"The Sad Truth Of Tolkien Spirituality"

[Jipsah]

What do you think of this essay? It's a long read btw but this is a shortened version.

Rubbish. "People have read Tolkien's work and then behaved badly" (my summary).

 

[Pavel Mosko]

(BACKGROUND) I recently saw some illustrations by a man called Ted Nasmith. I liked some of his artwork. Some of his art is about a book called The Silmarillion. He's done a lot of work for Tolkien's books.

I have a basic knoweldge of The Lord of the Rings from when I was young. I thought it might be nice to read the books and also The Silmarillion but I happened to find this essay. It doesn't outright say do not read Tolkien but it implies his works are not good for Christianity.

I know a lot of people love Tolkien's books. What do you think of this essay? It's a long read btw but this is a shortened version.

The Sad Truth Of Tolkien Spirituality | The Sacred Sandwich

If you do not agree with and/or like the essay, please still try and give some positive thoughts. I don't know much about the author or the website it is posted on.

Thanks

Based on the opening sentences I don't think much about it. It is pure guilt by association. It reminds me of the kinds of articles and TV shows during the Satanic panic of the 1980s that said all kinds of crazy stuff about Dungeons and Dragons. I actually have an opposite view based on the Christian book, "Finding Common Ground" which talks about the need for Christians to try to "take back the culture". I also have done some threads on this sort of thing like the one below.

The Problems of the Christian Ghetto

This something I have talked about online, blogged on, and video blogged on. My Christian Forums Blog synopsis I define the Christian Ghetto as being the phenomenon where Christians (At least in the US, especially Evangelicals) want to create their own sub culture that is parallel to secular...

www.christianforums.com

 

[jamiec]

(BACKGROUND) I recently saw some illustrations by a man called Ted Nasmith. I liked some of his artwork. Some of his art is about a book called The Silmarillion. He's done a lot of work for Tolkien's books.

I have a basic knoweldge of The Lord of the Rings from when I was young. I thought it might be nice to read the books and also The Silmarillion but I happened to find this essay. It doesn't outright say do not read Tolkien but it implies his works are not good for Christianity.

I know a lot of people love Tolkien's books. What do you think of this essay? It's a long read btw but this is a shortened version.

The Sad Truth Of Tolkien Spirituality | The Sacred Sandwich

If you do not agree with and/or like the essay, please still try and give some positive thoughts. I don't know much about the author or the website it is posted on.

Thanks

Where can I find the complete essay ?

"For those Christians who insist on promoting and celebrating the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien as a rich tapestry of Christian allegory and symbolism that powerfully informs their faith, some sobering facts need to be seriously considered. The sad truth is, that Tolkien, despite his personal Christian-based sensibilities, allowed his deep love of pagan Norse mythology to blind him to the fatal spiritual consequences of his creative endeavors and the flawed philosophy behind them. This point is not to bring into question the faith and salvation of Tolkien or of his devoted Christian followers, but simply to suggest that in his creative practice, Tolkien, figuratively speaking, “dropped the ball” and brought aid and comfort to the opposition of our faith.

The evidence is shocking: Neo-Pagans, Gnostics and other occult-based religionists absolutely adore Tolkien’s works, but are not turning to Christianity for spiritual understanding. Instead, they are extracting new beliefs out of his writings that support and bolster their own alternative religions. Why?".

Why ? Perhaps for (some of) the same reasons as some readers of Harry Potter became "Snapewives", and greatly exalted Severus Snape; much info about the Snapewives can be found here: Snapewives - Fanlore

Something tells me the author is unaware of the great reputation enjoyed, for over 1000 years, by Vergil & Ovid in the West, and by Homer among readers of Greek; such as Eustathius, bishop (no less) of Thessalonica. The commentary of Eustathius is a source for the text of Homer. If generations of schoolboys and university students have not been corrupted by reading pre-Christians such as Homer, Hesiod, Aristophanes, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Catullus, Lucretius, Vergil, Ovid & others; then why would reading a Catholic such as Tolkien have that effect ? The fault is not in Tolkien's legendarium, which is a literary classic (and for very good reason), but in the overly narrow sympathies of the critic. One can be a Christian, and read of the activities of Odin, Thor, Tyr, Frey, Hela, the elves, frost-giants, Jormungandr the Midgard serpent, Loki & the coming of Ragnarok, without believing in the real existence of any of them. Just so, one can read of Vergil's Charon, of the Fury Tisiphone, of Phlegyas, Tityus, Anchises, Musaeus, & Aeneas, without believing in the real existence of any of them. Appreciation of the Aeneid as the epic poem that it is, neither presupposes nor requires one to accept the gods of Augustan Rome.

Do US Christians believe in the reality of Superman; of his parents Jor-El & Lara; of the explosion of the planet Krypton; of the discovery of the infant Superman by Jonathan & Martha Kent; of Superman's upbringing in Smallville in Kansas; of Superman's friends Jimmy Olson, & Lois Lane; and of all the other details of his life and career ? If readers can recognise as fiction the "feigned reality" of the career and life of Kal-El, son of Krypton; why would they be unable to recognise as fiction the "feigned reality" that is Tolkien's legendarium ?

BTW, none of the legendarium is allegorical. The only allegory Tolkien wrote, is "Leaf by Niggle".

People read Tolkien because he is a supremely gifted storyteller, whose words have supplied ideas which have been turned into many kinds of art.

I do not much care for the films of LOTR; I vastly prefer the book, and the other books in the legendarium.