Barley is out of the thread, which means that this is a really hot topic. (Hi,
Barley!) I am merely passing through, so if Dave hits me, I guess I can tolerate the blow…
Tolkien was a deeply religious man. He and Hugo Dyson were the people who led C.S. Lewis to convert to Christianity. Lewis and Tolkien both recorded the event separately, but their stories match; I’d love to provide a citation tonight, but I cannot.
One thing I can cite is Tolkien’s own testimony to his son Michael, who was apparently suffering a crisis of faith, recorded in Letter 250, dated 1 November 1963 (pp 337-338 in my edition):
You speak of ‘sagging faith’... In the last resort faith is an act of will, inspired by love. Our love may be chilled and our will eroded by the spectacle of the shortcomings, folly, and even sins of the Church and its ministers, but I do not think that one who has once had faith goes back over the line for these reasons (least of all anyone with any historical knowledge). ... The temptation to ‘unbelief’ (which really means rejection of Our Lord and His claims) is always there within us.
…
It takes a fantastic will to unbelief to suppose that Jesus never really ‘happened’, and more to suppose that he did not say the things recorded of him
I think that is a strong statement about how Tolkien felt about Christianity; there is a great deal more in the letter, but I am not certain that Dave would be too happy about my inflaming a thread and then departing for several more months: it will suffice to show that Tolkien wrote these words, and that there is strong evidence in many other
places that he really believed them.
HLGStrider (Hi,
HLGStrider, and congratulations!) is absolutely correct in asserting that Tolkien hated war: of his childhood and university friends, I believe he writes that he was one of less than a handful of survivors. (Again, I’d like to provide a citation and quotation, but can’t tonight. Someone else might…) His letters show considerable concern for Michael and Christopher, both of whom, I believe, served in World War II: Christopher did, I know, because
The Lord of the Rings was mailed to him (to a post South Africa, if I remember correctly?) in serial format as Tolkien wrote and rewrote it.
But as to religion, Letter 142 To Robert Murray, SJ (“SJ” means Murray was a Jesuit), written Wednesday 2 December 1953 (p. 172 in my copy), Tolkien wrote,
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 the symbolism.
A draft Letter 153 To Peter Hastings (“manager of … a Catholic bookshop in Oxford”), dated September 1954 (pp-187-196), has something more.
The immediate ‘authorities’ are the
Valar (the Powers or Authorities): the ‘gods’…
to which is added a long footnote (pp 193–194)
There are thus no temples or ‘churches’ … among ‘good’
peoples. They had little or no ‘religion’ in the sense of worship. For help they may call on a
Vala (as
Elbereth), as a Catholic might on a Saint… I do not think
Hobbits practiced any form of worship or prayer (unless through exceptional contact with
Elves). The
Númenóreans … were pure monotheists. But there was no temple in
Númenor (until
Sauron introduced the cult of
Morgoth). The top of … Meneltarma … was dedicated to
Eru…, and there …
God was … praised… Among the … remnants of
the Faithful … religion … seems to have played small part; though a glimpse … is … in
Faramir’s remark on ‘grace at meat’…
In another missive to Murray, Letter 156, dated Thursday 4 November 1954 (pp 200-207), concerning religion within the contact of the narrative, he wrote,
The
High Elves ... had no 'religion' (or religious practices...) for those had been in the hands of the gods [noparse][[/noparse]i.e., Valar[noparse]][/noparse], praising and adoring Eru '
the One' ... on the Mt. of
Aman.
…
The Númenóreans [noparse][[/noparse]were[noparse]][/noparse] monotheists ... like the Jews ... with only one physical centre of 'worship': the summit of the mountain Meneltarma...; [noparse][[/noparse]They[noparse]][/noparse] had no building and no temple, as all such things had
evil associations. But they 'fell' again...
Sauron ... got
Ar-Pharazôn’s mind under his ... control, and ... corrupted many of the Númenóreans, destroyed the conception of Eru, now represented as a mere figment of the Valar ..., and substituted a Satanist religion with a large temple [noparse][[/noparse]for[noparse]][/noparse] the worship of [noparse][[/noparse]Morgoth[noparse]][/noparse].
In fact, whenever “organized” religion appears in
LOTR, it seems almost always associated with corrupted practice and belief, and is, as far as I can tell, always associated with Morgoth, his servant Sauron, or Sauron’s servant the
Witch King.
The one exception might be Tolkien’s reference to the
Blue Wizards, who are said to have been “founders or beginners of secret cults and ‘magic’ traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron,” in
Letter 211 to Rhona Beare, dated Tuesday 14 October 1958 (pp 277–284). (My impression is that this might be in imitation of Morgoth and his attempts to dominate
Men and Elves, just as
Saruman’s fall – and apparent demand for worship – was in imitation, or at least certainly in the same error as, the acts of Sauron, with whom he was in contention for the position of “dominant”
Maia in
Middle-earth, for which
Gandalf cast him from the order of
Istari. Sauron, of course, not only demanded and received the worship of his mortal followers, but at the end of
the Third Age, actually claimed to be Morgoth returned.) He then goes on to say,
The Númenóreans ... were Hebraic and even more puritan ... there is practically no overt ‘religion’, or rather religious acts or places or ceremonies among the ‘good’ or anti-Sauron peoples in The Lord of the Rings.
This quotation is just above the lovely sketch of a
Númenórean king with an Egyptian-style crown on p 281, where there is a footnote to this citation that reads,
Almost the only vestige of ‘religion’ is seen on II pp. 284–5 [noparse][[/noparse]in Tolkien’s edition of LOTR at the time[noparse]][/noparse] in the ‘Grace before Meat’. [noparse][[/noparse]Númenórean[noparse]][/noparse] theology is reduced to ‘that which is beyond Elvenhome and ever will be’...
A draft letter 297 in August 1967 (pp 379–387) is unfortunately edited. The published portion ends with the statement,
We are in a time when the One God, Eru, is known to exist by
the wise, but is not approachable save by or through the
Valar, though He is still remembered in (unspoken) prayer by those of Númenórean descent.
followed by the editorial comment,
The text ends with a brief discussion of Númenórean religion.
which is, of course, what we would like to know.
-0- (Late addition...)
I believe that, regarding Númenórean religion, the sovereigns (e.g.,
Elros Tar-Minyatur,
Elendil,
Aragorn Elessar, and all their descendants) acted as priest-kings, leading what public, congregational worship there was; in Númenor, there were three public worship services atop Meneltarma dedicated to Eru (see
Unfinished Tales, “Description of the Island of Númenor”) which were led by the
King of Númenor; but there does not seem to be any such service in Middle-earth, and the (sacred) hallow above
Minas Tirith on Mindolluin seems to be
- not atop the summit, as upon Meneltarma;
- far too small to accommodate any but a few worshippers at any one time; and
- unlike Meneltarma, generally available only to, or at least visited only by, the kings.
Finally, there is a long discussion that touches upon religion, and seems to be a deliberate foreshadowing of a Messiah, that appears in
Morgoth’s Ring in Part 4, “Athrabeth
Finrod ah Andreth” (translated, “Debate of Finrod and Andreth”), but that is simply outside the scope of this thread, I think; besides, I’m exhausted and out of time altogether.
Hope this information is helpful and noninflammatory.
And now, I really must return to the salt mines of Núrnen…