Bruce Robertson for help with this info63

“The first edition of D&D, like so many games that followed, featured hobbits. However, Tolkien’s lawyers soon threatened copyright action, leading to the birth of the ‘halfling’.”64

The following is from Dungeon Masters Guide (1979):

“APPENDIX N:INSPIRATIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL READING

63 (http://www.acaeum.com/DDIndexes/SetPages/Original.html).64 Astinus, “A History of Role-Playing” (located in the side margin of the story) (http://ptgptb.org/0001/history1.html).

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Inspiration for all of the fantasy work I have done stems directly from the love my father showed when I was a tad, for he spent many hours telling me stories he made up as he went along, tales of cloaked old men who could grant wishes, of magic rings and enchanted swords, or wicked sorcerors and dauntless swordsmen. Then too, countless hundreds of comic books went down, and the long-gone EC ones certainly had their effect. Science fiction, fantasy, and horror movies were a big influence. In fact, all of us tend to get ample helpings of fantasy when we are very young, from fairy tales such as those written by the Brothers Grimm and Andrew Lang. This often leads to reading books of mythology, paging through bestiaries, and consultation of compilations of the myths of various lands and peoples. Upon such a base I built my interest in fantasy, being an avid reader of all science fiction and fantasy literature since 1950. The following authors were of particular inspiration to me. In some cases I cite specific works, in others, I simply recommend all their fantasy writing to you. From such sources, as well as just about any other imaginative writing or screenplay you will be able to pluck kernels from which grow the fruits of exciting campaigns. Good reading!

Inspirational Reading:

Anderson, Poul. THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS; THE HIGH CRUSADE; THE BROKEN SWORDBellairs, John. THE FACE IN THE FROSTBrackett, Leigh.Brown, Fredric.Burroughs, Edgar Rice, "Pellucidar" Series; Mars Series; Venus SeriesCarter, Lin. "World's End" Seriesde Camp, L. Sprague. LEST DARKNESS FALL; FALLIBLE FIEND; et al.de Camp & Pratt. "Harold Shea" Series; CARNELIAN CUBEDerleth, August.Dunsany, Lord.Farmer, P. J. "The World of the Tiers" Series; et al.Fox, Gardner. "Kothar" Series; "Kyrik" Series; et al.Howard, R. E. "Conan" SeriesLanier, Sterling. HIERO'S JOURNEYLeiber, Fritz. "Fafhrd & Gray Mouser" Series; et al.Lovecraft, H. P.Merritt, A. CREEP, SHADOW, CREEP; MOON POOL; DWELLERS IN THE MIRAGE; et al.Moorcock, Michael. STORMBRINGER; STEALER OF SOULS; "Hawkmoon" Series (esp. the first three books)Norton, Andre.Offutt, Andrew J., editor SWORDS AGAINST DARKNESS III.Pratt, Fletcher, BLUE STAR; et al.St. Clair, Margaret. THE SHADOW PEOPLE; SIGN OF THE LABRYSTolkien, J. R. R. THE HOBBIT; "Ring Trilogy"Vance, Jack. THE EYES OF THE OVERWORLD; THE DYING EARTH; et al.Weinbaum, Stanley.Wellman, Manly Wade.Williamson, Jack.Zelazny, Roger. JACK OF SHADOWS; "Amber" Series; et al.

The most immediate influences upon AD&D were probably de Camp & Pratt, REH, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, HPL, and A. Merritt; but all of the above authors, as well as many not listed,

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certainly helped to shape the form of the game. For this reason, and for the hours of reading enjoyment, I heartily recommend the works of these fine authors to you.”65

“The role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons had a similar genesis, with creator Gary Gygax and friends originally playing it with Tolkien elements before creating an original magical universe when the game was marketed publicly. Dungeons & Dragons and Tolkien have gone on to influence such video games as Gauntlet, Diablo, EverQuest and Baldur’s Gate….”66

“…Gary Gygax, creator of D&D has insisted that Middle-Earth was only a minor inspiration on D&D which drew on many sources from myth and literature, and in many ways this is true. However, the two are often linked in gamers minds and it is undeniable that several D&D monsters and characters classes (e.g. Halflings [another name for Tolkien’s invented race, Hobbits]) are drawn from Tolkien’s works….”67

The following is part of a interview with Mr.Gygax on TheOneRing.net in May of 2000.

“1. Do you enjoy the works of JRR Tolkien? If so, How did he influence your work?

