Locating Tolkien's Sacred Worldview

The degree to which The Lord of the Rings and the Tolkien legendarium as a whole were influenced by Christianity has often been a subject of debate. Tolkien himself claimed that The Lord of the Rings was a “fundamentally religious and Catholic work,” although not intentionally at first. Rather, religion and Catholicism were implanted into the story not overtly, as in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia (the lion is Jesus do you get it), but rather subconsciously through Tolkien’s greater worldview. Tolkien holds strong beliefs about love, language, and culture, that while derived from his Christian beliefs, are not religious in nature. In this way, The Lord of the Rings needs no religious allegories or metaphors to be Christian but rather must be imbued with the very values of Christianity. When Tolkien tells stories of love, sacrifice, faith, and courage, he is lauding the very same virtues that he derives from the Bible. Admittedly, however, Tolkien’s worldview is incredibly complex, as it is influenced by numerous different theological, philosophical, and academic schools of thought. So, how can we best understand Tolkien’s beliefs, on his own terms?

A great place to start is The Letters of JRR Tolkien. These letters provide perhaps the most candid picture of Tolkien, as they represent his most guarded communications and are often written to his close friends and family. While not much can be said surely about what Tolkien thought from his literature, and even much of his academia, many of these letters seem to be credible accounts of his own personal philosophy. In these letters he speaks directly, often revealing his most firmly held beliefs and his greatest challenges. In letters 54, 89, and 142, Tolkien talks about God and faith. By examining these letters, we may come to a better understanding of Tolkien’s worldview, and perhaps better understand how The Lord of the Rings follows from his Catholic underpinnings. 

Tolkien writes letter 54 to his son, Christopher Tolkien. In the letter, his purpose seems to be advice-giving. He begins with an interesting distinction between our two positionalities relative to God. As ‘souls with a free will,’ our purpose is in a way to ‘face God.’ In other words, as rational beings with the power to make decisions, humans are built to comprehend and worship God, as well as make moral decisions and engage in sub-creation. In another way, however, God is behind us, ‘supporting us, nourishing us.’ Not only do we owe our health, prosperity, and safety to God, but we owe our very existence. God is very much ‘behind us’ in the metaphysical sense. Causally, God sit behind each and every action and can be rightfully praised for all good things. At this point, Tolkien shifts tone and gives Christopher advice for if he ‘cannot achieve inner peace,’ which Tolkien admits few can and himself ‘least of all.’ He suggests that his son seeks out song, ‘the gift of glee, which God gave him.’ Tolkien ends the letter cuttingly: “All down the ages men (of our kind, most awarely) have felt it: not necessarily caused by sorrow but sharpened by it.

In letter 89, Tolkien writes again to Christopher. He tells Christopher of a vision, ‘or perhaps a perception which at once turned itself into pictorial form in [his] mind.’ Sitting in a church, he describes perceiving ‘the light of God.’ He describes it as composed of millions of motes, with only one directed to his own mind. He goes on to describe how it seemed as if a single ray of light seemed to appear, which he calls the Guardian Angel of the mote: ‘not a thing interposed between God and the creature, but God’s very attention itself, personalized.’ Tolkien claims that this personalized light is in a way itself a finite being, in the same way that ‘as the love of the Father and Son.’ In my opinion, this passage represents an interesting an unexpected facet of Tolkien’s religious belief. I interpret this passage as describing a direct, personal line between us and God. Particularly I attached to the line ‘not a thing interposed.’ In a way, this seems a more Protestant interpretation, all though it by no means runs at odds with Catholic doctrine. 

Letter 142 was sent to Roben Murray in response to his critique and commentary on The Lord of the Rings. It is in this letter that Tolkien directly addresses the question of religion in his work, and it is indeed here where he claims LOTR is ‘fundamentally’ Catholic and religious. He admits to neither adding nor removing religious imagery from the text and rather claims that religion is ‘absorbed’ into the story itself. However, this isn’t because he intentionally wrote the story that way, but rather because of the way that he is. Tolkien says that his faith has taught him all that he knows, or in other words has shaped his most fundamental beliefs. Lord of the Rings is a religious and Catholic story, but only insofar as Tolkien himself is religious and Catholic. At first this seems a weak connection; that LOTR is only a Christian story by a technicality. This, however, underestimates how heavily Tolkien is influenced by his faith, and how heavily LOTR is influenced by Tolkien. Religious life and sacred belief are his guiding principles, and his whole self is poured into his literature. For Tolkien, every story, every moment, exists within the context of the ‘greater story’: the immaculate conception, crucifixion, and resurrection. Everything in a way mirrors or reveals some part of this ‘greater story.’ LOTR is no exception: when Tolkien wrote it, he echoed universal, eternal truths.

—JW