Tolkien’s Middle Earth shaped by his Catholicism

Eager eyes and willing ears filled the room as Lord of the Rings aficionados thronged to the University of Toronto’s Newman Centre to discuss hobbits, elves and all things Tolkien.

The latest Faith & Reason event saw the guest speaker and award-winning author, Dr. Holly Ordway, give an insight into her book Tolkien’s Faith – A Spiritual Biography. Ordway, an expert on the life of J.R.R. Tolkien, elucidated how his Catholic faith was a driving force behind the creation of the beloved series.

“When I wrote Tolkien’s Faith, I made sure that the book was not directly evangelistic. It’s simply treating his life as objectively as I can. So, I say in the beginning chapter, I’m a Catholic. But I’m just trying to be a guide to Tolkien’s faith,” Ordway said in an interview.

“I think this is a direly needed thing right now, because there are plenty of devotional books that draw on Middle Earth. But for people who aren’t Catholics or aren’t Christians at all, they need to know about this part of his life. From someone who they can trust is not trying to evangelize them at the same time.”

The Christian origins of the Middle Earth has been a longstanding topic of discussion. With Tolkien himself calling TheLord of the Rings “a fundamentally religious and Catholic work.”

Tolkien, who was born an Anglican, was confirmed as a Catholic shortly before his 12th birthday. He then went on to spend much of his childhood at the Birmingham Oratory after the death of his mother. Tolkien also had a keen fondness for the Oratory’s founder, St. Philip Neri, so much so that he took the confirmation name Philip and incorporated the letter P into his monogram.

During his time at the Birmingham Oratory, Tolkien was introduced to scriptural music.

St. Philip Neri believed that music was quintessential in keeping young men engaged. Following this idea, Oratories had musical evenings, interwoven with scripture readings, lectures and discussions. This, in turn, led to the creation of Oratorios, which were pieces of music specifically written for the Oratories.

“And it is worth considering if these Oratorios interweaving Scripture and music had a contribution to Tolkien’s accounts on the creation of Middle Earth expressed in musical terms.” Ordway said.

Tolkien was also introduced to Gregorian chant, which had a profound impact on him. Gregorian chant had a major influence on Tolkien’s Middle Earth. In fact, he even mentioned that a few of the songs in The Lord of the Rings were written to specific tunes, a notable song being the Elvish chant that was sung by Galadriel. This melancholic piece had stark similarities to the tones used in the book of Lamentations.

These similarities paved the way for philosophers like Peter Kreeft to give Christ-like attributes to characters like Frodo and Gandalf. Moreover, several writers have also compared the destruction of the ring to the Crucifixion.

Ordway states that in a lot of instances the characteristics aren’t as direct.

“The way that his engagement with Scripture emerges into his work was subtle. So, there aren’t any one-to-one correspondences. But you see for instance the figure of Mary. There are some connections with characters like Galadriel. More importantly, some characteristics such as her humility, become parts of the characteristics of the Hobbits for instance.”

She further added that the world of Tolkien’s Legendarium is infused with scriptural echoes, illusions, themes and virtues.

Ordway also believes the Catholic influences was not forced.

“It was not ostentatious. It was just a natural part of who he was and what he did.”