I’m in receipt of an e-mail from a student working on a thesis on the Sacramental in Tolkien, and what it means to have “Sacramental Vision”.    The student requested a list of “any helpful articles, books, quotations, etc. regarding the Sacramental, Imagination, Tolkien or Chesterton, and so on”.

 

Here’s my brief response:

 

I’m at Aquinas College this week so can’t consult my own Tolkien and Chesterton library. Nonetheless, from memory, I would suggest the following:

 

Tree and Leaf by Tolkien contains his seminal essay “On Fairy Stories”, his allegorical short story, “Leaf by Niggle”, and his superb poem “Mythopoeia”. Each of these examines Tolkien’s philosophy of myth which is awash with his understanding of the sacramentality of beauty.

 

Tolkien’s Letters are an invaluable resource.

 

You should read the opening chapters of The Silmarillion.

 

I would suggest my own book, Tolkien: Man & Myth, and the sections on Tolkien in my books Catholic Literary Giants and Beauteous Truth: Faith, Reason, Literature and Culture.

 

I’d also suggest that you read the book of essays that I edited: Tolkien: A Celebration.

 

Ralph Wood’s Gospel According to Tolkien is good as are Purtill’s and Kreeft’s books on Tolkien.

 

As regards Chesterton, the chapter on “The Ethics of Elfland” in Orthodoxy is indispensable.