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Originally Posted by mark12_30
They showed up in his writings much later, in Athrabeth an Andreth.
A great deal shows up in the later writings - much of it, if included in the Legendarium would cause major problems. Even if accepted we are only dealing there with an Elvish belief, not a fact.
Denying connections between two works assumes you are familiar enough with both works to make the denial. Here, then, lies your greatest weakness in this whole argument-- ignorance of the main themes of Christianity. If you cannot see the connection for the Flame Imperishable within Christian theology and biblical exegesis, then your opinion that there are no connections loses all its weight within this context.
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A belief in 'Sacred' fire at the heart of the earth is hardly original to Christianity. The whole point, which I made earlier, is that once an element is successfully absorbed into a Secondary World it becomes part of that world. The things Tolkien 'absorbed' into M-e are Religious universals, rather than specifics. If one didn't know he was Christian & had only the works I don't think - much as he might have hoped - anyone would be able to tell what religion, if any, he followed.
Hence, it is not a 'Christian' work.