Lord of the imagination
As the life of J.R.R. Tolkien has recently come to life on the silver screen, Edward McKenzie takes a look at how the author’s faith shaped his writing and, in turn, how God can inspire all of our imaginations.
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ince I read The Hobbit in primary school I have been travelling to far-off lands and fighting dragons. I believe our imaginations are a gift from God and we should use them more, as we explore our faith and follow Jesus. Imagination is a temporary escape from reality to somewhere else. A place where we can more clearly see the themes of the real world, and our role within this place, so that we may live better in it upon our return. We all have a story to tell, and our stories are intertwined with the story of God. Scripture often speaks in stories as God the master storyteller uses narrative to reveal his truth and inspire his people. Since God used story to reveal his truth, and all truth is his, we ought to be prompted to see that his story, deliberately or otherwise, is reflected in every other story ever told. We should therefore be driven to allowing our
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Herald June 2019
imagination to help us to see the timeless unfolding tale of God. With the release of Tolkien in cinemas, moviegoers were invited into the early life of one of the greatest story writers of all time, travelling with him through childhood, adolescence, falling in love and the horrors of the Somme. I enjoyed the film, yet was disappointed
I believe our imaginations are a gift from God and we should use them more, as we explore our faith and follow Jesus.
in its failure to display J.R.R. Tolkien as a man of deep religious conviction, which he undoubtedly was. Tolkien’s faith defined him, it gave him a moral outlook and a worldview that is expressed vividly throughout the land of Middle Earth and in the deep mythology created around it. He, of course, was not the first nor the last to allow imagination to create a world from which a story of faith could be planted in the hearts of readers. When we trace the allegorical steps of Christian in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress or hear C.S. Lewis describe Aslan’s death upon the Stone Table, we connect the dots and see again the wonder of the cross and the expedition that is the Christian life. Tolkien was doing more than writing a story for the sake of entertainment. Instead, he had a grander vision, shaped and fashioned by his life and faith. His primary motivation was his love of
