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Voices in Tolkien: Aquinas, The Lord of the Rings, and True Myth in the Twenty-First Century by Allen Barry Robertson A Thesis Submitted to Atlantic School of Theology, Halifax, Nova Scotia in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts (Theology and Religious Studies) April 2017, Halifax, Nova Scotia Allen Barry Robertson, (c) 2017 Approved: David Deane Associate Professor of Theology Approved: Rob Fennell Acting Academic Dean Approved: Michael D. C. Drout Professor of English (Wheaton College) 2017 !1 Abstract “Voices in Tolkien: Aquinas, The Lord of the Rings and True Myth in the Twenty-First Century” By Allen Barry Robertson Abstract: J. R. R. Tolkien in his writings both in fantasy literature and critical reflections clearly shows his passionate religious faith, deep knowledge of mythology and the significance of language in understanding cultural formation. His Catholicism links him to the great transmission of Church teaching most notably that of the foremost medieval philosopher and theologian St. Thomas Aquinas. It is not surprising therefore to find that Tolkien’s masterpiece The Lord of the Rings [1954/55] resonates in accordance to his religious world view. Primary importance can be ascribed to the Thomist discourse on the Virtues [the four cardinal and three theological virtues] and the concept of the Good. This study undertakes to explore how the Virtues and the Good are realized in the main personages of The Lord of the Rings, and how these are transmitted in film and associated adaptations by way of the Internet to a wide-spread audience. The answer is sought as whether the voices in Tolkien are being heard in the Twenty- First Century. !2 Contents: Prologue ….. 4 Introduction: Story Teller, Theologian: Why Tolkien and a Saint? ….. 14 Chapter One: Modes of Thought: Tolkien, Aquinas and The Lord of the Rings ….. 28 Chapter Two: Iluvater and the Flame Imperishable: Thomas and the Good ….. 51 Chapter Three: Faery, Myth and Eucatastrophe: Tolkien’s Vision ….. 73 Chapter Four: The Lord of the Rings and Related Writings: Words, Themes and the “King’s Laws” ….. 95 Chapter Five: Poetry and Hymns: Medieval Lyrics, Thomas and Tolkienism ….. 132 Chapter Six: Set it down in a Book for them the Remember: Public and Cultural Response to The Lord of the Rings ….. 178 Bibliography: ….. 198 !3 Prologue: The title of my thesis introduces three stages of investigation into my unifying theme - the Virtues and the Good - from their explication by Thomas Aquinas, to Tolkien’s actualization of the same in his book, and how that legacy is brought into a new mythic setting in the present. I have come to this subject matter from two perspectives - that of a Tolkien reader with a particular interest in the author’s contributions as a lay theologian and how Tolkien’s Catholicism has transmitted Thomist teachings into the Twenty-first Century.1 The rebirth of Tolkien enthusiasm through popular culture and media raises the question of whether either aspect of J. R. R. Tolkien’s main work - The Lord of the Rings - its Catholic underlay and Thomist realization in the principle characters, have likewise been brought into the present day in an effectual manner. Specifically I was interested in how the Seven Virtues and the concept of the Good as distilled in the writings of Thomas Aquinas may be heard today through Tolkien’s virtue based fantasy literature and as harmonized in his exposition of sub-creation and eucatastrophe.2 It was necessary in order to answer these questions to explore links between Aquinas and Tolkien, to offer an introduction to the Virtues, lay out Tolkien’s theological premises and discuss how these were actualized in The Lord of the Rings. The Catholic Church of Tolkien’s youth had re-emphasized the legacy of Thomas Aquinas. Father Francis Morgan, Tolkien’s guardian, 1 Allen B. Robertson, “Two Paths to Joy: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien on Joy and Eucatastrophe” in Both Sides of the Wardrobe: C. S. Lewis, Theological Imagination, and Everyday Discipleship, ed. Rob Fennell (Eugene, Oregon: Resource, 2015): 20-31; Allen B. Robertson, “Tolkien and Narrative Theology: Story, Hope and True Myth” (Unpub. paper, 2013) 2 J. R. R. Tolkien, The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, ed. Christopher Tolkien (Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin, 1984) !4 possessed a copy of the great Summa Theologica, which became Tolkien’s replete with his own annotations. Hence there is no counter-argument that the Lord of the Rings author was unfamiliar with the medieval theologian and philosopher. His own statements in correspondence and lectures furthermore reveal that his Catholic insight was as much a part of his writings as were his mastery of philology, northern European mythology and the saga tradition.3 It was Tolkien’s exploration of sub-creation and eucatastrophe which legitimately places him in the sphere of a theologian similar to his contemporary C. S. Lewis. The