On social media some folks have been engaging in a debate over whether The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is Christian/Catholic. Some argue that is is just a fantasy and set in a pagan world.
But Tolkien himself said it is Catholic. In a letter to Father Robert Murray, SJ, he wrote: The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like 'religion', to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism."
Yes, the world is "pagan" one, but it is seen through a theological lens. Tolkien included such theological elements as: The battle between good and evil, the victory of humility over pride, and the activity of grace (such as seen in Frodo's pity toward Gollum. It includes such themes as death and immortality, mercy and pity, resurrection, salvation, repentance, self-sacrifice, free will, justice, fellowship, authority and healing.
Frodo's struggle with the ring and it's malevolent influence reminds one of the line from The Lord's Prayer: "And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
Tolkien also noted, "Of course God is in The Lord of the Rings. The period was pre-Christian, but it was a monotheistic world." And the God of Middle Earth, he said, is our God. "The book is about the world that God created – the actual world of this planet."
(I recently added a copy Tolkien's Faith: A Spiritual Biography by Holly Ordway to my "to-be-read" shelf!)
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