From: jchokey@leland.Stanford.EDU (James Alexander Chokey)
Subject: Re: C.S. Lewis  (Re: Jumping to conclusions in r.a.b, etc.)
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 08:45:29 GMT

In article <1992Jul29.231449.16635@pbhyc.PacBell.COM> djdaneh@PacBell.COM (Dan'l DanehyOakes) writes:
>In article <1992Jul29.184153.399@leland.Stanford.EDU> gere@umunhum.stanford.edu (Susan Gere) writes:
>
>>Gentle Readers, I can fleetingly regret that I am what he calls later 
>>in this same story so "modern"* that I can read the above with but one 
>>interpretation.  And so it is for some with Christian-like images. It's
>>unfortunate, and one of the things that makes Tolkien a superior writer
>>of fantasy. His acquired Catholic faith does not show through to middle
>>earth much at all (thank you, Jeyzus).
>
>Um.  Acquired?
>
>JRRT was *raised* Catholic by his mother.
>
>

	Well, just to clarify things.  Tolkien's mother converted to 
Catholicism in 1900, when JRR was around 8 or 9. (Technically speaking, he
had been christened/baptised an Anglican.)  She began raising  the
children (whose father had died some years before), in a Catholic way 
thereafter.  She died fours later, and JRRT was then "raised" by Father
Francis Morgan, a Catholic priest, and his official guardian.  Under his
tutelage, Tolkien maintained and cultivated the Catholic beliefs into
which he was introduced by his mother.

	Personally, I think Tolkien's Catholicism shows through at many points
in his fictional work--  particularly in LOTR. (Although I concede that it
is not nearly as blatant or as obviously allegorical as in Lewis's fiction.)
It's almost a truism to point out the strongly Augustinian concept of evil
that pervades the trilogy--  that evil consists of a vitiation of the good.
(The evil creatures are simply "fallen" or degenerate forms of previously
good creatures, and some, like the Nazgul, are completely without physical
form.)  I cannot help but think of lembas (the Elven waybread) and miruvor 
(the healing liquor of Rivendell) without calling to mind the bread and wine
served at the mass.  (That's not exclusive Catholic, of course, but it
certainly is part of ritualistic Christianity.)  And, though I concede that
this is far more tenuous, I even think there are some connections that can be 
made between Galadriel and the Virgin Mary. Galadriel, of course, is neither
particularly virginal or maternal-- but she does serve as a sort of protector,
and even of an object of devotion.  (I'm thinking particularly of Frodo and
Sam's calling upon of Galadriel during the Shelob episode, and of Gimli's 
unusual devotion towards her.) This might _really_ be pushing it, but I 
even can't help but wonder whether one could regard the phial which she gives
to Frodo, and the hairs she gives to Gimli, can be regarded as the Middle-
earth equivalent of religious relics--  as objects formerly belonging to
her which confer power, protection, and even a sort of "grace" upon their
possessors.  (Don't forget that Gimli becomes the first Dwarf ever to 
journey westward into the Undying lands--  and it's said specifically that
it is because of his love of Galadriel that he is able to make that journey.)

	
	--  Jim C. <jchokey@leland.stanford.edu>