The Battle for Middle-earth: Tolkien's Divine Design in "The Lord of the Rings" Review

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The Battle for Middle-earth: Tolkien's Divine Design in "The Lord of the Rings" ReviewProspective readers who are hesitating because of the theological tones of the title should stop worrying. Look beyond the author's name (which some of you may recognize as an Episcopalian priest and pretty well-known speaker) and the title indicating it will discuss Tolkien's "Divine Design". No matter what faith you do or do not profess, you cannot escape the fact that faith and scripture were very important to Tolkien himself. If you are interested in how it influenced him as a writer, read this book.
Rutledge has succeeded where few other books about Tolkien have: she presents the underlying grand themes of LOTR in a consistent, coherent and convincing manner. She makes the argument well, that Tolkien understood his work as theological at core, and that there is a continuous theological underpinning to the story. She calls this the "deep narrative", and throughout her book, she is consistently able to draw parallels between the surface narrative (the story) and the deeper theological one.
This is not to say that she at any time makes LOTR an "allegory" per se. LOTR is not, and was not intended by the author to be, a retelling of the Gospel story. LOTR is a stand-alone story, and can be read and enjoyed by anyone just by itself. In fact, the vast majority of us, who came to this story when teenagers or younger, loved the book from the moment we read it. It called something out of our souls, perhaps, and we understood something about the "deep narrative" simply by reading the story. The great gift of Tolkien is his ability to show us core truth about humanity this way, by storytelling.
Nevertheless, his devout Catholic Christianity and understanding of the influence of sin on all, underpins his story. Rutledge is excellent in discussion of how Tolkien shows us the good and evil in all creatures, and the necessity of reliance on Providence and grace. You will find a good explanation of Evil as a third force, between God and his incarnate creatures. She frequently mentions Tolkien's use of "passive voice" to indicate that the characters in LOTR are being used by the "other forces at work". While this comes as no surprise to any careful reader (I am sure all of us have noticed these continued references by Gandalf to "other forces" and being "meant to have" something or other!), once noticed, the passive voice becomes obvious throughout.
Rutledge supports her argument with frequent allusions to Bible passages, both Old and New Testament. And she convincingly argues that Tolkien really believed the small were being called to confound the wise, both in real life and in his book. She argues that scriptural underpinning for LOTR comes through both as direct influence on the story, but more often on the influence on Tolkien himself, who then wrote his values into LOTR. His understanding of the paradox of free will and the call of God, for instance.
All readers interested in the scriptural and theological influences on Tolkien (and they were considerable) will be interested in this book, whether you agree with the entire thesis or not. She does tend to over-reach, at times, for allusions to scripture. She is obviously not a fan of the movie, which she alludes to several times in her footnotes. But she is a careful reader herself. She came very late to the realm of Middle Earth, and does not bring years of "Tolkienalia" to the book, and this is a very great strength. Her decision to discuss the story as it unfolds, rather than break it down into grand concepts, was inspired and makes the book very easy to read.The Battle for Middle-earth: Tolkien's Divine Design in "The Lord of the Rings" Overview

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