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James Wynn · 16 Dec 2010, 17:41 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:41:04 -0600
Subject: (urth) (no subject)
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>> David Stockhoff-
>> I understood that to be James' point. Tolkien was a Christian writer.
> I'll let James speak for himself if I'm wrong, but I understood his
> saying that "Silmarillion does not align with the Bible" as meaning
> that it was not in line with Tolkien's actual beliefs. My point is
> that, while I doubt that JRRT actually "believed" the Silmarillion,
> its cosmology actually _does_ align with the Bible, with the correct
> dance steps.
> --Dan'l

Ehh...The creation story in Silmarillion simply does not jive with 
Genesis. I don't see how all the hammers and grease in Mordor could 
wedge it in.  While there's nothing _hostile_ to Judeo-Christianity in 
Middle Earth, I seem to recall that Tolkien said in "Letters" that he 
deliberately left religion out of the books.

While Wolfe has not been so careful about not touching the high-voltage 
wire called Religion, I think the same thing applies in that his 
characters think and talk about religion in different terms than we do. 
It is essentially the same as in the Soldier books. Wolfe deals with 
religion from the perspective of his characters, not in the way he would 
if he were teaching a Sunday School class. The themes and concepts are 
compatible and sometimes analogous. The characters' sense of their 
relationship to the Increate is different. Irreconcilably different. And 
no amount of dancing will bridge the gap. To try to do so is like asking 
for scientific justification for Galadriel's bowl. Or to question 
whether a human baby raised by a tribe of chimpanzees would survive, let 
alone come to lead the troop.

u+16b9

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