Recommended Articles & Essays on Tolkien's Spirituality
Sacramental Imagination: Catholicism anchored Tolkien's life and suffused his writings, by Thomas Howard. Christian History Sept. 29, 2003.
J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth. Bradley Birzer on the Religious Symbolism Behind "Lord of the Rings". Zenit.org. August 29, 2003.
The Universe According to Tolkien, by Sandra Miesel. CRISIS Magazine Feb. 1, 2003.
A Catholic Poem in Time of War: The Lord of the Rings, by Ken Craven.
The Fellowship Of The Ring: J.R.R. Tolkien, Catholicism, and the Use of Allegory, by David Lord Alton. Text of a lecture given by David (Lord) Alton at the Catholic Society of Bath University and Bath Spa University College on Thursday 20th of February 2003.
Why Tolkien Says The Lord of the Rings Is Catholic, by Joseph Pearce. National Catholic Register (January 12-19, 2003).
The Truth Beyond Memory: What lies behind the Fellowship, John J. Miller. National Review Online, Dec. 18, 2002.
The Heroes of Middle Earth: J. R. R. Tolkien & the Marks of Christian Heroism, by Leon J. Podles. Touchstone magazine, January-February 2002.
The Lord & Lady of the Rings: The Hidden Presence of Tolkien's Catholicism in The Lord of the Rings, by Stratford Caldecott. Touchstone magazine, January-February 2002.
In Middle Earth, interview with the American professor & scholar Thomas Howard. Edited by Michael Waldstein & Fabrizio Begossi. Traces, February, 2002.
The Truth Beyond Memory, by John J. Miller. National Review Dec. 31, 2001.
Interview with Joseph Pierce, on ".R.R. Tolkien´s Take on the Truth". Zenit News Service. Nov. 15, 2001.
Tolkien's Catholic Imagination, by Jason Boffetti. CRISIS Magazine, Nov. 2001.
The Christian Gifts of J.R.R. Tolkien, by Bradley J. Birzer. New Oxford Review, Nov. 2001.
Tolkien: Truth & Myth, by Joseph Pearce. Lay Witness (September 2001).
Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: A Trilogy of Total Consecration, by Helen Valois. Immaculata Magazine, Mar/Apr 2000.
Remembering J.R.R. Tolkien, by Theresa Carson. Catholic Heritage September/October 1998.
J.R.R. Tolkien: Lord of the Imagination and The Fairy-Tale Maker, taken from the December 9, 1994 and December 16, 1994 issue of The Irish Family.
Tolkien the Catholic, The Lord of the Rings, and Peter Jackson’s film trilogy, by Steven D. Greydanus.
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Part 1: Why The Lord of the Rings Is Dangerous. The Christian life in Faerie. Christianity Today posted 12/18/2002. |
Encyclopedia Arda, An Interactive Guide to the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Recommended!
ThereAndBackAgain.Net, celebrating the imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien. [Requires Flash 5].
J.R.R. Tolkien, Official Author's Website by Harper Collins Publishers. [Requieres Flash 5]. Included are a short biography of the famous author, some of his artwork, interview, video and audio files (discussing how he came to write The Hobbit)
Live Excerpts from "The Lord of the Rings", read by J.R.R. Tolkien himself.
One Ring - "The complete guide to Tolkien online"
Tolkien Languages, a list of linguistic resources, mailing lists, and fonts compiled by the Yamada Language Center, U. of Oregon.
LordOfTheRings.Net, Official movie site with trailers, pictures, videos, and interviews with cast and crew.
The Tolkien Sarcasm Page, chock full of humor "here to help Middle-earth historians everywhere take a break from those heated arguments about Glorfindel's bloodline and whether or not Thingol was a wise King."
The Tolkien Society, founded n 1969, the Tolkien Society exists to further interest in the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and contains a wealth of information, including and excellent page of recommended links.
Recommended Books on Tolkien
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Tolkien: A Celebration - Collected Writings on a Literary Legacy, edited by Joseph Pierce. Ignatius Press, November 2001. Anticipating the great amount of interest in Tolkien's writings due in part to the major theatrical movie release of The Lord of the Rings, this highly readable collection of writings celebrates J.R.R.Tolkien's great literary legacy and the spiritual values that undergird his imaginary Middle-earth. Tolkien: A Celebration includes personal recollections by George Sayer and Walter Hooper, and many fascinating pieces by authors such as James Schall, S.J., Stratford Caldecott and Stephen Lawhead, exploring the threads of inspiration and purpose in his major works. These dip into subjects such as The Sense of Time in Lord of the Rings, Tolkien: Master of Middle-earth, and Tolkien, Lewis and Christian Myth. Fourteen writers contributed to this insightful work on Tolkien, and it will be much-treasured by those who regard him as a literary hero.
"Tolkien needs to be celebrated, because he and his writings were celebrations of the human spirit, imagination and spiritual genius. Joseph Pearce has given us a fine compilation of wit and wisdom about the great man, one that should be read by everyone concerned with the permanent things." - Michael Coren, Author, Tolkien: The Man Who Created Middle-Earth |
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Tolkien: Man and Myth, by Joseph Pierce. Ignatius Press, December 2001.
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings took first place in a recent nationwide British poll to find the greatest book of the century. He may be the most popular writer of our age, but Tolkien is often misunderstood. This major new study of his life, his character and his work reveals the facts and confronts the myths. It explores the background to the man and the culture in which he wrote.
Tolkien: Man and Myth observes the relationships that the master writer had with his closest literary colleagues. It reveals his unique relationship with C.S. Lewis, the writer of the Narnia books, and the roots of their estrangement. In this original book about a leading literary life, Joseph Pearce enters the world created by Tolkien in the seven books published during his lifetime. He explores the significance of Middle Earth and what it represented in Tolkien's thinking. Myth, to him, was not a leap from reality but a leap into reality.
"Pearce writes beautifully and with great depth, and the Tolkien who emerges is an impressive being - a man of literary strength and respectability."
- The Tablet
About the Author/Editor: Joseph Pearce is a full-time writer living in Norfolk, England. He is the author of a recent major biography of G.K. Chester ton, Wisdom and Innocence. He writes for Catholic and literary journals, and is working on a study of 20th century literary converts to be published by Ignatius Press in the next year. |
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J. R. R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle-Earth, by Bradley J. Birzer. Birzer explains the surprisingly specific religious symbolism that permeates Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He also explores the social and political views that motivated the Oxford don, ultimately situating Tolkien within the Christian humanist tradition represented by Thomas More and T. S. Eliot, Dante and C. S. Lewis. Birzer argues that through the genre of myth Tolkien created a world that is essentially truer than the one we think we see around us everyday, a world that transcends the colorless disenchantment of our postmodern age. - From the Publisher |
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J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality, and Religion, by Richard L. Purtill.
An in-depth look at the role myth, morality, and religion play in J.R.R. Tolkien¹s works such as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion‹including Tolkien¹s private letters and revealing opinions of his own work. |
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The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Humphrey Carpenter. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Boxed Set, by J.R.R. Tolkien. The History of the Lord of the Rings, by Christopher Tolkien. |