XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien, alt.fan.tolkien, alt.books.inklings   
   From: giles@poetic.com   
      
   On 10/23/2010 10:34 PM, Steve Hayes wrote:   
   > On Sat, 23 Oct 2010 19:51:46 -0500, Weland  wrote:   
   >   
   >> On 10/21/2010 2:02 AM, Steve Hayes wrote:   
   >>> I'm not familiar with it. But it would be interesting to know why they said   
   >>> such things.   
   >>   
   >> Well, for one, they hadn't the benefit of the Sil, the Letters, etc.   
   >> For two, there really aren't any temples, acts of worship, altars, etc.   
   >>   You have to look a bit beyond the obvious and the surface to find the   
   >> religious acts/beliefs in Middle Earth.   
   >   
   > Yes, and there aren't any temples, acts of worship etc in C.S. Lewis's   
   fiction   
   > either, nor in Charles Williams for the most part, thoguh there is a   
   Christmas   
   > service in "The Greater Trumps".   
      
   Just trying to catch up here, forgive the delay.  (Troels, got your   
   email, will post!)  In Lewis, the religion is apparent.  The veil is see   
   through, and meant to be.  I mean, Aslan rises from the dead in the very   
   first book! Williams' books are all supernatural.   "War in Heaven"   
   which if I remember correctly was published first, is a grail story,   
   that alone raises religion as a possible issue, and has not just a very   
   important and rather cool religious service, but we have devil   
   worshipers too!  That's religion.  That's apparently, and please note I   
   said apparently, absent from LoTR.  I do not want to be in a position   
   defending those with whom I disagree, but I can see why some of those   
   early critics may have thought as they did.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)