Melkor; Evil by Will or Evil by Nature?

[Kalessin]

Interesting post, and touching on themes that inevitably take us closer to 'Trilogy and Bible' territory.

It was his intent to write these as a Pre-Christian Mythology for England. Therefore it is unwise to put in christian comparisons to a work that he has stated is not to be Christian.

I cannot bear to rehash everything from that other thread, but I would question the intent to create 'Pre-Christian' mythology. I would say, rather, a mythos that is non-referential-to-Christianity (or one consistent with itself), but one that is inevitably informed by Tolkien's own culture and faith. I think 'comparisons' (or theoretical contextualising) to Christianity, or to the tenets of Catholicism, ARE possible with an appropriate sense of perspective. Of course we are not talking allegory here, or quid pro quo symbolism, but - as Tolkien himself said - a 'nature of divinity' that could be understood by one familiar with the Holy Trinity. And in addition, a traditional Christian morality underpinning the narrative, that culminates in the triumph of Good over Evil rather than a restoring of yin-yang equilibrium.

I also said that the Darkness came from Iluvatar. This does not mean that Iluvatar is evil only that he has both Light and Dark

As above, I am not sure that the somewhat more Eastern or humanist idea of the necessary coexistence of Good and Evil (or Light and Dark as pathways to either) is entirely appropriate with regard to interpreting Tolkien. It seems to me that a reasonably traditional Christian sensibility - in that Evil is not symbiotic with Good - is at work. In the end, the victorious conclusion of each struggle is the utter defeat of evil, and it doesn't appear to me that evil is ever accepted or tolerated as "part of the cosmic balance" or other such framework.

This is indeed the philosophical contradiction that Christianity must wrestle with in relation to free will, as I discussed in a previous post. But I'm not convinced that it is correctly resolved in terms of the Silmarillion by inferring a moral sensibility antithetical to Tolkien's own faith, and where there are so many narrative elements (and the author's contextual writing) which imply a particular absolutist worldview. In fact, the contradiction as such is just not a big part of Tolkien's works at all.

I am content not to have a clear external solution (or resolution) to the issues of pre-determination, free will, good and evil that can be found in Tolkien's work - just as I cannot resolve these issues in 'real life' [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]. We can intuitively deal with the themes of the narrative, with such conundrums present, through our imagination - our suspension of disbelief, the application of our particular spiritual worldview, our ability not to rationalise everything we perceive and experience, and so on.

By the way, I find the sub-topic "how do I (we) know that God is good?" fascinating, although perhaps too directly theological to justify lots of time on a Tolkien message board [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]. But if anyone knows a place where we can go and thrash it out, let me know!

Peace [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]