Lord Of The Rings As A Christian Myth

1. The years 2014 and 2015, mark the 60th anniversary of the first publication of the world-famous trilogy “The Lord of the Rings”. Our project is devoted to this anniversary. The topic of the project is “The Lord of the Rings as a Christian Myth”.

2. The author of the trilogy John Ronald Reuel Tolkien ["TOLL"-keen] was an English writer, poet, linguist and university professor.  His trilogy is classic high-fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion [“SIL” ma “RI” lian].

3. In the First World War Tolkien fought in one of the bloodiest battles in which machine guns, tanks, and poison gas were involved and over a million people were either killed or wounded. In the trenches of the Second World War I, Tolkien began recording the horrors of war which he described in The Lord of the Rings.

4. Since it was first published in 1954, The Lord of the Rings has been a book people have treasured. The book has touched the hearts of young and old alike. Over 150 million copies of its editions have been sold around the world. It’s now the 2nd on the list of the best-selling books after Dickens’s “Tale Of Two Cities”

5. The author of the trilogy claimed “The Lord of the Rings” to be a fundamentally religious work. He also said that “The  Lord of the Rings” is an invented myth about Christian truths”.

6. The aim of our project was to make a research into Tolkien’s claim to have invented a Christian myth.

 To gain the aim we found materials on the subject of the project, then, we searched for Christian traces in the trilogy. As a result, you are welcome to enjoy our presentation.

7. The first Christian trace we would like to mention is creation. Middle-earth was created by God, who is called in the trilogy "the One," or "All-Father". Evil or sin only destroys people’s character, their relationships and the environment. According to the Bible, Earth was created by God as it’s written “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) Evil is the result of sin. “You had sinned by doing this evil in the sight of the Lord.” (Deutoronomy 9:18)

8. Look at the environment! Darkness is everywhere in Middle-earth. The One Ring makes everybody slave to its master Saruman [SAR-oo-man]. Spiritual darkness covers the earth. Man, animals and nature suffer. Evil deeds or sins make everybody slaves to their master Satan.

9. The main evil character Saruman has his own goals. They are knowledge, organization and control. He wants to rule Middle-earth instead of Sauron [SOU-rahn] and have the One Ring for himself. This looks like Satan’s goal which is to “steal, kill and destroy” (John 10:10)

10. In the opposite, the goal of Gandalf is to destroy Smaug [smoug] – a horrible dragon. In the Bible devil is called an ancient dragon. So the goal of Jesus Christ is “to destroy in us the works of the satan or devil” (1 John 3:8)

11. In the trilogy Frodo [FRO-"doe"] suffers for others. He risks his life to save others just like Apostle Paul did and wrote about himself: “Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea.”  (2 Cor. 11:25)

12. The ways of life seem to be alike. In the Shire [SHY'ur], the Hobbits naturally live a happy peaceful life just like Christians who are called to live “merciful, pure in heart and peaceful life” (Mt. 5:3-12)

13. Everybody in the kingdom is looking forward to the return of the king Aragorn [AIR-uh-gorn]. Just like Christians look forward to the return of Christ the King. (1 Cor 1:7) 

14. Winner Aragorn was "tall as the sea-kings of old, ancient of days he seemed and yet in the flower of manhood, with wisdom, strong and healing, and a light was about him". This description matches the description of Jesus Christ Who was before the creation of the world (John 17:24). He is wiser and greater than Solomon (Math 12:42). Christ healed the blind and the lame (Math 21:14). He said, “I am the light of the world.” (John 9:5)

15. The Fellowship of the Ring consists of different characters with different gifts to battle against evil. Just like Christians who also have different characters to depend on each other and battle against sin.

16. The Fellowship members are protected with hooded cloaks while Christians wear invisible helmets of salvation, shields of faith, belts of truth, the spiritual sword that is the Bible and some others.

17. Some myths used to contain riddles and secrets. In The Hobbit, Bilbo and Gollum test their wits playing the riddle game. If Bilbo wins, then Gollum has to show him the way out of a tunnel; if Bilbo loses, he becomes Gollum's dinner. Can you guess the answers to some of their riddles?