Don't you find it interesting...

[daughter-of-eve]

I was in a Christian (I guess you can say bookstore) yesterday and found all sorts of Narnia related items. I looked, but couldn't find a single Lord of the Rings related thing. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were good Christian friends. So why wouldn't there be LOTR stuff?


I guess it might be because you can see the Christianity ties with the Chronicles of Narnia easier, but I thought the ties with LOTR is just as easy. Don't you find it interesting? I'd like to hear your views on this subject

[lamer]

Oh, it's all profit my friend. :) It was very much the same when LOTR was big in the theatres, at least for me it was.

Though I did find it easier to discover Christian elements within the book as Lewis intended...

[CSLewisFan]

I agree, right now Narnia is VERY profitable.

Calendars, new versions of book sets, video games, posters, magazines... right now, there is profit in Narnia.

I bought the LOTR books from my local Christian book store.
I just think that Narnia is the next big thing, so people are more inclined to sell it.

-Austin

[daughter-of-eve]

I guess you two are right. But it just seemed odd, because LOTR was VERY BIG and still is, even after years of being released. But even when LOTR was in theaters and popular, I didn't find a single thing about it in any Christian store. And I didn't even find a lot of Narnia things. All I found yesterday was the books and the soundtrack from the movie and a couple keychains. It wasn't a whole lot of variety.

Have you ever heard of Lifeway?

[lamer]

Lifeway? Yeah, I've been there several times.

Humans have the element of favoritism in them, and I think it might be the case here if not popularity of Narnia... I don't think it's a deliberate offense towards Tolkien, but rather just the fact they like Narnia more and thus stock Narnia stuff.

[daughter-of-eve]

That's a good point. I didn't really think of that

[inkspot]

I think that's probably it -- Christians are far more aware of Lewis/Narnia because in addition to being an author of children's books, he was a prominent "spokesman" for Christianity, and the Narnia books had CLEAR Christian parallels. Many Christians don't even realize the spiritual parallels in LOTR ...

[Son of Aslan]

Many Christians don't even realize the spiritual parallels in LOTR ...

Indeed,


The heroes of the story being the physically weakest characters (hobbits - when I am weak, then I am strong)
The Ring itself provokes concupiscence, selfishness, and creates for it's bearer a long, but miserable life. Just as scripture teaches that sin will cater to the flesh, but misery will be the ultimate result. (He that loses his life shall save it - Sin is pleasurable for a season)
A sword that let's its owner know evil is near (sting) (the sword of the spirit)
And it glows blue (the biblical color of grace - study the high-priest's garment for more on this).
The elves being celestial beings like angels
The orcs are a dark and corrupted perversion of elves like demons?
And wizards being set-apart for special purposes (the prophets), instead of just humans learning magical arts (like Harry Potter).
A Steward to guide until the rightful king comes (Denethor, The Law)
The death of the the Steward's sons (Boromir and Faramir), as noble as they were, neither could ever assume real leadership of Gondor (God's Kingdom).
And of course, the central Christian theme in LotR, a vagabond living a humble and meager lifestyle (a ranger, Aragorn) being promoted through sacrifice to being King, which was his rightful place all-along, but he had humbled himself in order to secure a land to be king over.

Christ's place was king all along, but had to humble himself and take on the form of a servant in order to secure them that love him.

Very profound indeed, but much more deeply imbedded than in the CoN. It is a very well-known fact that Tolkien hated direct allegory, but there is no denying that Christian influences seeped into his Hobbit series.

Incidentally, ChristianBook.com has mucho resources on Tolkien and the Hobbit series. LINK (http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?nav_search=1&event=ESRCN&action=Search&N=4294964245&in_dim_search=1&Nu=product%2Eendeca%5Frollup)

[FallOfFingolfin]

Indeed,


The heroes of the story being the physically weakest characters (hobbits - when I am weak, then I am strong)
The Ring itself provokes concupiscence, selfishness, and creates for it's bearer a long, but miserable life. Just as scripture teaches that sin will cater to the flesh, but misery will be the ultimate result. (He that loses his life shall save it - Sin is pleasurable for a season)
A sword that let's its owner know evil is near (sting) (the sword of the spirit)
And it glows blue (the biblical color of grace - study the high-priest's garment for more on this).
The elves being celestial beings like angels
The orcs are a dark and corrupted perversion of elves like demons?
And wizards being set-apart for special purposes (the prophets), instead of just humans learning magical arts (like Harry Potter).
A Steward to guide until the rightful king comes (Denethor, The Law)
The death of the the Steward's sons (Boromir and Faramir), as noble as they were, neither could ever assume real leadership of Gondor (God's Kingdom).
And of course, the central Christian theme in LotR, a vagabond living a humble and meager lifestyle (a ranger, Aragorn) being promoted through sacrifice to being King, which was his rightful place all-along, but he had humbled himself in order to secure a land to be king over.

Christ's place was king all along, but had to humble himself and take on the form of a servant in order to secure them that love him.

Very profound indeed, but much more deeply imbedded than in the CoN. It is a very well-known fact that Tolkien hated direct allegory, but there is no denying that Christian influences seeped into his Hobbit series.

Incidentally, ChristianBook.com has mucho resources on Tolkien and the Hobbit series. LINK (http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?nav_search=1&event=ESRCN&action=Search&N=4294964245&in_dim_search=1&Nu=product%2Eendeca%5Frollup)

Most of those connections are irrelevant and much too common to be interpreted as direct Christian ideas.

Many of them are far-fetched--there have been Stewards waiting for the King in real life as well...

And a few of the Istari VOLUNTEERED to leave Valinor in the Third Age, anyway.

[Son of Aslan]

Most of those connections are irrelevant and much too common to be interpreted as direct Christian ideas.

Ooooo-kay. Never said they were "direct Christian ideas", only reflections (or as I said, influences) of Tolkien's Catholicism.

If they were "direct Christian ideas", then their resemblance to Christian ideas would be much more uncanny. But since they're not, the resemblances are vague and abstract, but there, nonetheless.

[FallOfFingolfin]

Ooooo-kay. Never said they were "direct Christian ideas", only reflections (or as I said, influences) of Tolkien's Catholicism.

If they were "direct Christian ideas", then their resemblance to Christian ideas would be much more uncanny. But since they're not, the resemblances are vague and abstract, but there, nonetheless.

I'm Catholic as well, but if a story that I wrote contained similar elements, I wouldn't consider it to be a reflection of my Catholicism. Tolkien did say that what he wrote was "fundamentally Catholic", but he was referring to themes and morals, not point-to-point representations or events.

[inkspot]

I liked Son of Aslan's list!