Religious Symbolism in LotR

[Frelga]

* enjoys the learned exchange *

Back to the original topic - for a while I have wondered whether Tolkien was Jewish, based on what I gleaned from his work. If I ever get an attack of free time, I will try to compile a table of reasons for this impression. I do think his Catholic background shows the most clearly in the resolution of the story, where no hero is pure enough to overcome temptation on his own. =

While Tolkien's work is clearly influenced by his religious background, I don't find the quoted article particularly convincing. One can liken Frodo's ordeal in Mordor to Christ's scouring, but it is customary for authors to put their characters through horrible torments. And so on.

Incidentally, having your finger bitten off is not the same as stigmata, if I understand the word.

[Queen_Beruthiel]

Incidentally, having your finger bitten off is not the same as stigmata, if I understand the word.

No. Frodo like several other Tolkien characters is hand-maimed: Beren, Sauron. Which is nothing like stigmata.

If Tolkien's Catholic sensibility infuses LOTR (and I think it does) then so does his passion for Northern mythology. If Gandalf has aspects of the Christian idea of an angel, he also resembles an Old Testament prophet - and Odin.

[solicitr]

No. Frodo like several other Tolkien characters is hand-maimed: Beren, Sauron.

Maedhros. Gwindor. Even Gollum.

"Tolkien's fiction is primarily concerned with disputes over the ownership of jewelry, and the hand injuries that occur as a result."

[Pearly Di]

Back to the original topic - for a while I have wondered whether Tolkien was Jewish, based on what I gleaned from his work. If I ever get an attack of free time, I will try to compile a table of reasons for this impression. I do think his Catholic background shows the most clearly in the resolution of the story, where no hero is pure enough to overcome temptation on his own. =

Tolkien does sound like a Jewish name. So much so that his German publishers wanted to find out more about this in the late 1930s. Tolkien was furious and disgusted, since it was so obviously about ascertaining his 'Aryan' credentials. He fired off an awesome letter to his publisher, in which he lambasted Nazi anti-Semitism. I forget which no. letter it was (I am at work currently!) but it's a good 'un.

He also said that, alas, there was no Jewish blood in his family.

While Tolkien's work is clearly influenced by his religious background, I don't find the quoted article particularly convincing. One can liken Frodo's ordeal in Mordor to Christ's scouring, but it is customary for authors to put their characters through horrible torments. And so on.

I agree on all counts. Both about his Catholic worldview and about the article's analogies being rather heavy-handed. You can still see a 'Christian' sensibility in Frodo's sufferings in Mordor without overdoing it, if you see what I mean.

Incidentally, having your finger bitten off is not the same as stigmata, if I understand the word.

Yep, I thought that was a real stretch.

[Alatar]

Hey I didn't write it...

[Pearly Di]

We know.

[Frelga]

Tolkien does sound like a Jewish name. So much so that his German publishers wanted to find out more about this in the late 1930s. Tolkien was furious and disgusted, since it was so obviously about ascertaining his 'Aryan' credentials. He fired off an awesome letter to his publisher, in which he lambasted Nazi anti-Semitism. I forget which no. letter it was (I am at work currently!) but it's a good 'un.

Di, I read that letter, although I don't remember which one it was, either. It was a good 'un. Tolkien was a mensch by all accounts.

In my case, when I wondered whether Tolkien was Jewish, I was going by the content of his story, clues such as his description of afterlife, nature of men, and a few others. I have since reconsidered that theory.

Still, I think it is the strength of Tolkien's work that it is not a direct, item-by-item allegory of the Bible. After all, the Bible does an excellent job of telling the Biblical story already.

Al, yes, I know you didn't write it. It was a good way to open a discussion.

Soli, LOL!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Letter 30.

[Pearly Di]

Thanks, V-man!

In my case, when I wondered whether Tolkien was Jewish, I was going by the content of his story, clues such as his description of afterlife, nature of men, and a few others.

That's really interesting.

I had to look up 'mensch'. Cool.

Still, I think it is the strength of Tolkien's work that it is not a direct, item-by-item allegory of the Bible.

Exactly. It's interesting that he found the Narnia books by his fellow Christian Jack Lewis a bit too 'in your face'. (Me, I just love Narnia and accept it for what it is.)

After all, the Bible does an excellent job of telling the Biblical story already.

Word.

[Primula Baggins]

Narnia is dear to me, too, Di—but I think I can sense what Tolkien might have meant. I like stories that are about themselves, that you don't suddenly find out were really about Christ's love for the church or Original Sin or the Council of Nicaea.

I think a story comes closest to being about vitally important matters when it is true to itself, and its characters are true to themselves, all built around a moral core that is not tied specifically to one culture or one time. This is the essence of why I love LotR: Tolkien did this. It awes me.

This may also be why LotR is unusual among books in that it seems to draw people who may be outwardly quite different from each other—different cultures, languages, religious or philosophical beliefs—but who are able to recognize each other when they meet.

[Frelga]

Still, I think it is the strength of Tolkien's work that it is not a direct, item-by-item allegory of the Bible.

Exactly. It's interesting that he found the Narnia books by his fellow Christian Jack Lewis a bit too 'in your face'. (Me, I just love Narnia and accept it for what it is.)

Narnia is what it is, as you say. But I see what Tolkien means. Narnia is meant to be a religious allegory. As I've posted elsewhere, the reader must see Aslan as Jesus for the story to make sense. It is possible to see Jesus in Aragorn, or Frodo as the author of the quoted article has done, or Gandalf, but LOTR works just as well without making these parallels.

