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Originally Posted by Raynor
The problem with these is that not them answers my question - regarding acts of pity that save the world..
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Yet essentially they all serve the same purpose. Christ shows us that having pity for others is the right thing to do; fairytales tell us the same thing by simple cause and effect.
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Well, the height of the story is the eucatastrophe; according to Tolkien, the greatest fairy-story produces the "essential emotion: Christian joy". Elsewhere, he notes that the religious truth should not be put out explicitly. Subcreation, which is the apex of an author's development, according to him, is also but a reflection of Truth. At least for him, the myth-maker, his work carried a potentially cathartic power, in the religious sense
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Tolkien calls it Christian joy because that's his faith; however I know exactly what he means even though I define it differently. That's Tolkien being subjective, as much as any of us can be on that idea. And calling it Christian joy also depends upon the person's experience of Christianity - where this has been poor or bad (or simply unknown), they would never call it Christian joy as the two could never be linked, but for others the relationship is a good one. It's joy all the same.