John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
1892-1973 · Christian Literature · Household name
Tolkien taught philology at Oxford and held that story-making is a creaturely act: we sub-create in our small derivative way because a Maker made us in his image. He set the Machine against sub-creation, power used to coerce other wills. He coined eucatastrophe for the sudden turn to joy in a tale, and called the Birth of Christ the eucatastrophe of human history. He described himself as an anarchist or an unconstitutional monarchist.
Signature
The position Tolkien is most identified with in the Profiler:
- Meaning
- strongly leans Inherent
- Human Nature
- Imago Dei / Storytelling Animal
Positions on the 6 axes the sources answer
- Beauty
- leans Objective (75 on a 0–100 scale from Subjective to Objective)
- Meaning
- strongly leans Inherent (91 on a 0–100 scale from Constructed to Inherent)
- Order
- mildly between Vertical and Horizontal (45 on a 0–100 scale from Vertical to Horizontal)
- Ground of Being
- strongly leans Transcendence (90 on a 0–100 scale from Immanence to Transcendence)
- Truth
- leans Objective (85 on a 0–100 scale from Subjective to Objective)
- Nature
- leans Harmony (88 on a 0–100 scale from Mastery to Harmony)
14 of 20 axes are left blank: the sources do not answer them, or Tolkien refused the framing. Nothing is imputed; a blank is not a middling score.
Foundational questions
- Theology
- Trinitarian Monotheism
What is your position on the existence and nature of God or gods? - Government
- Anarchy / Monarchy
What is your ideal form of government? - Good and Evil
- Good Real, Evil Privative
What is the fundamental nature of good and evil? - End of Things
- Transfiguration
What is the ultimate end of all things? - Human Nature
- Imago Dei / Storytelling Animal
What is human nature? - Primary Bond
- The Divine
What is your primary bond and loyalty?