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"But Grace is Not Infinite": Tolkien's Explorations of Nature and Grace in His Catholic Context

2013; Mythopoeic Society; Volume: 31; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

0146-9339

Phillip Irving Mitchell,

Violence, Religion, and Philosophy

Of course do not mean that Gospels tell what is only a fairy-story; but do mean very strongly that they do tell a fairy-story: greatest. Man story-teller would have to be redeemed in a manner consonant with his nature: by a moving story.--J.R.R. Tolkien, Letters 100-101; to Christopher Tolkien Others destroy gratuity of supernatural order, since God, they say, cannot create intellectual beings without ordering and calling them to beatific vision.--Pius XII, Humani Generis (1950) Paul Kerry's recent edited volume, The Ring and Cross: Christianity and The Lord of Rings, reminds us that role of J.R.R. Tolkien's Roman Catholicism in interpreting his continues to be a subject of a lively debate, especially in regards to use of his letters. Whether there might be a Pagan, as well as a Catholic Tolkien, whether The Lord of Rings can or should be read as a great Christian work, even while many readers remain unaware of Tolkien's religion, are questions that, suspect, will continue to be discussed for time to come. (1) My goal in following is not to insist upon normativeness of positions that can be acquired from Tolkien's letters, or even to argue for legitimacy of such readings, though my essay perhaps assumes this. Neither do intend to focus upon correspondences between lembas and Eucharist, Marian echoes in Galadriel and Varya, or Christian kingship of Aragorn. Instead, want to draw attention to a Catholic context that made such theological readings possible, one that supported Tolkien in affirming separate validity of pagan, even while positioning it within his larger Catholic structure of beliefs. Thus, with hesitation, cite ubiquitously quoted 1951 letter to Robert Murray, then training to become a Jesuit: But, to tell you truth, though praise (or what is not quite same thing, and better, expressions of pleasure) is pleasant, have been cheered specially by what you have said, this time and before, because you are more perceptive, especially in directions, than any one else, and have even to me more clearly things about my work. think know exactly what you mean by order of Grace [...]. That is why have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like 'religion', to cults or practices, in imaginary world. For religious element is absorbed into story and symbolism. (Letters 172) Notice that Tolkien wrote back to Murray, thanking him for having revealed to me more clearly things about my work and himself admitting that this involved the order of Grace. What will argue is that positioning of and Christian elements was at heart of Catholic concerns with nature and grace, and that Tolkien, grateful to have Murray help him discover that such grace was present in his long labor, would see order of Grace as calling for an account of relationship of natural and supernatural in his secondary worlds. In following am not attempting to establish direct influences on Tolkien's thought, though do note connections and friendships as they arise. Instead, am concerned with establishing that Catholic Tolkien moved in educated circles that would have shaped his general concerns with theological implications of what he had already created. As he told W. H. Auden, I don't feel under any obligation to make my story fit with formalized Christian theology, though actually intended it to be consonant with Christian thought and belief (Letters 355). Furthermore, he felt that it is some test of consistency of a mythology as such, if it is capable of sort of rational or rationalized explanation (Letters 260). Tolkien's Catholic context would have inclined certain readers (including himself and Robert Murray) to notice and locate nascentally Christianizable elements in pagan cultures, and this impulse (though it may appear as terribly exclusive and judgmental to non-Christian readers) in Tolkien's context was actually concerned with showing how a Catholic Christian could hold on to and praise good in those non-Christian cultures. …