Oh-oh! I am going to be in trouble from the get-go! I loved THE HOBBIT, read it once to myself, then about three or four times aloud to my children.

As a Swords & Sorcery novel fan from way back–I read my first Conan yarn about 1948, was a fan and collector of the pulp SF and fantasy magazines since 1950, I was not as enamored of The Trilogy as were most of my contemporaries. While I loved Bombadil, the Nazgul too, the story was too slow-paced for me.

…How did it influence the D&D game? Whoa, plenty, of course. Just about all the players were huge JRRT fans, and so they insisted that I put as much Tolkien-influence material into the game as possible. Anyone reading this that recalls the original D&D game will know that there were Balrogs, Ents, and Hobbits in it. Later those were removed, and new, non-JRRT things substituted–Balor demons, Treants, and Halflings.

Indeed, who can doubt the excellence of Tolkien’s writing? So of course it had a strong impact on A/D&D games. A look at my recommended fantasy books reading list in the back of the original DUNGEON MASTERS GUILD will show a long list of other influential fantasy authors, though.”68

65 From Dungeon Masters Guide (1979) by Gary Gygax (http://www.dwarvenmilitia.com/falconer/fantasy/gygax.html).66 “’Lord’ Reigns in Pop Culture”, Dec. 17, 2002, CBS News.com (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/17/entertainment/main533384.shtml).67 “J.R.R. Tolkien” (http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~lad/play/articles/Tolkien.html).68 (http://haven.theonering.net/current/baldurs/) and (http://www.theonering.net/features/interviews/gary_gygax.html).

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“Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the

unfruitful works of darkness [TLOTR], but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:10-11)

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath

righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And

what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living

God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and

they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith

the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you…” (2 Corinthians 6:14-

17)

CHAPTER SIX

Another case against Mr. Tolkien is that “rock and rollers” love him:

“…Tolkien Enterprises is not the only one with interests in Tolkien. Led

Zeppelin, a rock band, has used Tolkien themes for songs, including

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‘Ramble On,’ ‘Misty Mountain Hop,’ ‘Over the Hills and Far Away,’ and

‘Battle of Evermore.’”69

“For instance, The Lord of the Rings is regarded as an influence on some rock music of the 1970s.

Direct Tolkien references exist in Led Zepplin’s ‘Ramble On,’ ‘Misty Mountain Hop’ and ‘The Battle of Evermore’ and Rush’s ‘Rivendell,’ which was one of the writer’s cities.

‘Led Zeppelin would not have been to (Tolkien’s) taste, but they were trying to evoke the same sort of mythic “hammer of the gods” feeling,’ Mr. Foster said.

‘Twas in the darkest depth of Mordor/I met a girl so fair/But Gollum, the evil one crept up/And slipped away with her,’ read Robert Plant’s lyrics to ‘Ramble On.’

The line is sung from the point of view of Frodo, with the ‘girl’ apparently representing the ring he plans to destroy. Mordor is the sinister kingdom where the ring was forged and Gollum is a crazed creature corrupted by the relic’s magic.”70

“Over the decades, Tolkien’s world of elves, wizards, monsters and magic has provided gothic inspiration for Stephen King thrillers, Led Zeppelin songs, games, paintings and countless sword-and-sorcery novels.

…For instance, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is regarded as an influence on some rock music of the 1970s. [Same quote as above follows, so I will not repeat.]”71

“In the 1960s and early ‘70s, Tolkien was often associated with the counterculture – in particular, with the Green movement. After all, he once wrote that ‘in all my works I take the part of the trees as against all their enemies.’ ‘Gandalf for President’ buttons were common, and Led Zeppelin lyrics abounded with Tolkien references – consider ‘Ramble On’, for example: ‘Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair / but Gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her, yeah.’ (The less said about Leonard Nimoy’s 1967 song-poem ‘The Ballad of Bilbo

69 Tracie S. Speake, “The Power of the Ring: J.R.R. Tolkien and American Popular Culture”, The Sextant, Vol. 1, No. 1, Summer 2003, page 76.70 Anthony Breznican, “Tolkien’s ‘Lord’ launched realms of fantasy fiction”, The Cincinnati Enquirer, Wednesday, December 18, 2002 (http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2002/12/18/tem_lotrinfluence18.html).71 “‘Lord’ Reigns in Pop Culture”, CBS News.com (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/17/entertainment/main533384.shtml).

