"Myth is...like manna; it is to each man a different dish and to each the dish he needs." (C. S. Lewis)

It is no surprise to me that the movie, The Lord of the Rings, has beenreceived with such universal favor and delight by moviegoers around the world. The special effects are breath taking, the landscape indescribable and the matching of actors to characters, in my opinion, is flawless. Yet the truly extraordinary aspect of the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Fellowship of the Ring, is that he was a Christian. Together with C.S. Lewis and others, he purposely set out to write fiction that would touch upon the deepest spiritual longings in man.

The purpose of this paper will be to discuss the revelation of man's deepest longings as it has been expressed through myths and folk tales. I submit, as C.S. Lewis once did, that...

"We must not be ashamed of the mythical radiance resting on our theology. We must not be nervous about 'parallels' and 'pagan christs': They ought to be there - it would be a stumbling block if they weren't. We must not, in false spirituality, withhold our imaginative welcome." (C. S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism, Cambridge, England, Cambridge University Press, 1961, pp.
41-49.)

JUNG AT HEART

Psychotherapist Carl Jung did an in depth study of what he called, "Archetypes Of The Collective Unconscious." He identified many of the basic and universal symbols present in the religions, mythologies and folk lore of both primitive and sophisticated societies. He studied images which appear most frequently in the fairy tales and folk stories, legends, and primitive religious expressions around the world.

Consider the story of Sleeping Beauty, a beautiful maiden stung by sin is made to sleep the sleep of death in a now ruined and "En-Thorned" kingdom. Hopeless and helpless, but for the prophecy that one day, 'He would come.' The maiden sleeps in a death-like trance. and then suddenly 'he' does come! The prince on his white horse finds her at last and with one kiss of love and redemption, drives forever away the cold and dark ravages of her sin.

In stories such as these, symbols, patterns and fundamental universal 'archetypes' appear. The Edenic unfallen person who, after being tempted by an evil presence, misuses freedom and through sin is torn away from right relationship with the God, gods or the universe. Left alone and hopeless, desperate for redemption, the soul longs for the breech between heaven and earth to be healed.

A prince, savior or redeemer spans the gulf, reverses the curse and brings everlasting life and bliss. These images are not just particular to any one religion, but appear universally from primitive animism to highly sophisticated expressions of
popular religion.

Jung believed that whether aborigine or Zurich business man, all share alike in common longings which are expressed subconsciously through dreams, art, folk tales and legends.

Tolkien was able to capture such 'archetypical' motifs and purposely use them to express the vastness of God's Kingdom, the reality of the supernatural, and mankind's deep universal longing for redemption, and he, therefore, was able to produce a series of books that are capable of striking man kind's deepest emotional chords.

Dr. John Warwick Montgomery explains,

"As a dream while asleep can touch the depths of our being, could not the literature of wakefulness shower with light and supreme power the landscape of religious concern, and provide the subjective attestation of Christian truth for which men long?" Myth, Allegory and Gospel (Bethany Fellowship, 1974, pp 20,21).

FAITH AND FAIRY TALES

In fact Montgomery in his excellent book, "Myth, Allegory and Gospel" points out that J. R. R. Tolkien an English philologist by profession, along with C.S. Lewis, and others believed that there were fundamental 'archetypes' which appear in all cultures: images of God, the Father, the yearning for paradise, the deep sense of fallenness, good. evil. witches, providence, etc.

Montgomery muses:

"Suppose that the fallen race had kept a primordial realization of its separation from God through sinful self-centeredness and of its specific need for redemption through the divine-human conquest of the evil powers arrayed against it. Suppose within each human heart, this realization were etched beyond effacement.

The sinner would of course repress this knowledge, for his sin would be too painful to bear and his egotism would not want to face redemption, apart from his own works, under these circumstances, redemptive knowledge would surface, not in a direct fashion but by way of symbolic patterns - visible not only to the sensitive psychoanalyst, but also to the folk artist whose material 'bubbles up' collectively from the subconscious of the race.

Literature in this special sense could therefore reflect the Christian story in an objective sense and trigger conscious acceptance of it." (Ibid, pp25,26)

As Christians, C.S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien in much of their fiction, consciously chose the avenue of presenting 'deep myths' to the general public. They did this knowing that by so plucking their readr's spiritual and emotional heart strings, they could, thereby, better prepare the way for a later acceptance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

You see, they knew that the Christian Gospel was the true fulfillment of very human longing. They knew that with the advent of Christ, one finds 'in flesh' the answer to mankind's yearning. And they knew that through Christ's work on the cross, a redemption is accomplished which brings about a true fulfillment. A fulfillment which all myths, legends, and folk tales through the ages have attempted to communicate.

The "Birth of Christ," Tolkien says,

"Is the eucatastrophe (i.e. a positive event of an all encompassing nature) of man's history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation ... There is no tale ever told that men would rather find was true, and none which so many skeptical men have accepted as true on its own merit." (J. R. R. Tolkien, Tree and Leaf, (London: Unwin Books, 1964, p. 60).

