tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746173806126403959.post1977348729523700962..comments2023-11-07T06:20:12.181-08:00Comments on Tolkien: Medieval and Modern: A Very Disagreeable Feeling Indeed "Tolkien: Medieval and Modern"http://www.blogger.com/profile/04348913969813157482noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746173806126403959.post-14541193326053699712014-06-05T19:27:13.890-07:002014-06-05T19:27:13.890-07:00Just as a continuation of meditation on faith, I&#...Just as a continuation of meditation on faith, I'm not exactly in agreement with the idea that those who believe but are not practicing are actively sinning, persay. Faith is a journey--a work in progress. To truly believe, one must engage with one's faith--and that is something that intrinsically takes time. Faith is not passive. If you don't engage, you stagnate; and that is exactly how I consider the Hobbits. Stagnant.<br /><br />If those who believe but do not practice are stagnant, then we do have a concern. However, it is a fundamental belief in Christianity that God is forgiving; we have but to reach out to Him and enrich our relationship with Him. Would it be too wrong to say that the true error of those who are non-practicing believers is that they do not seek to enrich themselves by enriching their relationship with God?<br /><br />-MAM"Tolkien: Medieval and Modern"https://www.blogger.com/profile/04348913969813157482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746173806126403959.post-80255101961835124132014-06-04T18:34:01.708-07:002014-06-04T18:34:01.708-07:00Elaina Wood. Sorry about that.Elaina Wood. Sorry about that.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03983433500476292014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746173806126403959.post-27833523296841682482014-06-04T18:18:22.459-07:002014-06-04T18:18:22.459-07:00Great post, it’s nice to get your perspective on t...Great post, it’s nice to get your perspective on the religious undertones present in The Lord of the Rings. One aspect of the story that I think is significant is that, in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit at least, the spiritual nature of Middle Earth is never thrust upon us – rather, we hear of the Valar, of Iluvatar, and of the legends of the path only through the stories and songs of the immortal elves.<br /><br />We never actually see the Valar in either of Tolkien’s traditional novels. Certainly we hear tales of Elbereth, and we see the power her name holds over evil peoples, but there are no actual interventions of divine or angelic powers into the events of the War of the Ring. In this sense, Middle Earth is remarkably similar to the primary world. There exist in the modern world no real, definitive examples of divine existence or involvement. Those who believe in God derive their beliefs from stories of the past, and from the effects their personal faith has on their own lives.<br /><br />How, then, is religiosity inherent to the world of Middle Earth? Certainly you could read it as Tolkien intended, as a world of free peoples faithful to the divine powers in Valinor and beyond the Earth. However, you could view the elves and Numenoreans just as you would any religious person today, as faithful individuals following a religion of which they have no definitive proof, with the tales of the Silmarillion as a scripture of sorts, an account handed down from past generations.<br /><br />There is a major caveat in that there exist in Middle Earth several individuals who have actually met the Valar (Galadriel, Gandalf, Sauron, etc.), which implies their stories are a bit more verifiable than real myths. Still, the separation of Valinor from Middle Earth provides us with a level of separation from the divine that mirrors our real world.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07734559114576900308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746173806126403959.post-9213569724596108932014-06-04T11:55:40.193-07:002014-06-04T11:55:40.193-07:00Name?Name?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16340002157728895236noreply@blogger.com