Christian fantasy and fantastic Christianity

It's a well-known fact that C.S. Lewis and his famous contemporary and close friend, J.R.R. Tolkien, infused their fantasy classics with Christian symbolism. Both feature benevolent guiding figures, reminiscent of Jung's senex archetype, who sacrifice their lives for the good of the world and are rewarded with the chance to return. This nod to the Jesus myth is painfully obvious. But beside the common denominators of mutual experiences, Christian convictions, and fantasy worlds, there are a few substantial differences between the two authors that depend on two important facts: Lewis was a late convert to Anglicanism and enjoyed using metaphor and allegory, while Tolkien was a Catholic from childhood, detested allegory and restricted the use of metaphor to poetry.

Thus, while the Christian influence in Lewis' work has been the subject of much discussion and criticism, Tolkien's spirituality is left largely untouched. Tolkien's world has an all-powerful God, it has angels, one of them a fallen one, and it has a Paradise for the virtuous. And the Professor leaves it at that. Beside the Christ-like sacrifice of the wizard Gandalf, little else in his works can with accuracy be determined a Christian element. The evil in Middle-Earth isn't gluttony, lust, or sloth, but destruction and industry; the morality that guides Tolkien is environmentalist, not religious.

Lewis, on the other hand, wrote fables of morality. His religious views are blatantly expressed; we are told that vanity in a woman removes her innocence, that the Eastern God Tash (Allah) is not the same as the lion Aslan (God), and that lack of faith in the lion is a sin. As an apologist, Lewis was new to Christianity; it wasn't a natural part of his identity, as the case was with Tolkien, but a burning passion. Lewis wanted to teach his readers; Tolkien wanted to entertain them. And that has made all the difference.