Dr. Clyde S. Kilby says in his article, Mythic and Christian Elements in Tolkien,

"Myth is necessary because reality is so much larger than rationality. Not that myth is irrational, but that it accommodates the rational while rising above it.... Myth, said Charles Williams, consists of 'patterns of the Logos in the depth of the sun.' Coleridge said that symbol, myth's twin, is marked by 'The translucence of the eternal through and in the temporal.' Myth is ageless, yet it may be experienced in some everyday act or thought suddenly alive with universal meaning."" (Ibid, pp 120-123).

THE RING OF TRUTH

The parallel between Tolkien's writings and the Gospels can be seen at every point in his trilogy. Hell is Mordor "drawing all wicked things" to itself. Sauron, The Black Master, The Black Power is Satan, the fallen one.

A sovereign "Good" is constantly present behind the whole, "a power far older, a power that walked the earth, ere elf sang or hammer rang," and Frodo was, 'meant to have the ring,' implying an over seeing, intelligent "Good," present in the fabric of the story.

From the Ringwraiths with black robes worn to 'give shape to their nothingness,' To Frodo's self-sacrificial commitment at Rivendell and his desperate journey through Mordor, ... all are threads woven throughout the stories, themes which Jung would call "slender hints of the knowable."

Kilby points out that the Christ images in Tolkien's work are by no means infrequent.

"In 'The Lord of The Rings,' ...Gandalf's struggle with the fiery Balrog, a denizen of deepest and darkest underground, as both fall into a bottom- less chasm, is strongly suggestive of Christ's descent into hell.

Gandalf's resurrection - it is plainly called a resurrection. (Sorry to have to reveal that one). The fellowship gazed on him with something of the same astonished joy that Mary Magdalene and others found at the tomb of Christ. Gandalf's hair, we are told, was 'white as snow in the sunshine; and gleaming white was his robe; the eyes under his deep brows were bright, piercing as the rays of the sun; power was in his hands.' Gimli, the dwarf sank to his knees and shaded his eyes from Gandalf's brightness. Later we learn that Gandalf is 'filled with light,' his head is 'now sacred,' he is a healer, does not require armor in battle, etc...

It is significant that Gandalf says, he has 'no lasting abode' in the earth, also that there has never been a day when he and other 'wanderers' of the world have not guarded the Shire with watchful eyes." (Ibid., p.133)

In Middle-earth we witness the same universal longings for redemption, reconciliation and forgiveness that we feel right here and now in our world. Tolkien alludes to a redemption which is so all encompassing as to embrace elves, dwarves, hobbits and men!

THERE IS ONLY ONE LORD OF THE RINGS

In Christ "becoming flesh" and "dwelling among us," (John 1:14), myth became fact!

C.S. Lewis says of his initial examination of the four Gospels,

"I was by now too experienced in literary criticism to regard the Gospels as myth. They had not the mythical taste. And yet the very matter which they set down in their artless, historical fashion ... was precisely the matter of the great myths.

If ever a myth had become fact, had been incarnated, it would be just like this ... Yet also numinous, lit by a light from beyond the world, a god. But if a god - we are no longer polytheists - then not a god, but God. Here and here only in all time the myth must become fact; the word, flesh; God, man. This is not 'a religion' nor a 'philosophy.' It is the summing up and actuality of them all. (Edmund Fuller, ed., Affirmations of God and Man, New York: Assoc. Press, 1967, p. 37).

There is something quite natural in my mind about God not only preparing the Gospel for the world, but also preparing the world for the Gospel. The life, death, burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 'in time' equals the fulfillment of every longing ever known in man.

In Christ alone we find our deepest spiritual needs addressed and fully satisfied once and for all. If we believe in Him, according to the Bible, we will be justified, (saved from the penalty of sin), sanctified, (daily redeemed from the power of sin) and one day glorified, (finally saved from the presence of sin forever).

The truth of God's salvation born out of His love for mankind is the truth, that is true. Myth became fact.

"Now as myth transcends thought, Incarnation transcends myth. The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The old myth of a Dying God, without ceasing to be myth comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history. It happens-at a particular date, in a particular place, followed by definable historical consequences...by becoming fact it does not cease to be myth: that is the miracle". (C.S. Lewis, God In The Dock, "Myth Became Fact")

SUMMARY

The coming of Jesus Christ was not just the fulfillment of some local Jewish Messianic ideal. The prophecies of the Hebrew Scriptures were fulfilled in Christ; but in a larger sense, Christ came as 'the light of all men,' (John 1:4) Christ came as 'the desire of all nations,' embracing every culture and people group.

Truly God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

We will conclude with a reading of the familiar, yet age old story of the Incarnation of the Savior. Read each verse, one by one, with a new sense of awe and wonder, for the following is not myth, but reality, and "there is only one Lord of the Ring who will share power with no other." His name is Jesus!

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, Lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid and the Angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
(Luke 2:8-14)

"But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Gal. 4:4,5)

"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." (I Tim. 3:16)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Carter, Lin. Tolkien: A Look Behind "The Lord of the Rings". New York: Ballantine Books, 1969

Ellwood, Gracia Fay. Good News from Tolkien's Middle Earth. Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 1970.

Kocher, Paul H. Master of Middle-Earth: The Fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972.

Montgomery, John Warwick. Myth, Allegory and Gospel. Bethany Fellowship, Inc., 1974.