Because Tolkien and Lewis Took A Walk After Dinner

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Frank Weathers

http://www.patheos.com/

C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien

I had someone leave a comment on a post who lamented questioningly,

“After all, do Christians proselytize to others as they wish others would proselytize to them? The very notion is ridiculous.”

Below is a great video clip, courtesy of Kevin O’Brien’s Theater of the Word, Incorporated, that puts that statement to the test. Because we are called to spread the Good News in ways that appeal to all people.

This is why St. Paul said,

For whereas I was free as to all, I made myself the servant of all, that I might gain the more. And I became to the Jews, a Jew, that I might gain the Jews: To them that are under the law, as if I were under the law, (whereas myself was not under the law,) that I might gain them that were under the law. To them that were without the law, as if I were without the law, (whereas I was not without the law of God, but was in the law of Christ,) that I might gain them that were without the law.

To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak. I became all things to all men, that I might save all.

This is a scene that brings to life the after dinner discussion that Lewis had with Tolkien that Lewis recounts in his autobiography, Surprised By Joy. Essayist Andrea Monda sets the stage for us,

Although in 1929 Jack was already on his knees and had prayed to God desperately and reluctantly, it was Tolkien’s friendship that brought him to the encounter with Christ. On 19 September 1931, Jack and “Tollers” (as Tolkien was called by his closest friends), together with their common friend Hugo Dyson, were taking their usual after-dinner stroll in the grounds of Magdalen College and began discussing ancient myths and the Truth “hidden” in these legends.

This is O’Brien playing the character of Tolkien. If the Golden Rule is to be utilized when witnessing the Faith (and I would argue it is), then Tolkien followed it scrupulously. This video is 8 minutes and 46 seconds that you will want to watch again, and again.

Of course, no one proselytizes anyone really. The best we can hope to do is be a witness for Christ, like Tolkien was for Lewis. Because each person is called to seek God on their own. For as Our Lord promised,

Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.

Andrea Monda’s essay can be found here.