Tolkien's Views on Creation and Evolution

[Huinesoron]

I agree with Legate that continuing to list examples of Christian (or indeed Norse) themes in Tolkien's writing is off-topic for this thread, and I'm sorry for contributing to it.

R.R.J., it would be really interesting if you could copy out some of that Inklings evolution discussion. I've not run up against any relevant quotes anywhere else (and don't own the Inklings biography), so it's possible that quote is the only basis for discussion.

Coming back to Myths Transformed, I thought I'd compile a few actual quotes from the collection that have bearing on Tolkien's thinking.

Originally Posted by MT 1

When however (no matter how little most people know or think about astronomy) it is the general belief that we live on a 'spherical' island in 'Space', you cannot [write a Flat Earth cosmology] any more.

This quote is actually... really weird. Tolkien isn't saying that he wants his story to be more true to life; he's saying that it's fundamentally wrong to write a story that conflicts with the majority understanding of nature. More and mor, it feels like Tolkien viewed everything as a story, rejecting objective truth entirely and basing his judgements solely on 'what most people believe'.

Originally Posted by MT 2

[Elven] legends should have a closer relation to the knowledge now possessed of at least the form of the Solar System (=Kingdom of Arda); though it need not, of course, follow any 'scientific' theory of its making or development.

'Scientific' in quotes yet again.

Originally Posted by MT 2

[Melkor's first attacks] will, roughly, correspond to supposed primeval epochs before Earth became habitable. A time of fire and cataclysm.

This section also directly references 'the orbit of Earth', and also insists that the Sun has to be coeval with the Earth.

And that is... Actually about it. MT then moves on to discuss later events, and does so mostly in-universe; we don't get anything else that sheds light on Tolkien's thinking behind the changes. Well, so it goes.

hS