Review of Tolkien's Faith
(avg. read time: 2–4 mins.)
As with the last time I reviewed a biography of Tolkien, this will not be one of my standard in-depth book reviews. It is difficult to write such reviews of biographies without just reciting a lot of the same information. This time, we are reviewing the latest and, as far as I am aware, the most detailed biography of Tolkien focusing on the Catholic character of his life:
Holly Ordway, Tolkien’s Faith: A Spiritual Biography (Elk Grove Village, IL: Word on Fire Academic, 2023).
I will not mince words to say that this is a work I highly recommend as necessary for anyone who wants to know more about Tolkien as a Catholic Christian. It is incredibly well researched not only in giving biographical detail for Tolkien, but also in providing the larger context of the times in which various aspects of his life are examined. It prompted some late additions to my forthcoming book on The Lord of the Rings.
Part of this detailed work is helped not only by Ordway’s obvious familiarity with Tolkien and his works, but also by the fact that her fascination with Tolkien has been a continuous thread accompanying her own spiritual journey from agnostic to atheist to Protestant Christian to Roman Catholic Christian (10). She sees her book as something that would have helped her in her earlier years of fascination, and so she hopes it will be helpful to others. More particularly, she speaks of Tolkien’s formative influences and says, “My own faith has been significantly shaped by English Catholicism and indeed by Oratorian spirituality, which has allowed me to gain insights into Tolkien’s experiences that would otherwise have been elusive” (10).
Ordway’s insights as a Catholic provide plenty of details and attention to their significance that are missing from other biographies. This includes the significance of various dates and locations in Tolkien’s life. It also includes the many correlations she makes throughout to Tolkien’s kindred saints, especially Philip Neri and John Henry Newman. One can also see it in the attention she draws to the significance of John’s Prologue for Tolkien, given its place in traditional Catholic liturgy of The Roman Missal. Of course, since she is also attentive to the particular issues that have come with being a Catholic in England, she can provide insights into the kind of challenges Tolkien and his fellow Catholics faced, as well as the character of Tolkien’s relationships with Christians of other traditions. Two other highlights concern the significance of names, as she notes the significance of Tolkien’s names, especially his confirmation name of “Philip,” a detail often overlooked to which she draws much attention, and his third name “Reuel” (as is the title of the last chapter), which is the name he passed on to each of his children, even his daughter, as well as his grandchildren.
At the same time, since she does not take for granted that all of her readers are Catholics—or even well-informed Catholics like herself—she is careful to provide explanatory and clarifying comments throughout. Particularly useful is her glossary of key terms. And her Appendix B is also helpful for laying out the contents of prayers and liturgical extracts that she references throughout her book.
She even includes a photo gallery with dozens of pictures for the reader’s reference. I cannot say I fully understand their placement in the middle of the book. But I imagine that was not ultimately her decision in any case.
I have my quibbles with it, of course, when it comes to some correlations with Tolkien’s fiction. This is par for the course, as one can see in my other reviews, and I imagine not everyone would agree with all the correlations I have made in my biblical and theological commentaries. In her case, I am not especially convinced by the link between the references to Jesus coming as “a thief in the night” and a chapter by that name in The Hobbit (291). Nor am I inclined to connect Galadriel’s words of “let not your heart be sad” with Jesus’s words “Let not your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1; 291), particularly as he tries to link the parting of the Fellowship with Galadriel and Celeborn together with setting of Jesus’s words during the Last Supper. I find these links rather superficial, given all the differences in narrative and theological-ethical function. After all, Galadriel said these words to Celeborn, not the Fellowship, and these words were followed by her giving gifts and parting words to the Fellowship. Others are more distant in their linkage, so I will not pursue them here.
But such minor issues aside, the book as a whole absolutely is helpful for illuminating Tolkien’s Christian life. If that is a subject you want to know more about, pick this book up today. I do not think you will find a better singular resource for it.