National Catholic Register, Joseph Pearce:
When we think of writers associated with Christmas, Dickens would no doubt come to mind, as, perhaps, would Chesterton. It is unlikely, however, that the name of J.R.R. Tolkien would spring to mind.
In Tolkien’s works, such as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, set in Middle-earth, there is no place for Christmas for the simple reason that these works are set in a mystical past, many years before the coming of Christ. Clearly, any mention of the birth of Christ and the festivities associated with it would be anomalous, and indeed absurd, in Tolkien’s mythical world, which is why Tolkien disapproved of his friend C. S. Lewis’s decision to place Father Christmas somewhat incongruously into the mythical world of Narnia. Continue reading here.
