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Originally Posted by Lalwendė
Therefore some balance point in interpretation must be found, and it lies in that charcaters and situations are not meant to represent Biblical characters and situations but that the story, the narrative itself, is in sympathy with Christian ideals. Which it is. Isn't the Bible filled with tales of good vs evil? Of the insignificant winning over the worldly and powerful?
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Yes; it (specifically the incarnation, passion, & resurrection) is also referred to by Tolkien as the one true myth to which all other myths pointed. Since he set out to write a myth, it's hard for me to imagine he wasn't both assuming and hoping that the myth he wrote would point to the true one.
And bringing up the word "myth" leads to lmp's point regarding mythic unity, which looks to me like the key to this discussion. Some, likeRaynor, see it; others take tentative stabs at it; and others insist it's not there.
I'm interested in those tempted to take tentative stabs at it. Us old warhorses have thumped this general topic (and some associated topics) to death over the past several years, and we can predict much of what the others will argue.
Let's hear from the rookies.