[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Raynor

In letter #156, Tolkien specifically tells us that the Third Age is not Christian - the world at that time only has a "monotheistic natural theology". So I think that the 'clues' to christianity ought to be looked for somewhere else than in direct representation of christian events or ideas; there are two main ideas that seem to stand out: Death:

Why do we need to look for 'clues'? Tolkien stated that the Lord of the Rings did not have a message, that he did not wish to preach. There may be elements of Catholicism to be found, amongst the many other things which Tolkien loved and believed in, but they are not there to teach us anything. Tolkien did not want us to search for 'clues'. "We must be satisfied with the soup that is set before us, and not desire to see the bones of the ox out of which it is boiled." If we are looking for clues, what are we looking for? Is it to satisfy ourselves of his meaning? Is it to satisfy ourselves of our own meaning? It is the latter.

Now a quick specific. As I've said before, Christianity, Catholicism or any other religion does not have the monopoly on Death. Mortality is the major theme of the Northern myth which Tolkien also loved, this literature dealt in Death. Tolkien's dwelling upon it cannot be taken as a signpost to his religion as it is a deeper and wider concern.

Originally Posted by Raynor

My conclusion would be that it is all a matter of "technique": you must present certain perennial truths, which come from the real world (or revelations) but you can't do that explicitly. Tolkien did state that LotR is about "God and his sole right to divine honour", an honour which Sauron attempted to have;

The full quote does not say that LotR is about God! It goes thus:

In the Lord of the Rings the conflict is not basically about "freedom"; though that is naturally involved. It is about God and his sole right to divine honour. The Eldar and the Numenoreans believed in The One, the true God, and held worship of any other person an abomination. Sauron desired to be a God-King and was held to be this by his servants...

So the conflict is, as Scull & Hammond say, about fighting the 'ultimate evil', worship of Sauron and Morgoth. Well, we all know that. Perhaps Tolkien was being naughty by putting God instead of Eru, but in that world Eru IS God, we must all cast aside our earthly religions (or not) and accept that in Tolkien's created world, there is Eru and he's the boss.