I think a possible reason for many people to aliken the books to Christianity and the Bible is a sort of sub-conscious way of making their favourite books relate to them and their lives more.
After all, as this board shows, there are a lot of nutty fans (and some who even think they are in ME, or that we're in ME eons on) who want to try and approximate themselves to the stories by any means possible.
So if the Christians among us (not I) are there comparing Gandalf and Jesus or whatever, I think it's a rationalising way of linking and connecting books which they love and the Book which they believe in. Art imitating life, or just a Tolkien dependency clutching at any straws to bring themselves closer in thought to the Prof? Who knows?
As for non-Christians, I dunno. Every literary critic loves to find allegories and references, makes us sound better read [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]
|