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Yet there is a problem with simply sticking a 'dream' into the heart of a story - & that is integration. The dream has to be integrated into the story in a convincing way. Any character from the story who is given a role in the dream section is going to have to act 'in character' or the dream will not be properly integrated & stick out like a sore thumb. So we're left with the question of how Eru will be percieved by the reader, & how this one act will impact on the reader's understanding of & feelings about Eru. Put Numenor on one side & what do we have of Eru in the Legendarium?
We have a Creator, who is basically distant, detatched & seemingly unconcerned for the most part, in the First & Second Ages, & who is (possibly) a behind the scenes mover of certain events at the end of the Third. And then there's Numenor.
Eru intevenes into the world in a major way for the only time - & he virtually blows it apart! Hundreds of thousands of people die & a shockwave, both literal & metaphorical, ripples out across time & space & our perception of Eru is transformed. The effect is devastating, & it seems to me that it is Numenor which forces Tolkien into writing the Athrabeth & introducing the idea that Eru will enter the world in order to heal it (the echoes of Jung's Answer to Job are possibly worth considering seriously). It is Eru who has to be 'redeemed' for the attrocity he has committed, because he is ultimately responsible &, after Numenor, cannot sit back at a distance & watch - he has entered into his world & traumatised its inhabitants. He cannot leave it again. Once he acts within the world he is committed to play a personal role, & must enter into it in order to suffer along with it.
Hence, I would argue that far from the Athrabeth being Tolkien's attempt to introduce an echo of 'Christianity' into his secondary world to make it conform more strongly to his faith, he is actually left with no option but to bring him in fully, & make him a full part of the creation. Tolkien's comment that 'already it is too close to a parody of Christianity' shows his discomfort with the idea of Eru incarnating into M-e, but equally it shows he was stuck - either no intervention at all, or a full participation.
In other words, Eru can either be a 'mystery' - ie he can remain outside the world altogether, & not intervene to destroy Numenor - or he must lose his mystery & become an active participant - & Tolkien must choose. For Eru to retain his mystery he must not intervene. For him to intervene he must sacrifice his mystery. What he cannot do, is pop in, trash the place & then go away again & pretend nothing happened. Once he enters in he has to be explained - & so he must either explain himself, or explanations will be invented & foisted upon him. He will be 'judged' for his actions because such actions have to be explained. If you come home tonight & find a big hole where your house is you will want an explanation - in fact you will not be able to rest until you get one - & if no-one offers you one you will invent one based on whatever evidence you have.
The 'basic assumptions' Tolkien has woven into the tale are neither here nor there. Tolkien knew (consciously or otherwise) that Eru's intervention into his creation & his destruction of Numenor changed Eru, & required an explanation & an account to be given by Eru himself. Numenor requires Eru's incarnation into Arda - however much that may seem like a 'parody' of Christianity to Tolkien himself - he (both Eru & Tolkien himself) has backed himself into a corner. Either no destruction of Numenor or full participation in the world he has created.
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