‘Further Up and Further In’: Representations of Heaven in Tolkien and Lewis

Abstract

This essay examines the depiction of Heaven in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Leaf by Niggle” and C.S. Lewis’ The Last Battle, with reference to Dante’s Paradiso, arguing that their depictions of Heaven are both theologically rich and imaginatively satisfying. The essay begins by considering the difficulties inherent in depicting Heaven, and then arguing that a depiction of the Christian vision of Heaven must reflect its incarnational reality. The essay next provides literary context for the discussion of Tolkien and Lewis by considering Dante’s representation of Heaven, with reference to Lewis’ thoughts on the imagery in Paradiso. The essay then analyzes Tolkien’s “Leaf by Niggle” and Lewis’ The Last Battle, showing how the authors’ choice of imagery evokes Heaven as active, participatory, communal, and incarnational. In both works, imagery of the Incarnate Christ plays an important role, as does the evocation of the infinitude of Heaven through metaphors of storytelling and journeying. Tolkien gives us an image of Heaven as art come to life, Lewis one of Heaven as story lived out. Both draw on aesthetic responses to nature and landscape to evoke, rather than describe, Heaven as a place infinitely desirable, a place where our nature as creative beings is fulfilled.