Christian Faith and Fiction Literature
The way in which John Ronald Reuel Tolkien conceives the relationship between his literary creations and his own Christian (i.e., Catholic) faith has given rise to extensive analyses and never-ending discussions. As one might say, we are dealing with a subject that provokes strong passions and reactions. Within the entire corpus of his letters, the most significant fragment regarding such a delicate topic is found in a letter addressed to a distinguished scholar and Jesuit friend, Father Robert Murray S.J.[1] Here, Tolkien explains how he conceives and incorporates the religious element into his stories:
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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.[2]
In the above lines, the author offers an important clue for analysis, highlighting the diffuse religious element that is implicitly present in the fabric of his narratives and––especially––in their symbolism. Like all great Catholic writers of the 20th century (whose pantheon includes Joseph Conrad, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Julien Green, and Graham Greene), Tolkien does not practice a programmatic literature, an explicit, ‘ideological’ type of apologetics, so to speak, aimed at presenting the Christian faith. Like all of them, he is and declares himself a writer, but not necessarily a Catholic writer. Concretely, he is a Catholic who, among other vocations (such as being a professor, husband, and father), also has that of being a writer.
What I mean is that he in no way confuses the principles and rules of literary art with those of religion and theology. Although perfectly harmonious in his theoretical vision, art and faith each have their own distinct domain. I hasten to emphasize that, at the same time he does not deny the influence of Christian faith on the values ‘encoded’ in his literature. Thus, Tolkien accepts interpretations from some readers, such as that proposed by Deborah Webster, according to which the invocations to Elbereth or Galadriel at certain points in The Lord of the Rings trilogy are synonymous with Catholics’ invocations to the Virgin Mary, just as the elves’ lembas can be understood as a literary symbol of Holy Communion.
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However, I must offer an explanation to those who, for personal reasons, might ignore or deny the Christian dimension of Tolkien’s works, citing the fact that there is no explicit presence of religion, temples, or religious gestures in them.
In addition to the explanation of the implicit presence of religious elements, another elementary fact may clarify things. Middle-earth, although “a monotheistic world of ‘natural theology’” (Letter 165, to Houghton Mifflin Co.), is not a world marked by Christian Revelation. This is because the Third Age, during which The Lord of the Rings takes place, is pre-Christian, as are the ages preceding it. Here, Tolkien aligns with the ideas of pre-Christian religious values discussed by Justin Martyr the Philosopher, or Clement of Alexandria. Assuming the existence of positive elements in the religions of antiquity, they argued that within these religions there were true ‘seeds’ of the divine Logos (semina Verbi) that anticipated and prepared the pagans to receive the Christian Gospel. In the same sense, there are consistent Christian elements in Tolkien’s stories. However, they appear more as literary symbols intended to lead readers indirectly and implicitly toward the fullness of Christian Revelation. We can easily be convinced of this by analyzing The Silmarillion, a work in which the author presents the cosmological framework of all his heroes.
