Just to add to Mr. Underhills point about the connections between Gandalf and Jesus, I mentioned in another topic (the image of Eru) that there is a note in 'The Istari' in UT where it says that after the Third age when a shadow was again falling over the kingdom many of the 'Faithful' believed that Gandalf was the "last appearance of Manwe himself, before his final withdrawal to the watchtower of Taniquetil". Now Manwe isn't Illuvatar but he's the next best thing. The belief is then dismissed by Tolkien, but it is interesting to think that Gandalf is said to have certainly become a very 'christ-like figure' in the minds of a small section of people in later history.
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"Come away, O human child!/ To the waters and the wild/With a faery hand in hand,/ For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand."
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