How har Tolkiens personliga åsikt om evolution påverkat hans arbete?

Att Tolkien var en kreationist (av något slag) är obestridlig; Tänk på Brev 96, till exempel:

As for Eden. I think most Christians, except the v[ery] simple and uneducated or those protected in other ways, have been rather bustled and hustled now for some generations by the self-styled scientists, and they've sort of tucked Genesis into a lumber-room of their mind as not very fashionable furniture, a bit ashamed to have it about the house, don't you know, when the bright clever young people called

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien 96: To Christopher Tolkien. January 1945

Det betyder emellertid inte nödvändigtvis att han var emot biologisk utveckling, så länge som skapelsens handling fortfarande var gudomlig; Det är i huvudsak vad Theistic Evolution är. Dessutom finns det uttryckliga hänvisningar till evolutionära processer i hans skrifter. Hobbits som härstammar från Män är ett exempel, liksom den här avsnittet från The Hobbit :

[Bilbo] could not swim; and he thought, too, of nasty slimy things, with big bulging blind eyes, wriggling in the water. There are strange things living in the pools and lakes in the hearts of mountains: fish whose fathers swam in, goodness only knows how many years ago, and never swam out again, while their eyes grew bigger and bigger and bigger from trying to see in the blackness

The Hobbit Chapter 5: "Riddles in the Dark"

I en uppsats publicerad i Morgoths Ring uttrycker han att tillväxten och förändringen är naturliga processer som placeras där av Valaren under deras skapande 1 :

When [the Valar] perceived that Melkor would now turn darkness and night to his purposes, as he had aforetime sought to wield flame, they were grieved; for it was a part of their design that there should be change and alteration upon Earth, and neither day perpetual nor night without end.

History of Middle-earth X Morgoth's Ring Part 5: "Myths Transformed" II

Och i en fotnot på den delen:

For it is indeed of the nature of Eä and the Great History that naught may stay unchanged in time, and things which do so, or appear to do so, or endeavour to remain so, become a weariness, and are loved no longer (or are at best unheeded.

History of Middle-earth X Morgoth's Ring Part 5: "Myths Transformed" II

Som våra goda vänner på Christianity.SE säger vi, det finns inte nödvändigtvis en motsättning mot att vara katolsk och acceptera evolution ; citerar från ett svar på den frågan (i sin tur citerar ett uttalande av påven Pius XII:

[The] Teaching Authority of the Church does not forbid that, in conformity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology, research and discussions, on the part of men experienced in both fields, take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter - for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God.

Även om detta publicerades 1950, medan Tolkien var nära att slutföra på Ringenes Herre , verkar det osannolikt att detta var en radikal bild av tiden.

1 Verkligen underskapande, eftersom sann skapelse återigen är Guds exklusiva räckvidd

Böckerna skrevs som kristen mytologi, skapelse etc. Men:

Tolkien once described The Lord of the Rings to his friend, the English Jesuit Father Robert Murray, as "a fundamentally religious and Catholic work, unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision."source

Också:

In C.S. Lewis and evolution (www.creation.com) Peter Barnes writes, "Theologically, Lewis described himself as an Anglican...He is often regarded as suspect in his views, especially regarding the doctrines of revelation and the atonement. Certainly, Lewis retained some liberal elements in his thinking..." In other words, by thinking for himself, he was a heretic. He was converted to Christianity by J.R.R. Tolkien of Lord of the Rings fame.source

Både Tolkien och C.S. Lewis var kristna och creationists.

Most discussions of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis stress their kinship--their shared faith, their similar scholarly interests in literature and language, their mutual love of myth, legend, and heroic romance. Scholars have tended as well to note similarities in the distinguished corpus of fantasy literature created by Tolkien and Lewis.source

Tolkiens teori om underskapande

The doctrine of sub-creation was especially congenial to Tolkien, both as a Christian and as a fantasy writer. As a Christian, Tolkien could view sub-creation as a form of worship, a way for creatures to express the divine image in them by becoming creators. As a fantasy writer, Tolkien could affirm his chosen genre as one of the purest of all fictional modes, because it called for the creation not only of characters and incidents, but also of worlds for them to exist in.

Såvitt jag är medveten om att läsa en biografi om Tolkien var han en djup katolik efter sin far. Boken jag läste talade aldrig om hans personliga övertygelse om denna typ av sak, men i allmänhet (särskilt vid Tolkiens tid) tror den katolska kyrkan strängt i skapandet av genesis.

Det finns vissa likheter mellan biblisk skapelse och hur Eru Ilúvatar skapade Ainur och de skapade i sin tur Arda (som Middle Earth är en del av). Läs Silmarillion för mer detaljer, jag vet inte allt från toppen av mitt huvud:)