Tolkien's Vision and the True Meaning of Subduing the Earth

After the fall, the meaning of “subdue” was skewed. Adam’s descendants took it to mean “dominate.”

When Adam and Eve were told to fill and subdue the earth, it wasn’t a call to dominate but a call to harmonize. When the instruments in an orchestra are not rightly ordered, they produce cacophony, not music. For the earth to sound in accord with God, it had to be ordered. Elements had to be harmonized.

Without the proper hierarchy, Powers wreak havoc. …