Introduction
Tolkien is today one of the most widely read authors in the world. The Lord of the Rings has sold over 150 million copies, not counting Peter Jackson's films, which introduced Middle-earth to entire generations. But can you really call Tolkien a "Christian author"? He himself described himself as a devout Roman Catholic, and yet he carefully removed from The Lord of the Rings any explicit reference to faith. This talk from evening conference 72, led by Yannick Imbert, professor of theology and apologetics at the Faculté Jean Calvin in Aix-en-Provence, invites you to explore this paradox. You will discover how a Christian can create a work deeply consonant with his faith without ever naming it, and why this approach continues to inspire people today.
Message Outline
1. Tolkien and His Personal Faith
- A committed Roman Catholic, attached to the faith passed on by his mother Mabel, who died at 34 from diabetes and, according to him, was abandoned by her Methodist family because of her conversion to Catholicism.
- A faith tested by the religious persecution felt in early 20th-century England, where being Catholic almost meant not being "very English."
- A deeply personal faith expressed in his letters to his children, especially to his son Michael: advice on marriage, on hope during wartime, on Christian virtue.
- A striking definition of faith he gave to his correspondents: "an act of will inspired by love." Not an imposed tradition, but a personal commitment.
- A very strong attachment to the Eucharist, which he considered "the only cure for a flagging faith," which he received almost daily in churches near Oxford.
2. Three Ways to Be a "Christian Author"
- Sense 1, The author calls himself a Christian. Obvious for Tolkien, but this doesn't automatically make him a "Christian author" in the strong sense.
- Sense 2, The author's explicit goal is to expound the faith. This is not the case for Tolkien: he never said he wanted to communicate the faith through his work.
- Sense 3, The author has faith as an anchor, as a foundation, as a structuring inspiration. This is where it gets interesting, and this is what Tolkien claims in his famous Letter 142 to Father Robert Murray: "The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work... the religious element is absorbed into the story and symbolism."
3. Why Remove the Christian References?
- Tolkien did not primarily want to write in order to convert readers. His stated goal was to create a mythology for England, not for Great Britain nor for the British Isles, but specifically for England.
- This mythology was historically set before the coming of Jesus Christ. So there could be no explicit Christian references without anachronism.
- This is why he criticized the Arthurian cycle, which he considered imperfectly English, too explicitly Christian (the Grail, the cup of the Last Supper), and "perverted by the French."
4. Consonance Without Identity: Allegory, Applicability, Typology
- Conscious and deliberate allegory, Tolkien rejects it. It imposes a single meaning on a symbol (Galadriel = Mary, the Ring = sin, lembas = the Eucharist), and this removes all freedom from the reader.
- Applicability, Tolkien claims it. It "resides in the freedom of the reader," whereas allegory "resides in the purposed domination of the author." One example: the universal virtue of humility, embodied by Sam Gamgee, which speaks to every reader regardless of culture or faith.
- Typology, proposed by Yannick Imbert as a complementary reading. It is not a strict equivalence, but an incomplete evocation, comparable to the way the New Testament evokes the Old (Christ "son of Adam" in Luke, tempted in the wilderness like Adam in Genesis 3).
5. Three Christological Offices in Middle-earth
- Aragorn, the royal type, His kingship is proclaimed only after the final victory before the Black Gate, never before. His reign is marked by peace, rebuilding, and the end of tears (an echo of Revelation 21). His hands are those of a healer, a traditional sign of the rightful king, like the healings of Jesus in the gospels.
- Frodo, the priestly type, He carries the Ring alone, in sacrifice for others, all the way to the Cracks of Doom in the heart of Mordor. Gandalf describes him as "alone," misunderstood by Boromir and Denethor. The overall impression of sacrifice is unmistakable, without ever being named.
- Gandalf, the prophetic type, Sent to Middle-earth not to take up arms himself but to guide and encourage the free peoples. He is first and foremost a spokesman and guide, which is the primary definition of a biblical prophet.
6. Case Study: The Reincarnation of the Elves
- The realization came from a writing accident: in the first volume, Tolkien named an elf Glorfindel, without realizing he had already used that name for another elf who had died 9,800 years earlier.
- Two options: two different characters bearing the same name (unconvincing), or the same character brought back to life (reincarnation). Tolkien, ever the perfectionist, chose the latter and would spend nearly twenty years making it consistent with his Catholic faith.
- 1954, A letter to a correspondent, never sent: "Reincarnation may be bad theology," but perhaps a possible mode of existence for certain incarnate rational creatures.
