NEWS FEATURE: Pastor Sees Link in Tolkien’s Catholicism, `Rings’ Trilogy

c. 2003 Religion News Service BIRMINGHAM, Ala. _ The late Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien, author of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings,” has experienced a new infusion of popularity with the success of the first episodes of a trilogy of movies based on his fantasy novels. The Rev. Richard Donohoe, pastor of St. […]

c. 2003 Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. _ The late Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien, author of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings,” has experienced a new infusion of popularity with the success of the first episodes of a trilogy of movies based on his fantasy novels.

The Rev. Richard Donohoe, pastor of St. Paul’s Cathedral here, taught a class in late June, “Tolkien, Myth and Catholicism,” in which he drew out how Tolkien’s faith affected his writing.


Donohoe said he read “The Hobbit” when he was in the fourth grade and “The Lord of the Rings” when he was in the sixth grade, and has studied Tolkien’s writings frequently since then.

“The Fellowship of the Ring” _ the first of the “Lord” trilogy of books _ and its sequel, “The Two Towers,” have been turned into films by Peter Jackson and were, Donohoe said, “larger than my expectations. I love them because I enjoy Tolkien so much.”

The third movie, “The Return of the King,” is scheduled for release Dec. 17.

The first two volumes in the book trilogy appeared in 1954, 17 years after “The Hobbit,” which attracted a large following in the 1960s and has sold an estimated 150 million copies worldwide. Tolkien died in 1973.

They are stories about a quest and the struggle between good and evil, with very little obvious reference to religion. But the stories are undergirded by Tolkien’s “biblical, classical understanding of the fall _ mankind’s willingness to abandon their creator, God, for their own divinity,” Donohoe said.

Unlike his friend C.S. Lewis, a former agnostic whom Tolkien helped lead to Christianity, Tolkien did not make direct allusions to biblical events. Lewis’ lion, Aslan, in “The Chronicles of Narnia” was an allegory for Jesus and his writing was full of direct Christian symbolism.

“One was an allegorical writer; one was not,” Donohoe said. “Tolkien’s faith and what he believes is part of his work. It is not intended to be allegorical.”

Tolkien infused the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy with moral teachings and truth that have deep spiritual implications about human nature. “The concept of sacrifice is rampant throughout the story,” Donohoe said.


“I would describe them as he does, as explorations of myth,” Donohoe said.

“He was a language scholar,” Donohoe said. “He understood the concept of myth better than most of us. He understood the concept of storytelling. He said the greatest myth is the myth of Jesus Christ, which happens to be true. Myths can be true. He uses myth and metaphor together.”

Tolkien created a pre-Christian world in which good battled evil.

There are characters who represent evil, such as Saruman, a good wizard turned bad. There are characters who represent good, such as the hobbits, and Gandalph, the wizard who helps them as they seek to destroy a ring that symbolizes the power of evil. Gollum, a creature obsessed with desire for the precious, powerful ring, is somewhere between good and evil, representing the struggle in the human heart. Gollum’s obsession with the ring is a submission to sinfulness that distorts his true being. The hobbits are tempted by the ring but resist its power.

“The fall is part of myth,” Donohoe said. “The fall for Gollum is the loss of his being through greed and for wanting the ring.”

There are no forthright representations of God, except in nature.

“I see essences of what God represents, especially as it relates to the environment,” Donohoe said. “Saruman’s destruction of the environment is a destruction of the creation, which is a slash against God.”

For Donohoe, the way Tolkien’s faith infused his writing holds a lesson.

“Here’s a Catholic author who wrote myth, and he can’t help but use themes from his Catholicism because they are part of his being,” Donohoe said. “As a Catholic, he believed so strongly it permeated everything he did. We can use our faith in such creative ways also.”

Although Donohoe finds Tolkien enlightening, hobbits don’t make it into his sermons.

“I have never quoted from Tolkien in a homily,” Donohoe said.

DEA END GARRISON

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