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Baggins,’ the better.) But Tolkien’s Christian interpreters, many of them conservatives, have tried to wrest him away from hippies, tree-huggers, and other assorted left-wingers. Birzer, for example, wrote in the New Oxford Review last year that the new Christian interpretation makes it ‘impossible’ to see Tolkien as the poster boy for the ‘libertine drug culture’ of the ‘60s. Will the real J.R.R. Tolkien please stand up?”72

Don’t forget TLOTR tarot cards, another following of Mr. Tolkien’s. The fruit of his works indicate that his works are evil and should be avoided. It comes down to staying as far away from sin as we can, not seeing how close we can come to it without being pulled in.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:15-20: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in

sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their

fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree

bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot

bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that

bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their

fruits ye shall know them.”

The Word of God tells us to reprove the works of darkness and earnestly contend for the

faith. More preachers ought to be warning their congregations of the dangers of worldly books

and entertainment; but, I fear, many are deceived themselves. I am amazed at preachers who

wonder why members of their flock don’t live more holy lives (or aren’t revived) when they,

themselves, don’t seek to be discerning and lead by example. Shepherds are to warn their flocks

of the dangers – that means naming names and enduring criticism, if necessary.

I would like to suggest that we, as Christians, get more into the reality of Jesus Christ

through His Word only and in defending The Real Truth. We are citizens of heaven, not of this

world or any other, especially an imaginary and dark world of someone else’s creation.

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ

sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the

earth.” (Colossians 3:1-2)

While we are at liberty in Christ, it is not always expedient and we need to remember that

the lost (as well as those in Christ) are watching, listening, and observing what we do and say.

72 Chris Mooney, “How J.R.R. Tolkien became a Christian writer” (http://pub109.ezboard.com/fscifialliance9477frm11.showMessage?topicID=58.topic).

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“All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful

for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” (1 Corinthians 6:12)

“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful

for me, but all things edify not.” (1 Corinthians 10:23)

We need to be a living sacrifice unto God which means, in part, that we need to be

willing to sacrifice those things in our life that please our flesh so that we can point others to

Christ and to living a holy life unto Him. We should point others to the Word of God for Truth,

not a man’s writings. I know for a fact that TLOTR will never lead anyone to Christ since

“Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (not Tolkien). Neither do I believe

any Christian will be benefited or grow in his walk with the Lord by reading TLOTR.

“It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.” (Psalms 188:8)

“…ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the

saints.” (Jude 3)

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APPENDIX A

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Here is some helpful information from a Christian website about what we as Christians should

read:

Christian Books for Christian HomesIncluding a selective list of recommended titles

by Stephen Ross I. Biblical Warning and Exhortation

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.  Colossians 2:8

Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?  Proverbs 6:27

I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.  Psalm 101:3

For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.  Galatians 6:8

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.  I Thessalonians 5:21

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.  Philippians 4:8

II. Echoes from Glory

THOU AND THY HOUSEThere is, I should say, a very serious error involved in a Christian parent's committing the training of his children to unconverted persons, or even to those whose hearts are not one with him as to separation from the world. It is natural that a child should look up to, and follow, the example of, one who has the training and management of him. Now, what can a teacher make of a child, save what he is himself? What principles can he instill, save those which govern his own mind, and form the basis of his own character? The same principle applies to the reading of books. A book is decidedly a silent teacher and former of the mind and character; if I am called to look well to the character and the principles of the living teacher, I am equally so to look to those of the silent teacher. I am quite convinced that in reference both to books and teachers we need to have our

BAD BOOKSHowever strong and exalted your character, never read a bad book. By the time you get through the first chapter you will see the drift. If you find the marks of the hoofs of the devil in the pictures, or in the style, or in the plot, away with it. You may tear your coat, or break a vase, and repair them again, but the point where the rip or fracture took place will always be evident. It takes less than an hour to do your heart a damage which no time can entirely repair. Look carefully over your child's library; see what book it is that he reads after he has gone to bed, with the gas turned upon the pillow. Do not always take it for granted that a book is good because it is a Sunday school book. As far as possible, know who wrote it, who illustrated it, who published it, who sold it. 