- 1958, Laws and Customs among the Eldar, The spirit is restored into a new body, by order of the Creator God Eru Ilúvatar, through the Valar as instruments. It is never the elf who reincarnates himself.
- 1959, The Converse of Manwë, An unsatisfactory solution: in Christian theology, personal identity unites a single spirit to a single body. A new body breaks that identity.
- 1966, Tolkien rejects simple rebirth as a child. He prefers the restoration of the same body and the same spirit by the Valar.
- 1972, final version, Consolidation: it is indeed the same person who returns, with the restoration of his own body. Consonant with the Christian faith, without being a copy of it.
7. A Differentiated Anthropology by People
- The elves are naturally immortal. Their spirit can voluntarily separate from the body, an option Tolkien describes as "terrifying," almost an abomination. They can also communicate by thought at a distance and open or close their minds to others.
- Men receive death as "a gift of God." They cannot voluntarily separate their spirit from their body. This is very consonant with classical Christian anthropology.
- The dwarves have seven founding fathers who can periodically return to life. A page and a half in his entire body of work.
- In every case, the separation of spirit and body is never the goal. The promised future is the final reunion of body and spirit, when Tolkien's God makes all things new, a direct echo of eschatological resurrection and of Revelation 21.
Key Takeaways
- Tolkien was a devout Christian, a Roman Catholic, and his faith was the deep anchor of his personal life, nourished by letters to his children and by an almost daily practice of the Eucharist.
- A "Christian author" is not necessarily someone who writes about faith. Tolkien demonstrates that one can create a work that is "fundamentally religious and Catholic" while removing every explicit reference to faith.
- Faith shines through in the story itself, absorbed into the narrative, through the characters, universal virtues like Sam's humility, and discreet christological typologies (Aragorn as king, Frodo as sacrifice, Gandalf as guide).
- Tolkien prefers applicability to allegory, because it respects the reader's freedom instead of imposing a single reading.
- The reincarnation of the elves shows how Tolkien struggled for twenty years to reconcile his myth with his theology, without forcing the one or betraying the other. He seeks consonance, never identity.
- His approach still inspires Christian artists today: the beauty of art and the depth of faith can be in harmony, without art needing to be turned into a mere instrument.
Personal Application
- Do you expect an author to tell you what he thinks, or do you allow him the freedom to suggest it through his story?
- When you read, listen to, or watch a work of art, do you first look for a message, or do you accept being moved by a beauty that points you to something greater?
- If you are a Christian and you create (writing, music, image, code), do you feel the pressure to be "explicit"? What changes for you in the idea that your faith can be the silent soil of your art rather than its slogan?
- The virtue of humility embodied by Sam speaks to every reader of Tolkien. Where is this virtue being tested in your own life?
- Tolkien spent twenty years making a single detail of fiction consistent with his theology. Is there an area of your life where you accept this patience of coherence, rather than the comfort of the shortcut?
Verses Cited
- Genesis 3 · The fall of Adam and Eve, a typological reference evoked by Luke.
- Luke 3 · The genealogy of Jesus ending with "the son of Adam, the son of God."
- Luke 4 · The temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, placed right after the genealogy.
- Ephesians 1 · The Father put everything under Christ's feet and appointed him head over everything for the church.
- Revelation 21:4 · "There will be no more mourning or crying or pain," an echo of Aragorn's restorative reign over Minas Tirith.
Further reading
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we really say that Tolkien was a Christian author?
Yes, but not in the sense that he sought to communicate faith explicitly. Tolkien himself clearly defined himself as a Roman Catholic. He states in his Letter 142 that The Lord of the Rings is "fundamentally a religious and Catholic work." His faith is the unconscious, then conscious, foundation of his work. He simply chose to absorb it into the story rather than expound it.
Why did Tolkien dislike allegory?
He rejected what he called "conscious and deliberate allegory": the kind that imposes a single meaning on a symbol. For him, this type of allegory strips the reader of all freedom of interpretation. He preferred what he called applicability: a work that leaves room for the reader's thought and experience, without dictating a single possible reading. The difference is crucial: allegory belongs to the author, applicability belongs to the reader.
Isn't the reincarnation of the elves contradictory to the Christian faith?
That is exactly the question that tormented Tolkien for nearly twenty years. Classical reincarnation breaks personal identity (one spirit in multiple bodies). So he developed his solution until he arrived at a restoration of the same body and the same spirit by the Valar, by order of the Creator God Eru. The result looks more like a form of resurrection ahead of its time, consonant with the Christian faith, without being a copy of it. Yannick Imbert even proposes speaking of "reincarnation by resurrection" rather than "reincarnation by restoration."
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