‘Canonicity’: the Book or the Reader?

[The Saucepan Man]

... as I have to dash.

But was Tolkien an 'evangelist' (or at least an 'apologist' like Lewis), making use of Faery to convert us to his beliefs - he almost goes as far as to say this in regard to LotR, when he said it was 'consciously' revised to make it conform to Catholic teaching - or was he attempting to offer us a glimpse into Faerie?

Clearly, at least by the time that he came to revise LotR, he was concerned to ensure that his work were consistent, as far as possible, with his beliefs (and, in that sense, his vision of "Faerie" was no doubt different to that presented in much mythology and folklore). But I don't get the impression that he wrote them with the conscious intention of converting his readers to his beliefs. He recognised (as I think he was bound to do) the reader's absolute freedom to interpret them as he or she sees fit.