Christianity - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Sparrow · 01-16-2004, 11:02 PM

I'm not sure why people think this is a touchy subject. Tolkien was a Catholic, and his work was "consciously [Catholic] in the revision." While he "thoroughly dislike[d] allegory in all of its manifestations," surely the fact that he imbued his works with Catholic morals makes it open to religious interpretation to an extent. However, since the morals expressed in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion are for the most part the base morals of major religion as we know it today, and since with no level of specificity does Tolkien equate his characters with Biblical figures, there is no reason why people of any religion can't enjoy it and glean from it what they will.

~Sparrow

01-16-2004, 11:02 PM	#1
Sparrow Animated Skeleton Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Paris Herself Posts: 28	I'm not sure why people think this is a touchy subject. Tolkien was a Catholic, and his work was "consciously [Catholic] in the revision." While he "thoroughly dislike[d] allegory in all of its manifestations," surely the fact that he imbued his works with Catholic morals makes it open to religious interpretation to an extent. However, since the morals expressed in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion are for the most part the base morals of major religion as we know it today, and since with no level of specificity does Tolkien equate his characters with Biblical figures, there is no reason why people of any religion can't enjoy it and glean from it what they will. ~Sparrow __________________ Were kisses all the joys in bed, One woman would another wed. -Bill Shakespeare