T. DeWitt Talmage (1832-1902)

 

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consciences stirred and instructed.  C.H. Mackintosh (1820-1896)

PRINTED POISONThere are some so-called Christian homes today with books on the shelves of the library that have no more business there than a rattler crawling about on the floor, or poison within the child's reach.  Billy Sunday (1862-1935)

III. Good Christian Reading

A frequently overlooked or ofttimes neglected necessity in the proper training of our children is monitoring what our children read and providing in the home good Christian literature which will guide them to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, encourage them to serve Him and obey His Word, and will teach them honesty, kindness, purity, self-control, faithfulness, etc.

It is also important to inculcate in our children the life-long practice of reading good Christian literature and the knowledge needed to discern that which is not Christian and biblical.

God's precious and Holy Word can not be overemphasized in our homes and in our lives! As soon as our children can walk, they should be given their own small New Testament (KJV) to carry to Sunday school and church services, and for family worship in the home. By kindergarten age, they should have been taught to properly respect God's Word and can be given a complete Authorized KJV Bible. In the past, children learned to read using the Holy Scriptures, so there is no reason why our children cannot be reading the Bible from the beginning of their reading experience. It is God's Word, and it is the Book of books!73

To God be the glory!

73 Stephen Ross, “Christian Books for Christian Homes,” Christian Home and Family Website. The selective list of Christian literature for the Christian Home can be viewed on their website (http://www.wholesomewords.org/family/books.html).

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APPENDIX B

53

TOLKIEN AND THE LORD OF

THE RINGS

By David W. Cloud & Posted

by Permission

(Pictures added by David L.

Brown)

The Lord of the Rings movie has made more than $260 million since its release on December 19; and in spite of its PG-13 rating and its occultic imagery, it and its literary counterpart are being praised by some professing Christians. The Lord of the Rings is the first in a proposed fantasy trilogy based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkien. The movie edition of the trilogy was filmed at a cost of $300 million, but as we have seen, that amount was almost fully recovered a mere two months after the release of the first episode; and the second and third parts of the trilogy are yet to appear. The television rights to the trilogy were recently purchased by WB network for $160 million.

Christianity Today ran a positive review of the books and the movie entitled "Lord of the Megaplex." Focus on the Family praised Tolkien’s fantasies and promotes the book "Finding God in the Lord of the Rings" by Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware (Tyndale House). The glowing advertisement at the Focus on the Family web site calls fantasy a "vehicle for truth" and says: "In Finding God in the Lord of the Rings, Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware examine the ‘story behind’ the stories — the inspirational themes of hope, redemption and faith that Tolkien wove into his classic tales." World magazine’s review is titled "Powerful Rings" and claims that the "movie version of Tolkien’s book speaks to today’s culture." There is no warning in these reviews about Tolkien’s occultic imagery.

HARMLESS FANTASY, WHOLESOME ALLEGORY?

Is the Lord of the Rings harmless fantasy or perhaps even a wholesome Christian allegory? We think not. I read The Hobbit and the three volumes of The Lord of the Rings in 1971 when I was in Vietnam with the U.S. Army. I was not saved at the time, and, in fact, I was very antagonistic to the Christian faith; and had the books contained even a hint of Bible truth, I can assure you that I would not have read them at that particular point in my life. Though I have forgotten many of the details of the books, I can recall very vividly that they are filled with occultic imagery. The books were published in inexpensive paperback editions in the late

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1960s, and they became very popular with that generation of drug headed hippies.

THE AUTHOR OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS

The author of the Lord of the Rings, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, was born in South Africa in 1892, but his family moved to Britain when he was about 3 years old. When Tolkien was eight years old, his mother converted to Roman Catholicism, and he remained a Catholic throughout his life. In his last interview, two years before

his death, he unhesitatingly testified, "I’m a devout Roman Catholic." J.R. Tolkien married his childhood sweetheart, Edith, and they had four children. He wrote them letters each year as if from Santa Claus, and a selection of these was published in 1976 as "The Father Christmas Letters." One of Tolkien’s sons became a Catholic priest. Tolkien was an advisor for the translation of the Roman Catholic Jerusalem Bible.

As a professor of literature at Oxford University, Tolkien specialized in Old and Middle English and loved ancient pagan mythology. His first fantasy novel, The Hobbit, appeared in 1937, and The Lord of the Rings, in 1954-55. Several others were published later, some posthumously.

