(no subject)

[tree_and_leaf]

I thought I wasn't going to manage to read a banned book for (even belatedly) Banned Books week, because all the Oxonmoot stuff has made me crave the "Lord of the Rings" (which I always read in autumn, anyway).

Well - do community church bonfires count?

Sorry I spoke, really. Though I do wonder why they think that LotR is satanic? Do they mean 'pagan,' or is it the crypto-Catholicism they object to?

Comments

[lyorn.livejournal.com]

Though I do wonder why they think that LotR is satanic? Do they mean 'pagan,' or is it the crypto-Catholicism they object to?

I suspect that they are just bad at reading, in this case bad at getting things that are not explictly spelled out. Like someone skimming internet discussion boards before having their morning coffee and accidentally starting a flame war, they only notice some keywords and sort them into their own narrative without considering what those words mean in context, or that they have a context, or that said context might not what they assume it to be. In case of LotR, I bet the keyword is "wizard".

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I think you are right.

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, you're probably right.

accidentally starting a flame war

Yes - unfortunately, firefighting is even harder IRL ;)

[legionseagle.livejournal.com]

Well, no-one actually has much by way of religion: so far as Faramir's blessing goes it seems closer to ancestor worship than anything else, and the "Elf-Lords of Old" were people that some of the people appearing in LOTR can actually remember (and be related to) which has an impact on faith, I suppose.

[tree_and_leaf]

It's a bit like Beowulf - the religion we see, such as it is, is virtually without any sort of ceremonial, and carefully constructed so as not to be offensive to a Christian reader - except the Christian reader Tolkien was thinking of was, I suspect, either Catholic or familiar with Neo-Platonism or, ideally, both, and less likely to jib at invocations of Elbereth, and these people.... aren't. Though I suspect that Lyorn and Helflaed are right, and they haven't read the book at all, but are having lurid visions of Gandalf summoning Satan (whereas in fact it's Pippin and Agragorn that do!)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Ooh ooh hooh, a "religion in Beowulf" post. Care to stick this up in an Anglo-Saxonist forum? ;-)

[tree_and_leaf]

I wrote an essay for finals on religion in Beowulf; obviously, this makes me a world expert ;)

All the same, no...

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

You are doubtless much more informed than I (although I do have far more copies of Beowulf in the shelf than is good for me!)

[tree_and_leaf]

Oh, I wouldn't assume that at all; a tem paper is hardly PhD level research, and anyway, I've forgotten a lot of it. What I d remember was very interesting (I'm now tempted to go away and dig the essay out, but I really shouldn't keep distractig myelf from work...)

although I do have far more copies of Beowulf in the shelf than is good for me!

I struggle t imagine how this is possible ;)

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I struggle t imagine how this is possible ;)

I also have more films of Beowulf than is good for me!

[tree_and_leaf]

Now that is very easy, going on the ones I've seen!

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

Place your bets ladies and gentlemen- how much would you put on anyone from that church actually having *read* it?

[tree_and_leaf]

Not taking that; though I suppose they might have glanced at the blurb on the back...

[scionofgrace.livejournal.com]

::shakes head in disbelief::

Do you know, I went to a conservative Evangelical Christian university where the president was a huge Tolkien fan? And I mean HUGE. I kinda wish I could sic him on people like that.

Ignorance has ever been the bane of Christianity, especially among its own people. We need to put a stop to it.

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, indeed. (I couldn't believe it either, but when I first came across the story - not on wikipedia - I went and did a bit more digging, and it does seem to check out as far as I could see).

I kinda wish I could sic him on people like that.

It would need to be someone like that - I suspect that I, for instance, am certainly not a Real True Christian by their standards (too high, too liberal).

Ignorance has ever been the bane of Christianity, especially among its own people. We need to put a stop to it.

As Charles Williams has the Christ-figure say in "War in Heaven", always my worst foes are of my own household. Or, to quote Lewis, "It's not a case of 'Be good, sweet maid, and let who can be clever,' but, 'Be good, sweet maid, and don't forget that also means being as clever as you can.'"