The Fellowship of the Ring (the book)

I just finished reading The Fellowship of the Ring.  J.R.R. Tolkien published it in 1954.  It formed the first volume of a trilogy, The Lord of the Rings.  I will write about the trilogy in another post, most likely when I have finished all three book.

As I will explain in more depth when I write about The Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Rings follows the story of The Hobbit.  However, while Tolkien wrote that book (The Hobbit) around 1932, and finally had it published in 1937, it took almost 20 years for Tolkien to write the follow-up story.  I will explain this delay when I post about The Lord of the Rings.

The Fellowship of the Rings picks up on the story of Bilbo Baggins, the hero of The Hobbit, who celebrates his 111th birthday at the beginning of the story.  Weary of life, he decides to leave the Shire, his home, and leave everything he owns to his nephew, Frodo Baggins, including the magical ring in adventures Tolkien earlier wrote about in The Hobbit (or as revised in a second edition).

Frodo eventually finds out that he has accidentally received a ring of power, devised by a powerful dark lord, Sauron. As the story develops,he finds out that the only way he can deliver the world (middle earth),

from certain domination by Sauron, is to destroy the ring in the fires where it was forged, in Mount Doom.  He knobbly undertakes an adventure to Mount Doom in order to destroy the ring with the fellowship of a wizard (Gandalf), two men (Aragon and Boromir), three hobbits (Sam, Merry, and Pippin), a dwarf (Gimli), and and an elf (Legolas) - a company called the Fellowship of the Ring.  Their adventures follows through this book to the break-up of their Fellowship.

More importantly, the book allows Tolkien to work out several themes, often with Christian elements since he was a devout Catholic, such as

the corrupting influence of power, the inevitability of decline, and how myths tend to promote the gospel message.

In addition, Tokien fills The Fellowship of the Rings with songs and singing (often as poetry), emphasizes the rewards and dangers of the road, the importance of paying attention to prophecy, the importance of symbols such as the rings of power, the sword of Elendil (the sword which long ago almost killed the Dark Lord), and the Mirror of Galandriel which shows the future, explains the present, or recalls the past.

Anyway, Tolkien, a philologist who avidly studied the stories and legends of the past, drew the best from that tradition in order to enrichen our age.  I strongly encourage the study of this book as an avid way of understanding our age, as many do - who often read it on a regular basis.  (My doctor confessed on a recent visit that she has read it four times already.)

Tolkien, along with his good friend, C.S. Lewis, believed that good storytelling was the best way to introduce a general audience to the good news of the gospel.  They worked vigorously in this endeavor.

If you haven't read The Fellowship of the Ring, I strongly urge you to read this book.

The Two Towers

The Hobbit (the book)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (film)

The Lewis Tolkien Friendship

Theology

Many friends of mine disdain any talk of theology.  Yet they quickly share thoughts about God, Jesus Christ, the Church, or at least, spirituality - all which involves, or at least touches upon issues of, theology.

Yet, since its origins, the Church, then composed of early Christians, discussed and developed theology.  In one sense, any talk about God, Jesus Christ, etc., usually involves theological issues.  It might not involve what might be called formal theology - like what you might find taught at a seminary - but it still involves what some might call an informal, or practical, theology (some might call it an undisciplined theology).

Catechism

On a simple level, theology involves the study of God.  So early on, the Church saw the preparation of candidates for baptism as involving theology, which it called catechism, based on a Greek word which means to teach orally (though many catechisms are now written down in the form of questions and answers).  These truths often developed into the sermons and homilies of the early church.

All orthodox Christian traditions agree Holy Scriptures provides the supreme authority for all Christian teachings, while tradition often, or usually, provides the means for interpretive understanding of Scripture - the two work hand in hand. However, all agree Scripture does not set forth teaching in any sort of systematic manner.  Instead, Scripture usually sets revealed truth within the context of the historical, or of prophecy, or of poetry, or of allegorical story-telling, or of parables, or of letter-writing in a non-systematic manner.  Thus, one of the important role of Christian theology involves taking the revealed teachings of Scripture, and then organizing it in a systematic manner of stating revealed truths.  As such, it stands as the organizer of Christian thought.

We best understand the role of theology as a good attempt to get as close to the thoughts of God as possible.  Another way we can understand it involves the hidden structure of Christianity.  Much as we cannot see the hidden structure of the steel beams of skyscraper, we often might not see the hidden theological structure which supports the faith that provides our spiritual life.

In another analogy, theology often provides the backstory of our faith and beliefs, much as Tolkein wrote an extensive backstory in the Silmarillion, starting long before he wrote The Hobbit, or The Lord Of The Ring trilogy, or like George Lucas wrote a back story to the Star Wars story.  The backstory provides the structure and form for the story we so much enjoy.  If we remove that structure and form, much like the building falls apart, so does the story falls apart, and so does our Christian beliefs fall apart.  We then become vulnerable to many beliefs, including non-Christian beliefs. Historically, bad theological beliefs leads to false beliefs and eventually a false Christian faith.

In general, I encourage study of solid Christian theology - it provides structure and backbone to our beliefs.

Perelandra

I finished reading Perelandra by C.S. Lewis, which he completed in 1943, as the second book in his Space Trilogy.  I previously posted on his first book in that trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet.

In this book, Lewis gets to explore the question - what would have happened if Eve had not given in to the temptation posed by Satan in the Garden of Eden?  In the story, the planet Perelandra (Venus) stands as a newly created planet by Maleldil (Jesus Christ - the Creator as the second person of the Trinity), who placed a woman (Tinindril - the Queen) and a man (Tor - the King) there in a fantastical Garden of Eden setting, where they are naked without shame.  None of it has yet been spoiled by the Fall.

Archon (Satan) comes as a man from earth, Weston, to tempt Tinindril.  We saw Weston before in Out of the Silent Planet, where, as an atheist, he sought to conquer Malacandra (Mars), but failed.  In the meantime, he converted to a spiritualist dedicated to the "Life Force"), and later shows signs of demon possession or control.

Water largely covers Perelandra, with many islands which float on the waters and undulate with the waves.

Perelandrian Island

 It contains one large fixed land, but though Tinindril and Tor visit it by day, Maleldil forbids their staying overnight and sleeping on the fixed land.  Weston sets out to convince Tinidril (Eve's counter-part) to disobey this command and to stay overnight and sleep there.

The Oyarsa (the angelic protector) of Perelandra, acting in concert with the Oyarsa of Malacandra (Mars) to summon and transport Elwin Ransom, the protaganist in Out of the Silent Planet, to help Tinidril resist the temptation by Weston, though he does not know this at first.  It proves a challenge as Weston is very clever - the Queen is very innocent - and Ransom often finds it difficult to explain evil to someone unfamiliar with it.

Eventually, Ransom succeeds, but you will have to read the book to find out how.  However, it involves a long, drawn out fight, with the future of Perelandra hanging in the balance.  Eventually, Ransom gets to see how a planet turns out when sin is rejected.  It also explores themes about the nature of God, the nature of mankind, the nature of good and evil, the sovereignty of God and free-will, among others, in a story setting instead of a theological setting.

Lewis, a medieval scholar, also incorporates much of the medieval cosmology in creating an imaginative setting for his story.

I will go on to read the last story in the Space Trilogy, That Hideous Strength.

Out of the Silent Planet

That Hideous Strength

The Lewis Tolkien Friendship