I think a story comes closest to being about vitally important matters when it is true to itself, and its characters are true to themselves, all built around a moral core that is not tied specifically to one culture or one time. This is the essence of why I love LotR: Tolkien did this. It awes me.

I will readily agree that Tolkien drew on the values of his Catholic background to create that world, but it is not necessary to be familiar with that background for Middle-earth to work as itself.

This may also be why LotR is unusual among books in that it seems to draw people who may be outwardly quite different from each other—different cultures, languages, religious or philosophical beliefs—but who are able to recognize each other when they meet.

again

Although here's an interesting observation - in Russian there were at least two widely known "apocryphal" reworkings of LOTR from the POV of the bad guys, the true heroes slandered by the winners who wrote history. I think in part those address the areas of Tolkien's moral universe that do not translate well into the Russian ethical system.

[MithLuin]

LotR is the story it is in part because its author was Christian (in particular, Catholic). But one could also say that LotR is the story it is because its author was a man, or an English man, or enamored of Norse myth, or a professor of Old English.

I cannot see an American, a woman, a fan of Greek myths or someone who didn't love languages writing the story. Namely because I've read the fantasy produced by all those people and it's nothing like LotR And, yes, I really don't see a non-Catholic author writing it, either, but a non-Catholic could probably get closer to the story we wound up with than a non-language professor .

So, yes, Tolkien was Catholic, and LotR reflects that, but such statements have to be taken in context - Tolkien's faith was hardly the only part of himself he put into the story. It can't be a mistake that so many of his characters lost their parents at a young age, and he did too. Or that he found it so hard to finish anything, and Bilbo and Niggle did, too. Or that he was on the shorter side, and all of his heroes were impossibly tall . Publishing this story was exposing his heart to be shot at because he invested so much of what he loved in the story.

I can see the Jewish thing. He was specifically describing a world that existed prior to the Incarnation. So, to be 'Christian,' the good guys have to be monotheists, and what is more, they have to be ready for the covenant in some way. No graven images, no temples, seldom speaking the name of God...this sounds very much like a people that can reject false idols. (I'm thinking specifically of the Oath that Cirion makes to cement his friendship with Eorl.)

There are a few aspects of the story that stand out as specifically Catholic, though. Not just Christian - Catholic.

The Lord and Lady of the Rings by Stratford Caldecott touches on some of these things. Another perspective is offered by Charles Coulomb.

Galadriel being a powerful and wonderful lady owes as much to Faerie as it does to Mary. But the hymns to Elbereth? That's a very specific acknowledgement, and mirrors Marian hymns.

Lembas, the waybread that feeds spirit and sustains hope as much as it strengthens the body...and becomes more potent when fasting from other foods? Well, we're in the midst of Lent now, and we know Tolkien's views on the Eucharist, so....

March 25th as the date when the Ring is destroyed. Yes, it's 9 months before Christmas, so it marks the Annunciation. That much could be viewed as Christian. But, Tertullian also makes it Good Friday and the day that Adam fell. I don't usually hear non-Catholics quote Tertullian, but I have to imagine that the traditional date of the Crucifixion coinciding with the destruction of the Ring is hardly accidental. Both the Annunciation and the Crucifixion are all about salvation.


I'm not saying these things can't be understood outside a Catholic world view. George MacDonald, in particular, could have written something rather similar - he has a character eat only bread and wine to cleanse him of a poison, and he has beautiful women who can almost be worshipped. But there is something uniquely sacramental in how Tolkien uses these motifs, and that is what makes it Catholic. The star of Eärendil giving off the light of a Silmaril, to be captured by Galadriel in her mirror and put into the Phial for Frodo? That makes perfect sense to me.

[solicitr]

Tolkien did say in a late interview (altho he had denied it elsewhere) that the beginning and end dates of the Quest, December 25 and March 25, were quite deliberate.

Of course, Tolkien also had his finger on the pulse of the pre-Christian world, as well; solstice festivals, and the old Julian New Year (as a day of end/beginning, fitting to Fall/Annunciation/Crucifixion).

[vison]

Excellent post, MithLuin.

[River]

Interestingly enough (as soli already pointed out), December 25 is right around the 1st day of winter and March 25th is right around the 1st day of spring. Easter also sometimes falls around then. In fact, there's a tremendous amount of overlap between traditional Celtic festivals and Christian holidays. Tolkien was too immersed in mythologies not to be aware of that. I don't think it would be possible to deconvolute his motivations in timing the Quest as he did. Maybe he had a number of other, mundane considerations that he was playing with that led him to set the entire Quest in the wintertime (though, interestingly, the only bit of winter nastiness we really read about is when they're trying to cross a mountain pass during storm season ). So the season was deliberate; the powerful start and end dates maybe more subconscious?

ETA: For some reason, Beren's loss of his hand makes me think more of Norse myhtology than Christianity. Tyr was a god who stuck his hand in a demonic wolf's mouth and got it bitten off. Sound familiar?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

How many places can you go where people use words like "deconvolute"?

[River]

**slinks off

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That was a compliment.

[solicitr]

Maybe he had a number of other, mundane considerations that he was playing with that led him to set the entire Quest in the wintertime (though, interestingly, the only bit of winter nastiness we really read about is when they're trying to cross a mountain pass during storm season ). So the season was deliberate; the powerful start and end dates maybe more subconscious?

No, it was conscious. In early drafts the Company left Rivendell on November 24, and no time passed at all in the outside world while they were in Lórien. T very deliberately pushed the dates back by lots of chillin' wid da Elves. "Too much takes place in winter'", says one note.

NB: and Frodo leaves Hobbiton right about the Autumnal Equinox.

[River]

I realize that the timing was deliberate, but the exact dates?