IMO when I read LOTR I do not see so much paralles to the Bible, but the archtypes that Joseph Campbell worked with in so much of his writing. If LOTR was written after Campbell was done with all of his studies would we be trying to find the hero, villan, and patsy instead of Jesus, Paul, and Jedus?
Were there ever actuall quotes from Tolkien that specifically said that he was trying to draw parallels...or was it just by accident of design that they happened?
In general (and this goes back to freshman year of high school and studing the Scarlett Letter). IMO it takes away from the literature itself to continualy focus on parallels that really aren't there. We have to reach and reach to find any and as soon as we think we are on the right track we come up with something else that works...for the moment.
But at the same time it does make good discussion.
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