Spend some time scrolling through dissident Twitter, particularly those corners favored by more traditional Catholics, and you’ll soon run across references to J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.
Both are the subject of myriad BrainyQuotes and, especially in Tolkien’s case, movie still memes. There’s no denying that the works of these twentieth century authors strike a chord with today’s new counterculture.
Tolkien’s works honored two types of heroism: the zeal of the Christian knight who, though he may be overmatched by his earthly foes, fights joyfully because he knows that Christ has already secured final victory, and the stoic, honorable courage of the pagan who is entirely without hope but fights just as fiercely because it’s the right thing to do.
Read the works of 20th century Christian authors like Lewis, Tolkien himself, and even Ratzinger, and they seem more informed by the second spirit than the first. Much is made of Christians being in the world but not of the world and “fighting the long defeat”.
As much as I admire these men, I think their fatalistic attitude, most likely imparted by the World Wars, lulled a lot of people into a false sense of soft despair. It’s not a big jump from “We’re outnumbered and outgunned, but it’s our duty to fight the good fight” to “There’s nothing I can do anyway, so I’m off the hook.”
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Revolutionary political movements only need 10% of the population to succeed. The Church only needs twelve men. The Apostles took on an empire that was far more ruthless and run by much more cunning people than ours. True, they didn’t live to see Rome conquered for Christ, but their heirs did.
Some Christians sigh about “Fighting the long defeat.” Yet Lewis’ own Space Chronicles gave a hint of what victory might look like.
Amid the grim spectacle of the Death Cult’s madness, it’s easy to get caught up watching the train wreck and lose focus on what we’re fighting for.
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Imagine a world where the arts and popular entertainment honor fathers and Christians.
Imagine having a functional economy where everyone from rocket scientists to unskilled laborers can find honest, fulfilling work at a living wage based on merit.
Picture cohesive neighborhoods where intact families support one another and look out for each other’s needs without requiring the intrusion of the state.
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Parents, imagine not having to worry if your son will be frivolously abandoned by his wife and reduced to penury when she robs him of his house, income, and children with the backing of the state. Dare to dream not fearing that your daughter will flit from one sociopathic fling to the next while using Big Brother as a surrogate father for her bastard children. Or that your daughter will be forced by the state to become your son, or vice versa.
Imagine universities honestly pursuing the truth and teaching it to your children on a non-usurious basis.
Imagine a world that makes sense.
We could live there tomorrow if we really wanted to. We could stop fighting the long defeat and start winning.
The hardest red pill to swallow is the fact that the only obstacle in our way is us.
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