writings of Aquinas have supplied this analysis with the unifying framework for Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance - the Four Cardinal Virtues, together with Faith, Hope and Love - the Three Theological Virtues - provided Tolkien with discernible characteristics for his main personages both in their positive aspects and in the negated opposites or absence.4 Aquinas’s great goal, the Good, in effect bracketed his own theological synthesis wherein the Good is equated with our origin and end in God.5 Here is the parallel with medieval romance epitomized in the Grail Quest: the sought after end is perfection. Tolkien propelled the narrative beyond this literary precedent by showing that even though 3 Thomas Wagner, “Lord of the Rings appeals to Christians. Tolkien, a devout Catholic, drew on his faith to create trilogy” in Halifax Herald [Nova Scotia] 2002 Feb. 2 Saturday; Stratford Caldecott, The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision of J. R. R. Tolkien (New York: Crossroad, 2012); John Seland, “Dante and Tolkien: Their Ideas about evil” in Inklings Forever 5 (2006) 4 Peter Kreeft, Summa of the Summa: The Essential Philosophical Passages of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica Edited and Explained for Beginners (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1990); Josef Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues (University of Notre Dame Press, 2006; 1st pub. 1966) 5 Cf. “Pope John Paul’s Address to the Eighth International Thomistic Congress - 13th September 1980” L’Osservatore Romano 20 Oct. 1980: 9-11. Avery Dulles, “John Paul II and the Renewal of Thomism” Nova et Vetera 30, no. 3 (2005): 443-58 !5 appearing to fail - as Frodo did at the Cracks of Doom with the One Ring - nonetheless the Good had reached out already to bring him literally and figuratively from the brink. This is the sublime message of Aquinas, that though the Virtues transform and guide one to the Good, in the end it is divine grace which supplies the defect in mortal frailty. Hidden in each individual is the Imago Dei which is adumbrated in the Summa Theologica and is the basis for Tolkien’s sub-creation concept. Eucatastrophe which to Tolkien was his way of expressing the direct participation of God in creation - temporality and materiality - to create the unexpected “happy ending” which is that which enables the creature to return to its ultimate source, is likewise bound up in the Imago Dei of Aquinas. The Virtues as analyzed by Aquinas are modes of thought and existence which propel one along life’s pilgrimage toward its desired end. That is to say the Virtues are not ends in themselves. In the course of my dissertation I make reference to architecture in The Lord of the Rings, and by analogy to the fashion in which the Summa Theologica (as well as Summa Contra Gentiles) is constructed. The Virtues are philosopher’s stones capable of transforming that which is base into something precious; the wounded nature of humankind can be altered into a spiritually elevated being. This is not an appeal to theurgic catalysts. Each virtue possesses worth and creativity because each flows from the source of all things - the perfection that is God. To conform one’s life to the Virtues is to draw closer to an unfettered fulfillment of one’s potential.6 Materiality is replaced akin to Aquinas’s definition of Transubstantiation - the form remains but 6 Rebecca Kondyck DeYoung, Colleen McCluskey and Christian Vandyke, Aquinas’s Ethics: Metaphysical Foundations, Moral Theory and Theological Context (University of Notre Dame Press, 2009); Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt, Holy Teaching: Introducing the Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazor Press, 2005) !6 the substance is changed. The person likewise may be said to be subject to the Orthodox concept of deification - the in-filling of the Holy Spirit by which Christ lives fully in the transformed individual. This many faceted viewing of the Virtues is reflected in Tolkien’s sub-creation belief - we create in imitation of the Creator, and are the creations of that Creator who continues to mould us over the course of our lifetimes. Tolkien’s challenge in The Lord of the Rings was to infuse the Virtues into a fantasy world that was pre-Christian; indeed it was a pre-Judeo- Christian cosmogony. The Virtues were the splinters of the greater Light refracted into his world just as elements of Truth are refracted into past mythological narratives across all cultural boundaries. Tolkien’s Christian understanding placed the Incarnation and the Resurrection in a temporal and eternal nexus. Both were predicated on God’s creation of humanity and God’s drawing humanity to God’s Self. The eucatastrophe of the Incarnation and Resurrection as the unexpected happy ending was given attention in Tolkien’s lecture on Fairy Stories using - as I have stated above - the idea of fragments of Truth in myth which anticipated the foregoing.
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