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Originally Posted by Lalwendė
... to find an appropriate word in the Elvish language which was similar, but it does not mean that the two concepts/beings are the same thing.
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Precisely! Well-said, and your post hints at a slight difference (
) in viewpoints between you and another person nearby. Stick to it!
Saucy, your precise and concise summary of the possibilities hits the nail on the head. I agree completely, though I suspect we aren't coming at the conclusions from the same point of view.
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Originally Posted by littlemanpoet
I do think that Tolkien meant Iluvatar to be a picture of the God he worships. The very same Being? Well, yes.
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LMP, though we are approaching this question from a similar point of view, we come to opposite conclusions! The question
Fordim asked is not whether Tolkien considers Eru and God to be the same, but whether it is my (and your) opinion. I know Tolkien set Middle-earth up to be our Earth in a previous history, but he realized that it was an
alternate pre-history. If we take Eru to be identical with the creator God of our earth, then the story of creation (with Adam and Eve being the parents of all living) which is so central to his identity does not fit.
The mythology of Middle-earth is a lovely alternative, taking some variant points of view into consideration (such as making the Valar include elements of both pagan Gods and Judeo/Christian angels), but it cannot fit into Jewish and Christian theology. It is fiction and I enjoy it very much, but I do not attempt to reconcile it with my real life belief.