#021: Catholicism in “The Lord of the Rings”

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings ranks near the top of almost every “favorite book” or “book of the century” list. Yet few readers know that Tolkien was a devout Catholic who infused his Middle-earth stories with Catholic themes and symbolism. In fact, the author stated, “The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision.”

In this episode, Fr. Blake and Brandon discuss these Catholic features, including Providence, the sacramentality of Middle-earth, three Christ figures, the Marian dimension, the philosophy of evil, and the eventual victory of goodness and beauty.

Links

• Book Recommendations
  • Frodo’s Journey: Discover The Hidden Meaning of The Lord of the Rings by Joseph Pearce
  • The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by Stratford Caldecott
  • The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview Behind the Lord of the Rings by Peter Kreeft
  • J.R.R. Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth by Bradley Birzer
  • The Battle for Middle-earth: Tolkien’s Divine Design in The Lord of the Rings by Fleming Rutledge
  • Tolkien’s Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages by Holly Ordway
• Other Links
  • Brandon Vogt – “8 Books on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Catholicism”
  • Frederic Heidemann – “I Was an Atheist Until I Read “The Lord of the Rings”
  • Steven Greydanus – “Faith and fantasy: Tolkien the Catholic, The Lord of the Rings, and Peter Jackson’s film trilogy”
  • Brandon and Fr. Blake’s Tolkien pilgrimage (photos + addresses)

Quotes about Lord of the Rings

“This book is like lightning from a clear sky. . . a reviewer need say little, except that here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron; here is a book that will break your heart. They will know that this is good news, good beyond hope. To complete their happiness one need only add that it promises to be gloriously long. . . As we read we find ourselves sharing their burden; when we have finished, we return to our own life not relaxed but fortified.”

C.S. Lewis on “The Fellowship of the Ring”

“Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament. . . . There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth, and more than that: Death.”

J.R.R. Tolkien on the Eucharist

“The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out practically all references to anything like ‘religion,’ to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and symbolism.”

J.R.R. Tolkien on “The Lord of the Rings”

“…there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you also were meant to have it. And that may be an encouraging thought.”

Gandalf explaining to Frodo the significance of the evil Ring being discovered by his uncle Bilbo, a humble hobbit

“I think it is true that I owe much of this character (Galadriel) to Christian and Catholic teaching and imagination about Mary. . . [On Mary] all my own small perception of beauty both in majesty and simplicity is founded.”

J.R.R. Tolkien on the Virgin Mary

“Snow-white! Snow-white! O Lady clear!
O Queen beyond the Western seas!
O light to us that wander here
Amid the world of woven trees!…
O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!
We still remember, we who dwell
In this far land beneath the trees,
Thy starlight on the Western seas.”

Elves singing hymn to Elbereth (Marian figure in “Lord of the Rings”

“[Lembas] had a virtue without which [Frodo and Sam] would long ago have lain down to die. It did not satisfy desire, and at times Sam’s mind was filled with the memories of food, and the longing for simple bread and meats. And yet this waybread of the Elves had a potency that increased as travellers relied on it alone and did not mingle it with other foods. It fed the will, and it gave strength to endure, and to master sinew and limb beyond the measure of mortal kind.”

Tolkien’s description of lembas, the waybread of the Elves, given to Fellowship in Lothlórien

“The hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known.”

Prophecy about the true king of Gondor (Aragorn)

“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”

Sam’s vision of beauty in “The Return of the King”