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Originally Posted by Lalwendë
Historically, Christianity has always incorporated older beliefs as a way of getting people to convert. Just one example of evidence is that the festivals of Christmas, Easter, Harvest and All Souls are concurrent with pre-existing pagan festivals.
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Of course, if one wishes to apply a sceptical point of view, one could take this cynical position cart blanche. And I am sure that such thoughts were undoubtedly on the minds of some Church Fathers at the time (for most of the similarities, the third century), human nature being what it is.
However, there is also another perspective, one that likely Tolkien himself was quite well aware of. It is the idea that, first of all, the human instinct for ritual finds a similarity of symbol in light, water, song, procession, and, second, that for true believers, evidence of God's grace has touched all human life, even in religions founded before Christ. Where elements of paganism were not found congruent with Christianity, they were not adapted or assumed. But where they were found similar, they were kept.
Such an attitude represents the idea of the universal applicability of symbols and acts. Given how Tolkien set Middle earth in a pre-Christian era but loaded LotR with events, objects, ideas and persons with many similarities to his faith--such as lembas--I would think that he likely held this belief rather than the more cynical one of "getting people to convert." Of course, I don't doubt that one person could in fact hold both perspectives simultaneously, for revealed religion obviously raises this problem of what to do about people who pre-dated the revelation. But I think it should at least be acknowledged that there could be sincerity of belief in the applicability of some pagan symbols and events.