Padres+ This week, Christianity Today on line is running correspondence between two authors who are commenting on Tolkien and C.S.Lewis and their books on the thoughts of these men. The exchange is refreshing reading from the normal dismal news. Below is one of the leters. Charles+ -------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Eddy Smith To: Brad Birzer Dear Brad, I appreciate your kind words regarding my book and echo your gratitude toward Christianity Today for this opportunity to spend some time conversing with you. I very much enjoyed J. R. R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth and was glad to get a sneak peek at it. I finished it in one sitting, and had it not been 4:30 in the morning, I would have turned right back to the first page. I'm glad you've begun the conversation with Faerie. We are, of course, inadequate to speak much on it. Tolkien arguably spent his entire life creating (or sub-creating, as he would prefer) Middle-earth, and in so doing, came as close as anybody to describing the essence of Faerie. You've described it well in a few words: It is Real Life. It is the Truth of our significance and insignificance in the grand scheme of things. It is a place that anyone can enter, by the grace of God, but few are able to stay for very long without being overwhelmed and retreating to the seeming safety and familiarity of the "dull, murky, substitute life," the dim reflection of a dim reflection of the glory of Creation. It is perilous to enter Faerie, even to invoke it. As Annie Dillard said, "It is madness to wear ladies' hats and straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets." But let's forge ahead anyway. Let us with all fear and trepidation strap ourselves in and take a joy ride through Faerie. In the larger context of Faerie, the divide between Catholics and evangelicals (indeed, between all those who desire to follow Christ), seems especially troubling. You speak in your book about the abiding friendship and occasional tension between Tolkien (a Roman Catholic) and C. S. Lewis (an Anglican Protestant). Are there lessons we can glean from their relationship that can help us better understand and accept those of different (and differing) traditions, or is the difference too essential? I'm thinking particularly of the faith/works issue you allude to: "While our works are important, they are important for the here and now, not for salvation in the life to come. Salvation, the Augustinian Tolkien knew well, was strictly a gift." I was fascinated by your chapter on "The Nature of Evil," particularly where you write that "Tolkien believed that a virtuous person should understand that evil exists, but should acknowledge or act on little more than that" (p. 90). This is, indeed, the root of one of the tensions between Tolkien and Lewis: that Tolkien disapproved of the very nature of the exercise Lewis undertook in writing The Screwtape Letters. You quote Elrond saying (in reference to Saruman): "It is perilous to study too deeply the arts of the Enemy, for good or for ill." Modern culture thrives on studying these arts too deeply, yet I am not personally convinced that this is altogether as bad as Tolkien believed. Modernity has its own myths — if they dwell at times too much on evil, at their best they point the way toward redemption. As Tolkien himself said, in his famous talk with C. S. Lewis and Hugo Dyson, which Lewis credited as being integral to his acceptance of the Christian faith: We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed, only by myth-making, only by becoming a 'sub-creator' and inventing stories, can Man aspire to the state of perfection that he knew before the Fall. Our myths may be misguided, but they steer however shakily towards the true harbor, while materialistic "progress" leads only to a yawning abyss and the Iron Crown of the power of evil. Tolkien and Lewis were united in their belief that Truth never goes out of fashion, a point that, thanks in part to their own efforts, has not been entirely lost on this generation. As modern society "progresses" more and more recklessly towards the abyss, the storytellers still occasionally get it right, and thereby encourage their listeners to look beyond the stuff of this world and into the terrifying glory of Faerie. As I look over what I've written, I realize with disappointment that I failed to mention Sam. I feel I gave him short shrift in the pages of Tolkien's Ordinary Virtues, as well. I seriously think that his small gifts of humility, endurance, and hope are too bright for me to look at directly. I hope that we can speak more of him as our conversation continues. Yours, Mark Eddy Smith _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 3 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus&xAPID=42&PS=47575&PI=7324&DI=7474&SU= http://www.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/getmsg&HL=1216hotmailtaglines_eliminateviruses_3mf