06-27-2015, 11:10 AM | #1 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 306
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Pity
I would like to preface this by admitting this is not a well thought out question. It just occurred to me this morning. Also I am not a Christian, so my knowledge of Christian philosophy is not strong. Nor am I particularly familiar with Tolkien the man. My interests have always revolved around Middle Earth itself…..not the author or those things which may have inspired him.
So….with that out of the way…… What do you think of the role of pity in Tolkien’s writings? How does it relate to his Christian beliefs? Specifically, I was wondering if pity is meant by Tolkien to be a lesser form of (or really, a precursor to) Christian ideas of love. As in “Love your neighbor.” “Love your enemy”? It seems to me that there is a great deal of overlap between pity and this kind of love. Both likely coming from having some understanding of and being able to empathize with, another. As I recall, Tolkien’s writings about Middle Earth were meant by him to be an English myth that predated the time of Jesus. So, when Gandalf said that he pitied Sauron’s slaves and when Frodo said he pitied Gollum, etc. (there are surely many other examples…...I can dig up some quotes if needed), were they almost practicing a Christian ideal without quite taking it to the extent that Jesus did? And, of course, in the process leaving the revelation that one should love his enemies something to be revealed by Jesus in a later time? A related question: If pity is a precursor to Christian love in Tolkien’s writings, then how should we view Nienna, who seems almost an embodiment of pity and empathy? There are many folks on Entmoot who are far better equipped than I to answer these questions. I would love to hear your opinions. |
06-28-2015, 05:50 AM | #2 | |||||
Salt Miner
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: gone to Far Harad
Posts: 987
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Lord of the Rings certainly has Christian themes, some intentionally Catholic. In Letters of JRR Tolkien #142, to (Father?) Robert Murray, SJ (“SJ” for Society of Jesus: he was a Jesuit), Tolkien wrote,
Quote:
In Letters 191, he wrote, Quote:
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And there is yet more to the Lord’s Prayer that is pertinent here, for immediately after its recitation in Matthew 6, Jesus continues, saying, “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.” Which is very frightening concept: if someone cheats you, or betrays, or robs, or kills you (or tries), it is a very difficult thing to forgive. But is exactly what Jesus does for the Roman soldiers who crucified him: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” This forgiveness is a hallmark of Christian saints (and supposed to be a guiding principle for all Christians), but like all things in Christianity, it is preceded and grounded in Judaism: for instance, in Jeremiah 9:24, God says (through the prophet Jeremiah), “[L]et him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.” The phrase “steadfast love” is the Hebrew word checed, often interpreted as “mercy”. The same is in Psalm 33:5, Hosea 2:19, and famously in Micah 6:8. There is the well-known passage between Gandalf and Frodo in “Shadow of the Past” in Fellowship of the Ring that goes straight to this: Quote:
Quote:
But I think mercy is also bound up in this. Pity is an emotion of sympathy or empathy toward another ; but mercy is acting upon that. We conflate the two, and perhaps Tolkien does, too. You cannot give (or offer) someone else mercy unless it is within your power to do something unpleasant to him: to kill him, in the cases of Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam in regards to Gollum. Nienna the Vala is the embodiment of pity and mercy. Tolkien says Olórin the Maia – Gandalf – was for a while her student, and learned pity from her. Both of these characters, Nienna and Gandalf, should be thought of in this light as angelic beings who have pity (and mercy) on Elves and Men, and urge others to as well. (Nienna’s pity is untempered: she also urged pity upon Melkor, who upon his release from captivity poisoned the Two Trees, killed Finwë king of the Noldor, and stole the Silmarils, just as a start.) There is a great deal of overlap between pity and mercy in the commands, “Love your neighbor,” and “Love your enemy.” Jesus quotes “Love your neighbor,” which first appears in Leviticus 19. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust,” which Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, is not a refutation of Scripture but a correction of a misquotation of Scripture. “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy,” misquotes Exodus 21:24-25 and Leviticus 24:19-20, both of which cite the rule, “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” Christians interpret this to mean that the misquotation was what people taught, believed, and practiced; Jesus not only corrected it, he took it a step further and insisted that people forgo vengeance: This is also in the Torah: “Vengeance is mine,” is from Deuteronomy 32:25, and appears in the just-cited Leviticus 19:18. Jesus makes it much more explicit, extending it to enemies, when in Leviticus it extended only to fellow Israelites. What Jesus taught is not unprecedented: when King David, the “man after God’s own heart”, was pursued by his son Absalom when Absalom tried to usurp the throne, a relative of King Saul’s, whom David had succeeded to the throne, cursed David as he passed and called him a murderer. Rather than allow his officers to kill the man, David ordered them to leave him alone. Even after he returned victorious, David pardoned him. There are at least three example of this in particular in Tolkien:
The point is that Tolkien is drawing upon all this material. However inadequate the answer, I believe Tolkien would be delighted that you posed the questions. |
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06-28-2015, 11:52 AM | #3 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 306
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Great post, Alcuin.........as always. Good to see you haven't changed.
Thank you for your reply. |