[greyhavener]

Tolkien was a Christian and a devout Catholic. While he states that he did not intend to write an allegory nor a deliberately Christian work, I think his passion for his faith is reflected in his work. He loved myth and really intended to create a new mythology. His Christianity was so much a part of him that he infused the world he created with the basic spiritual realities that were present in his own life. Even though the rules and characters do not fit with the Bible, the principles and processes of Christianity seem to operate in the setting of Middle Earth.

There is the conflict between good and evil. There is clear delineation between the two forces. The power of good in Middle Earth as it is in a Christain perspective is greater than evil. Good seems to be less influenced by the activities of those on the earth than is the power of evil which grows as beings join in the evil.

I think the ring as a sort of symbol for sin or temptation. In "The Hobbit" it seemed harmless enough, even rather useful. Later it is revealed that it is a vehicle of evil and those who try to harness its power will be consumed and used for evil purposes. Those we use it eventually become mesmerized by evil, consumed, yet comforted by the habit of it. In Biblical Christianity sin is certainly like that. The Old Testment is full of accounts of individuals similarly consumed. Gollum is what becomes of those who cannot check themselves and have no companions who are willing to direct them away from evil. Christianity expresses the need to be delivered and Christ as the vehicle of deliverance. There is a principle of surrendering oneself to Christ of repenting and turning away from sin. There is a theological position that mankind does not have the power within himself to even turn away from sin, but only through the power of Christ is this repentanc itself even possible. Just as Frodo must throw the ring into the cracks of doom, he cannot do it alone, and loses part of himself in doing so. In several of the epistles, Paul describes this agonizing struggle between the desire to sin and the desire to renounce it. In Middle Earth, as in Biblical Christianity, how one deals with the ring, or with temptation and evil, defines one's position in respect to good and evil.

In Middle Earth, just as in Christianity, evil originate with a distinct person who co-ops the selfish, the mean, the ambitious, and the unwary to his own purposes. Sauron, like Satan desires control and delights in suffering. Both have limited but intense power.

Another parallel I see is in the transformation that takes place in the various characters like Bilbo, Frodo, and Gimli who through their association with the elves are invited to go into the West. In Christianity, association with Christ allows the faithful to attain Heaven.

I do think this question must be considered in the context of Tolkien's own beliefs. Tolkien accomplished what he intended: to write a new mythology and create a new world. The way I see it, Tolkien did what any creator would do, consciously or unconsciously, he made his world operate within the principles of what he understood to be the Truth.