A chapter in The Silmarillion, a prequel to Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, titled Ainulindale describes the foundational background mythology for the world that Tolkien created. Within the context of the work, Ainulindale serves as a historical-theological introduction to the universe of Middle-earth. As such, it is a work of both historical literature and theological significance within Tolkien's canon, and it tells a tale that is the equivalent of the Luciferian rebellion in its mythos.
Many Christians speak of how Lucifer, created as a beautiful creature that reflected Yahweh's glory, set his will against that of Yahweh, and led an insurrection against his creator with the help of other defectors like him, being cast out as the evil being known as Satan. Ainulindale tells of how the deity Eru/Iluvitar fashioned angelic beings called the Ainur. Iluvitar compels them to make music in glorious unity with each other--but one of them, an Ainur named Melkor (eventually called by the name Morgoth), deviates from Iluvitar's expectations.
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| Melkor/Morgoth, the deviant Ainur. (Photo credit: rinthcog on Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-SA) |
Treason festers in his mind: "But as the theme progressed, it came into the heart of Melkor to interweave matters of his own imagining that were not in accord with the theme of Iluvitar" (16). His thoughts began to translate into actions, disrupting the harmonious music of the Ainur, and "straight-way discord arose about him, and many that sang nigh him grew despondent, and their thought was disturbed and their music faltered" (16).
The Bible is not anywhere near this open about how the angelic fall actually happened, at least in its opening book. In the Bible, Genesis recounts how Yahweh fashioned the material world (Genesis 1:1) and created a special kind of beings called humans (Genesis 1:26-28), named Adam and Eve. He instructed them to not eat the fruit of a certain tree. But a manipulative serpent entices Eve to disobey Yahweh; once it appears in Genesis 3, it tempts Eve to consume the forbidden fruit, challenging the veracity of what Yahweh told her in a conversation never recorded in the text (Genesis 3:4-5).
Before this chapter the serpent is not mentioned or alluded to. Interestingly, despite many Christians speaking of the rebellion of Satan as if it were an event spelled out with great clarity in Scripture, Genesis neither tells of this story nor even identifies the serpent that tempted Eve as Satan to begin with. Just as the Genesis account does not call the forbidden fruit an apple, as some have done, or call the serpent a snake, as some have done, it does not call the serpent by a formal name or describe its backstory at all.
It is only much later, in the book of Revelation (12:9), that Satan seems to be equated with the serpent. There is no narrative with a clear telling of just how Satan revolted, or just how many angels he seduced away from Yahweh, or how long before the corruption of Adam and Eve this rebellion occurred. There is no part of the Bible that describes the exact history of Satan with the clarity that Ainulindale does for Melkor.
What can be legitimately concluded from this comparison? It becomes apparent that a work that in some way echoes or imitates the Bible might provide far more details about the shared theme or event than the Bible itself does, and sometimes those who represent the Bible might add to its teachings, perhaps even unaware of their mistake. It also becomes apparent that other works can illuminate an understanding of Scripture, by echoing its contents and by presenting them in a different context. Each of these realizations, but especially together, can enrich the reading experience and theological understanding of Christians as they read books beyond the Bible.
The Silmarillion. Tolkien, J.R.R. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999. Print.
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