One of Tolkien’s drinking buddies was the famous C.S. Lewis. They and some other Oxford associates formed a group called the "Inklings" and met regularly at an Oxford pub to drink beer and regale about literary and other matters. Tolkien, in fact, is credited with influencing Lewis to become a Christian of sorts. Like Tolkien, though, Lewis did not accept the Bible as the infallible Word of God and he picked and chose what he would believe about the New Testament apostolic faith, rejecting such things as the substitutionary blood atonement of Christ. And like Tolkien, C.S. Lewis loved at least some things about Catholicism. He believed in purgatory, confessed his sins to a priest, and had the last rites performed by a Catholic priest (C.S. Lewis: A Biography, pp. 198, 301)

J.R. Tolkien died in 1973 at age 81, two years after his wife, and they are buried in the Catholic section of the Wolvercote cemetery in the suburbs of Oxford.

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THE STORY OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS

The setting for Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is in "Middle Earth" and the hero is a little creature (a hobbit) named Frodo Baggins who accidentally becomes possessor of a magical ring that is the lost and greatly desired treasure of the "Dark Lord Sauron." The story line revolves around Frodo’s action-filled journey to take the ring to the Cracks of Doom where it can be destroyed. The individual titles of the trilogy are "The Fellowship of the Ring,"

"The Two Towers," and "The Return of the Ring."

OCCULTISM

Though the aforementioned reviewers would have us believe that Tolkien’s books contain simple allegories of good vs. evil, Tolkien portrays wizards and witches and wizardry as both good and evil. There is white magic and black magic in Tolkien’s fantasies. For example, a wizard named Gandalf is portrayed as a good person who convinces Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit to take a journey to recover stolen treasure. The books depict the calling up of the dead to assist the living, which is plainly condemned in the Scriptures. Though not as overtly and sympathetically occultic as the Harry Potter series, Tolkien’s fantasies are unscriptural and present a very dangerous message.

TOLKIEN SAID THE BOOKS ARE NOT CHRISTIAN ALLEGORIES

In his last interview in 1971, Tolkien plainly stated that he did not intend The Lord of the Rings as a Christian allegory and that Christ is not depicted in his fantasy novels. When asked about the efforts of the trilogy’s hero, Frodo, to struggle on and destroy the ring, Tolkien said, "But that seems I suppose more like an allegory of the human race. I’ve always been impressed that we’re here surviving because of the indomitable courage of quite small people against impossible odds: jungles, volcanoes, wild beasts... they struggle on, almost blindly in a way" (Interview by Dennis Gerrolt; it was first broadcast in January 1971 on BBC Radio 4 program "Now Read On…"). That doesn’t sound like the gospel to me. When Gerrolt asked Tolkien, "Is the book to be considered as an allegory?" the author replied, "No. I dislike

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allegory whenever I smell it."

Thus, the author of The Lord of the Rings denied the very thing that some Christians today are claiming, that these fantasies are an allegory of Christ’s victory over the devil.

TOLKIEN SPAWNED DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS

Tolkien’s books created the vast and spiritually dangerous fantasy role-playing games that are so influential today. Dungeons and Dragons, which appeared in the early 1970s, was based on Tolkien’s fantasy novels. One fantasy-game web site makes this interesting observation: "The whole fantasy adventure genre of books came into play when J.R. Tolkien wrote his The Lord of the Rings books. From his vivid imagination and creative thinking he created the fantasy adventure genre. Tolkien probably got his ideas from ancient religions. Peoples of different civilizations were writing epic’s way before Tolkien was even born. They wrote epics about people with superior strength, about gods that punished people and, travels to the underworld. Tolkien is accredited to being the man who started it all but if traced back even further you'll see that he wasn’t the one that created it, just the one that pushed it forth."

This secular writer better understands what Tolkien’s books are about than the aforementioned Christian publications. Tolkien certainly did get his ideas from pagan religions, and the message promoted in his fantasy books is strictly pagan.

ROCK AND ROLLERS LOVE TOLKIEN

Tolkien has influenced many rock and rollers. The song "Misty Mountain Hop" by the demonic hard rock group, Led Zeppelin, was inspired by Tolkien’s writings. Marc Bolan, of the rock group Tyannasaurus Rex, created a musical and visual style influenced by Tolkien. The heavy metal rock group Iluvatar named themselves after a fictional god from Tolkien’s work The Silmarillion. Others could be mentioned.

The world knows its own; and when the demonic world of fantasy role-playing and the morally filthy world of rock and roll love something, you can be sure it is not godly and it is not the truth.

February 5, 2002 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org)

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74 Taken from: http://logosresourcepages.org/rings.htm58