Middle-Earth as Announcing the Gospel. Suggestion of the Way of Interpretation for Works of J.R.R. Tolkien

Abstract

The article addresses the issue of relationship between theology and literature. The purpose is to find a proper method for theological interpretation of literature. Proposed method is St. Paul's category of “figure” – the phenomenon, person or object that announces another from the New Testament. Firstly the paper defines the concept of „figure” and presents its history. Next the article explains the objective and conditions of using the method to interpret some parts from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion. The last part of the text is the example of application of the method to a story of The Journey of Elves from III-V chapters of The Silmarillion. The analysis presents the story as the image of the Church in its way to heaven. The work shows that the literature can be interesting for theology and that theology can interpret the works of literature. The “figure” methodology is one of the accurate ways to understand the literature in theology.