Christians and LOTR

[Amy Z]

Kathryn wrote:

> Perhaps it's in part because while based in some ways on our world 
Middle
> Earth is clearly not our Earth whereas JKR's world is ours. 

Well, maybe that misperception is why people who won't let their 
children learn the geological explanation of Earth's origins will 
embrace Tolkien's world.  But it's just not true.  Tolkien *is* 
presenting a history of Earth, our Earth; in his imagining, we are 
the descendants of the Men of Middle-Earth.

> And really JRRT
> was very clear that what he was creating was a mythology for 
England similar
> to Scandinavian and Celtic mythology - so while it is bound to 
encompass
> Christian themes (because the man was a Christian and that is bound 
to come
> through) it is an entirely fantasy work in the way that the Narnian 
tales
> are not (since they are allegorical). 

And a much better work for the same reason.  Allegories get boring, 
and to the extent that Narnia is an allegory it is on the flat side.  
Once you crack the code and get over the excitement of who-equals-
what, a pure allegory has little to offer, IMO.  Luckily, Narnia is 
also a great story, which is why so many of us enjoyed it long before 
the Christian symbolism dawned on us.

> It annoys me when people
> flat out assume that all fantasy lit is the same

Very true.

> And seriously - there are good bits in the Silmarillion? So it 
really is
> worth me trying to plough my way through it? Becuase I have it on 
audio tape
> read by Martin Shaw and I've never got past the first side - it's 
the best
> cure for insomnia I've ever found. 

LOL!  My dh and I have been reading it as bedtime reading, and for a 
while there we were getting through about a paragraph a night before 
I would drop off.

But it does pick up, honestly.  Just don't listen to Martin in the 
car in the meantime, or you may drive into a ditch.

Amy Z
whose religion practically *requires* her to read HP AND LOTR