Did Tolkien take his idea of Ages from a Christian perspective on the Bible? His cosmology is very historical in nature, rather than cyclical, which I've been told is a Jewish/Christian thing. But I don't know enough comparative mythology to have any idea how true that is.
I've got a question I'd like to feel out before asking. Personally, I think it's a good fit for the site, but it can't be tied back to a particular denomination or doctrinal statement...
Rather, it's about a common teaching that's making Christian circles and it's being accepted across denominational borders. My question isn't going to be "What does X teach", and will carefully stay away from "Is what x teaches true".
There's also no tag for it, so I was thinking of adding a "popular-teaching" tag for it.
Obviously, I could just ask it and see if it gets closed, but I thought I'd run it by thos of you that are more actively involved in site quality first.
@DavidStratton I've tried before asking questions about a belief held by almost all Christians. It didn't work too well, but that was quite possibly my fault.
@DavidStratton That's totally ok. Questions don't have to break at denominational boundaries, they can totally be addressed at a specific doctrine, whoever holds it. See NPP questions for some examples. Skip the "popular teaching" tag though, just tag it whatever the doctrine actually is.
@TRiG Probably not, but the timeline is suspicious (see dispensationalism).
Again... This is not about the validity of the YEC view. The point of this is not to reveal "Truth", the point is to accurately explain the doctrinal significance of the view, from the perspective of those who believe the view, so that we have it on record on site.
The answer is quite simple, ...
At the end of the tragic tale of Túrin Turambar, as told in The Silmarillion, Túrin goes alone to the high point of Cabed-en-Aras above the river Teiglin, and there calls to his sword Gurthang.
There he drew forth his sword, that now alone remained to him of all his possessions, and he said, ...
@DavidStratton Well, it's a self-answer (as indeed is yours).
And it was actually partly inspired by your answer, as well as by stuff I've been reading on Slacktivist.
(It actually contains a link to something that I saw linked to today on Slacktivist, even though the answer has been brewing in my head for a while now.)
Fred Clark of Slacktivist is fond of pointing out literary genre in the Bible. He maintains, for example, that the Book of Job is a playscript. And Jonah is, of course, a morality tale.
I have to admit I've never read The Silmarillion When it comes to sci-fi, I've never really been able to get into the "real" stuff. I think about the most serious sci-fi I've ever read was the Dune series...
Now you've got my curiusity piqued. I'll have to check that out.
@DavidStratton The characters in LotR look back on earlier times. Shortly after leaving Bree, Aragorn sings to the Hobbits extracts from the Lay of Lethian, telling the tale of Beren and Lúthien. In Rivendell, Biblo sings a song he's made of Eärendil the Mariner. Galadriel links the stories, by giving Frodo a phial containing the light from a silmaril.
The Silmarillion is the account of the creation and the heroic deeds of the First Age.
@DavidStratton Tip: Read the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings. If you're fascinated, go out and get hold of The Silmarillion. If you're bored to tears, don't.
@Caleb At the Kingdom Conference hosted by my church (Elim Gospel Church) two weekends ago, the first speaker (Lance Wallnau) walked up to the adjustible(!) "podium", which was more like a music stand, and plays with adjusting the height. He says: "Ever since I saw this thing, I've wanted to come up here and do this." :P
No, no new information could be added.
But "canon" in Tolkien is a very difficult matter. He was working on some of the stories for nearly 50 years on and off, and his conception of many elements changed significantly over this period. His son Christopher traces the development and evolution of ...
@TRiG - With Dune, I tried reading the first book a total of four times and never made it past the first few chapters. That was in high school. Then, some time in my Sr. Year in high school, I decided to read the book no matter what, and read through the first book, and the first half of it was horribly boring. It was torture.
Then about halfway through, things started making sense and I went back and re-read it from the beginning, and it was very good. I had to get to a certain point of "getting it" before it clicked.
After that, I read the entire series in about two weeks. Couldn't put it down.
At the end of the tragic tale of Túrin Turambar, as told in The Silmarillion, Túrin goes alone to the high point of Cabed-en-Aras above the river Teiglin, and there calls to his sword Gurthang.
There he drew forth his sword, that now alone remained to him of all his possessions, and he said, ...
