Wormtongue and Aosama, I think it is both reasonable and accurate to acknowledge the moral sensibility in Tolkien's work, and the specific faith from which that sensibility is derived. It need not add or detract from one's enjoyment, but respect for the author, and an interest in the inception of and creativity behind the works of Tolkien, do pretty much lead to you to accepting that aspect of his life and its relevance to LotR and other work.
Wormtongue, perhaps you can deconstruct anything into everything, but with a little moderation it is possible to assign the same importance that Tolkien himself did to his own faith as part of the critical framework within which you discuss his work. You can argue that the range of symbols and archetypes mean that LotR is not Biblical allegory (and I have done), but you can't argue that the work is imbued with Tolkien's spiritual values. It is, he himself made that clear.
Aosama, these are discussion boards and it is inevitable that we will be labelling, discussing, analysing etc. In my view, although this may not add to our enjoyment of Tolkien, the subtexts and contexts are themselves interesting.
Gilthalion, please scroll up for my initial response to your post [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
Peace
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