Having been born to a Methodist mother and a very German Lutheran father, I was brought up on the good old Sunday school, but have really found new ways to embrace my faith in the past few years. In my earlier days, they were just cool stories, but after having worked at a Christian camp and now attending a Christian college, I'm learning so much more about my faith and why I believe it. I'll admit, in my youth I believed only because my parents did: the faith of a child. And now retaining that, I can verify and confirm what I believe through what I have learned.
When I first read the Lord of the Rings, I noticed the underlying religious symbolism right away, but I didn't pay much attention until I became a member of this site and read over topics like
The Trilogy and the Bible and others of that sort. As for CS Lewis's work, I think it's obvious that The Chronicles of Narnia are purposely
meant to be an allegory for the Christian story and that the Lord of the Rings was merely an epic based on European myths which are tied to Christian belief. Lewis is, of course, a prominent theological writer and no one should take his allegory as his sly attempt to sneak us some religion in what we were supposed to take as a normal story. Anyone who reads
Mere Chistianity would immediately recognize the similarities between it and the Chronicles. But Lord of the Rings does, undeniably, have a foundation of Christian qualities, so it is expected to appeal to a large number from that group, but as has been said previously, it also draws form many other sources, making its following rather diverse.
Amanduial- I recently returned from Ireland where I was studying it's history and politics. Your story is amazing!
01-22-2006, 07:24 PM
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