Beren, if I may I would like to pull of one of Burrahobbit's points. Your question is how long did it take for the creation of Arda to be complete, but surely without such a creation the concept of time would also be irrelevant? "In the depths of time and among the immnumerable stars" perhaps states how time wasn't measured, as such.
(Relating back to theology on that point, the fact that the Arda was created in a time frame that is incomprehendable to us, could be a reflection on that the story of our own world's creation, in the view of a Christian, is that the world was created in 7 days-though how long those days were not mentioned apart from the fact darkness was night and light was day.)
The formally mentioned theory could also suggest another link between Tolkien's "unintentional allegory" in the books. The fact that he himself was Christian and most probably a believer in the creation story, he may have used the idea in his works so that the timescale of Arda's creation need not be questionned, or rather answered.
(And HCIsland, I too have read "The Elegant Universe", though I confess only in part as some chapters dealt with issues I have not yet a relavant understanding of, and believe the suggestion of "string-theory", "super-string-theory" and "m-theory" quite feasible).
[ May 09, 2003: Message edited by: Gorothlammothiel ]
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