[greyhavener]

I think Lewis and Tolkien were similar in that they shared a love for God and a love for literature. They were both writers and Oxford dons. As friends they read their writing to one another and give one another input before publication.

They were very different in temperament. Lewis was outgoing and had many friends and acquaintances. Tolkien was more introspective and was satisfied with his small circle of friends. I believe their friendship cooled when Lewis wanted to include Charles Williams into their circle and Tolkien didn't care for him.

As fiction writers, Tolkien was the more scholarly. He strove to create a world that was consistent and true to the character of myth. He created a language, a history, races to people it. Lewis wrote his fantasy as an intentional allegory, not only to entertain but deliberately to convey a picture of his theological beliefs. Tolkien did not set out to write an allegory and actually said he despised allegory. Although he did not set out to write a Christian work, he later revised some of his original work in the Silmarillion and other tales concerning the origins of Middle Earth and histories of the First Age to bring the theology more in line with his own. A reading of his own letters would best communicate all his motives for this, there is not room here to do so.

I think Tolkien was a more careful scholar and literary critic. When Tolkien criticised Lewis for putting Father Christmas in the same story with Fauns, Lewis replied that children do that sort of thing all the time in their own fantasies and that made it ok for his. I think Tolkien was something of a perfectionist. He reacted rather defensively when apparent inconsistencies were discovered in his own works. He would revise already published works in order to perfect them or interject some change he'd made in the order of his created universe.

Theologically they different in that Tolkien was Catholic while Lewis was Church of England. While conversations with Tolkien were instrumental in convincing an agnostic Lewis to embrace Christianity, Lewis became of apologist for the faith. Tolkien expressed disappointment that Lewis had not embraced Catholicism as well as Christianity. Tolkien was a committed Catholic and how these beliefs are expressed in his life and work are more integral in contrast to Lewis' direct approach.