[ElanorGamgee]

It is hard to explain, but as I have read the works of Tolkien and Lewis (my two favorite authors), although the novels of both of the writers to me convey Christian messages, they do so in different ways.

I began reading Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia when I was about seven or eight years old, beginning with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and progressing slowly through the series as I grew more interest in his works. Even at a young age Aslan's sacrifice for Edmund clearly reminded me of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. It is nearly allegory, although I suppose the series serves more as a parallel to Biblical truths. However, not all of The Chronicles of Narnia distinctly reminded me of the Bible. Only two others carried this affect in my experience; The Magician's Nephew reminds me of the creation of the world in Genesis and The Last Battle alludes the end of the world and the triumphal return of Christ. In The Space Trilogy, a great deal of the story does not remind me of a specific instance in the Bible, but several factors clearly allude to Christian beliefs. For example, Maledil the Young is obviously Jesus, for he went into Thulcandra, or earth, and died in order to save the people from "The Bent One," or satan. In Perelandra, The Bent One possesses Weston to tempt the Queen of Perelandra to disobey the order of Maledil, just as in Genesis satan takes the body of a snake to tempt Eve to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. So, in Lewis' fantasy novels the allusions to the Bible are usually obvious and nearly allegorical, but do not necessarily carry through the entire work.

Tolkien, on the other hand, seems to weave Christian themes throughout his entire novel, but in a manner more subtle than Lewis. The Ring, for example, to me symbolizes temptation and sin; therefore it must be destroyed. There is a battle between good and evil, and good ultimately prevails. The force of good is stronger than that of evil. The evil ones are corrupted from the good; Melkor rebelled against the Valar and Eru to seek power for himself. Orcs were derived from elves. There are themes that are not exclusively Christian but prevalent in the Bible: self-sacrifice, brotherly love, good coming through evil situations (Gollum and the Ring, for example), and repentance, just to name a few.

So, I guess in my opinion the theology in Lewis' novels is more apparent, but the theology in Tolkien's novels is more subtle and woven throughout. I hope this post makes sense... [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[ September 13, 2002: Message edited by: ElanorGamgee ]