Note that our world (that includes Christianity) and Tolkien's secondary world are at best parallel. As much as I would choose it to be so, the Sil and LotR do not document 'pre-Abrahamic' events. If you really think about it, Tolkien's world actually excludes Christ as there is no need for such a saviour. No Adam, no need for a Second one.
Think that I may have said this before, and others have too, but we see in the text those things that are familiar to us. As
lmp sees images of the Christian world whereas
davem sees other things (of some I have no idea), I see some of these things too, knowing what each poster is talking about. However, I also can see my
self in the text, but as none of you have spent hours pouring over my autobiography (shame that
), it's really not worth discussing further. So we discuss Christ, or Odin, or the story of the hidden king regaining his throne as these things are more common to many of us.
And for a thought that might make even less sense: Ministers use text from the Bible (and I assume it may be similar in other churches/religions) to relate to 'today.' As things were back in the day, so goes it today. People are people, and the same situations occur even after thousands of years have passed. With ease the ministers can transform the text so that we understand and empathize with it.
Turning that around, we take our every day experiences and look back into such texts (even LotR) and find those experiences again, regardless of the text or experience. It's how we're wired.
Look, and ye will find.