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Originally Posted by davem
This is all a bit vague, though, & hardly specifically Christian. Pity, mercy, compassion are all essential to Buddhism, for instance. What is often cited as 'Christian' themes in these arguments are actually much more universal. Tolkien certainly found them in Christianity, but he could equally well have found them in other faiths. I think a Jew or a Muslim could equally well have written LotR, or a Buddhist or Hindu or Sikh. I'm also pretty sure that any readers of LotR who followed those faiths would have no issues with the philosophical underpinnings of the work or feel they were at all strange.
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He could-- if he was from another faith. But he was, as we know, a devout and focused Catholic; so why bring the other faith systems up at all?
The question at the beginning of the thread was whether Tolkien took material from the bible, not whether he took it from the Upanishads, the Koran, or any other text.
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The specifics of Christianity (Incarnation, Sacrifice of God for the salvation of the World, Resurrection, etc) are absent from the story.
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Of course they are absent from the war of the Ring; Tolkien said they were, and also he said why.
They showed up in his writings much later, in Athrabeth an Andreth.
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Originally Posted by davem
As far as the Flame Imperishable which enters into the Heart of the World, I don't at all see any similarity with Christian belief - unless you're referring to the fires of Hell....
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Denying connections between two works assumes you are familiar enough with both works to make the denial. Here, then, lies your greatest weakness in this whole argument-- ignorance of the main themes of Christianity. If you cannot see the Flame Imperishable within Christian theology and biblical exegesis-- even the simple phrase by itself, let alone the way Gandalf uses that simple phrase on the bridge!-- then your opinion that there are no connections loses its weight within this context.