In today’s newsletter I’ve got both a review of a recent release on Tolkien’s liturgical imagination and a roundup of recent Tolkien Treasures,1 or Tolkien-related content that I’m currently enjoying and want to share with you all. Let's get right to it!
The debate whether The Lord of the Rings is a Christian story has a long history, with passionate and eloquent arguments on both sides. Whether you are for or against the premise, one cannot go far at all into the debate without dealing with Tolkien’s own words on the subject in Letter 142:
The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision.
How exactly do we take this statement? What does it even mean for something to be “unconsciously [religious and Catholic] at first, but consciously in the revision”?
In The High Hallow: Tolkien’s Liturgical Imagination, Ben Reinhard sets out to illuminate an under-examined aspect of Tolkien’s description of the religious and Catholic nature of The Lord of the Rings. Much of the discussion to date has focused on parsing what “unconsciously” and “consciously” could mean, especially in the order Tolkien arranges them.
However, the meaning of “fundamentally religious and Catholic” has been assumed to be rather plain and obvious. Is it, though?
Take “fundamentally,” for example. Citing Carl Hostetter’s argument in The Nature of Middle-earth, Reinhard similarly argues that “fundamentally” is not just an intensifier, meaning “a really really religious and Catholic work” but actually refers to the *foundation* of The Lord of the Rings (2).
What is the religious–and specifically Catholic–foundation of Lord of the Rings? Reinhard’s thesis is that it is the Catholic liturgy: “the ordered and regular prayer of the universal Church” (4). The liturgy that Tolkien lived and prayed in his personal religious practice so profoundly shaped Tolkien’s imagination and thought that it permeates Middle-earth generally and Lord of the Rings specifically.
This, then, would explain how Tolkien could say that The Lord of the Rings was both unconsciously and consciously a work whose foundation is Christian thought and practice: if he was so deeply impacted by worship that it shaped him even at the level of creativity and imagination, than anything he created would be impacted, even unconsciously so, by his Catholicism.
Reinhard spends the book grounding this thesis in Tolkien’s religious biography (Chapter 1: A Liturgical Life”), exploring the connection between Faerie and Liturgy (chapters 2 and 3), examining religion in Middle-earth generally (Chapter 4 on the role of worship in Middle-earth), and then exploring the connections between Middle-earth and Advent (Chapter 5) and Easter (Chapter 6).
I found the argument of the book to be especially persuasive in several areas. Reinhard’s examination of Tolkien’s personal piety and just how deeply the Catholic liturgy influenced his imagination was both fascinating and convincing. The discussion of the religious patterns and practice among both the Elves and the Númenóreans in Chapter 4 was some of the strongest material in the book (particularly the connection between the twin hallows of Meneltarma in Númenor and Mindolluin above Minas Tirith). And the connections between The Lord of the Rings and both Advent/Christmas and Easter explored in chapters 5 and 6 are strong as well.
Other parts were less convincing. For example, in Chapter 4, Reinhard attempts to show how the Hobbits’ travels in LOTR “enchant” them, transforming them from almost entirely ignorant of religion to returning to the Shire having each encountered the holy (in Lórien, through Faramir’s knowledge of both Númenórean practices and Elven lore, etc.), having a sacrificial death and rebirth, and transformed into “missionary king-priests” (101). It is a creative reading of the tale, to be sure, but not perhaps the dominant–or most fundamental–lens to their story.
Overall, however, Reinhard’s investigation in The High Hallow of the liturgical foundations of The Lord of the Rings is captivating, persuasive, and makes good sense of Tolkien’s description of The Lord of the Rings as both unconsciously and consciously a fundamentally religious and Catholic work. As a general survey of Tolkien’s work that touches not just on LOTR but on much of the rest of Tolkien’s writings, The High Hallow also provides justification for further work in this vein—provided explorers take care to not delve too greedily and too deep.
The publisher provided me with a review copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Tolkien Treasures
1. New LEGO® LOTR Balrog Book Nook
Earlier this week, LEGO announced a new Lord of the Rings set that will be released on June 1. Unlike previous sets from recent years—Rivendell, Barad-dûr, and the Shire—this is a smaller set (which translates to a relatively smaller price tag of $129.99).
This set depicts Gandalf’s battle with the Balrog and can either be displayed unfolded in full detail or folded up and nestled between your collection of Tolkien’s works.
I love this scene and the whole look of this set: hopefully it’s one of many like it to come.
The latest in a set of recent new box sets collecting Tolkien’s works, this “Myths and Legends” set includes four works set outside of Middle-earth. Two are translations of classic works of literature, and two are Tolkien’s own compositions inspired by events or tales from history:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (translation)
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún (original)
The Fall of Arthur (original)
Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary (translation)
Like the other sets, these are hardcover and feature reversible dust jackets.
Tolkien’s three “Great Tales”—The Children of Húrin; Beren and Lúthien; and The Fall of Gondolin—were already available in a box set, but this year a new version will be released that matches the four previous History of Middle-earth sets and the Myths and Legends set above.
This new set releases on August 19, but you can preorder it now!
I recently finished Andy Serkis’ version of The Two Towersafter listening to his version of The Fellowship of the Ring last month and am continuing on with his version of The Return of the King. It’s a wonderful way to spend my commutes and I highly recommend his version.
Audible is currently having a sale where the first three months are $6.95 each, so you could pick up the whole trilogy at that discounted price!
There we have it: my Tolkien Treasures for May!
What have you been enjoying lately (or will enjoy soon) that is Tolkien-related? Let me know in the comments!
Namárië, friends. Go towards goodness!
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I remember Bilbo, and I remember Frodo. But I'm drawing a blank on Lego... 🤔😅
Thanks for the book review. I will have to pick it up. I just finished Holly Ordway’s spiritual biography of Tolkien and really enjoyed it.