Over a century has passed since the beginning of World War I, a war that lasted over four years, claimed around sixteen and a half million lives with more than twenty million injured, and left the majority of writers, artists, and intellectuals disillusioned with religion and skeptical of the goodness of human nature. Out of the wreckage of the post-WWI era, three timeless works of fantasy—The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Chronicles of Narnia—elevated messages of hope, heroism, and perseverance with a distinctly Christian theological undercurrent.
How Tolkien and Lewis were able to provide a different perspective, why their focus was different from others of their age, and what lessons all this holds for us today make for the subject of Joseph Loconte’s book, “A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War.” In a discussion on September 17 at The Heritage Foundation, Loconte examined how J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were shaped by their experiences in the trenches of the Great War, their friendship with each other, and their Christian faith.
Loconte explained that while some of postwar authors viewed the war as a manifestation of the evil of mankind, Lewis and Tolkien saw the courage, brotherhood, and fellowship that were brought out in the crucible of war. While both authors lost many close friends in the conflict, their reflections on the war focus on the duty and responsibility of individuals to resist evil, no matter how high the personal cost. Loconte placed great importance on the fact that the hero is incapable of “resisting evil alone because of the forces around him and the weakness within him.” This invariably leads to Tolkien’s and Lewis’ greatest point: “there is a source of goodness that exists outside of ourselves”—a clear reference to their Christian belief in a higher power.
Loconte used the lessons contained within Lewis and Tolkien’s writings to illuminate how the U.S. should respond to foreign crises around the globe in the modern day. He noted that while history never repeats itself exactly, human nature has stayed the same. Corrupt regimes will “thrive on democratic weakness.” In particular, the growth of ISIS has spawned out of this weakness to resist evil.
Regrettably, as analyzed in a recent Heritage Foundation Backgrounder, the U.S. has underfunded defense, leaving the nation with an inadequate number of ground troops to meet global threats. One of the lessons Tolkien and Lewis learned in WWI, peace achieved through the strength of will to resist evil, appears to have been forgotten.
Connor Matisoo is currently a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. For more information on interning at Heritage, please click here.
