[Raynor]

Davem, I will propose this: I will keep pointing to Bible similarities (something you specifically requested several times in this thread, but when it is done you seem, though I might be wrong, to dislike it), while you will try to identify the same events/themes in all those religious systems you refferred to (judaism, hinduism, islamism, etc), since you claimed that LoR's themes are universal. Whatever the case, I will find your such posts esspecially instructive.

Originally Posted by davem

Except Gandalf is not 'the Saviour' of M-e or anywhere else, but rather a guide & counsellor

Yet he is called the chief mover of the resistance, isn't he?

Originally Posted by The Istari, UT

Elsewhere is told how it was that when Sauron rose again, he also arose and partly revealed his power, and becoming the chief mover of the resistance to Sauron was at last victorious, and brought all by vigilance and labour to that end which the Valar under the One that is above them had designed.

Originally Posted by Letter #156

In the end before he departs for ever he sums himself up: 'I was the enemy of Sauron'.He might have added: 'for that purpose I was sent to Middle-earth'. But by that he would at the end have meant more than at the beginning.

Originally Posted by Many Partings, RotK

You have proved mightiest, and all your labours have gone well

Eowyn, Faramir, Merry & Frodo are not actually dead at any point

Indeed, the two events are not identical, which doesn't negate the parallel however:

Originally Posted by John11:43

And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

Originally Posted by Houses of Healing, RotK

Suddenly Faramir stirred, and he opened his eyes, and he looked on Aragorn who bent over him; and a light of knowledge and love was kindled in his eyes, and he spoke softly.

- My lord, you called me. I come. What does the king command?

- Walk no more in the shadows, but awake! said Aragorn
...
- Eowyn Eomund's daughter, awake! For your enemy has passed away!

What I want to ask is why the Pope is writing fantasy novels anyway. He should stick to his day job.

You would wonder why the Pope is writing a religious work? You didn't seem to have any problem with a car builder making a Christian car .

One other thought I will share with you is the council of Elrond; in the Bible, we have the wise men coming to greet Christianity's greatest hero, following certain signs. At the council of Elrond, emissaries from far off, following various "signs", arrive to a meeting which is, figuratively, the birth of Frodo as a hero

Originally Posted by The Council of Elrond, FotR

But it is a heavy burden. So heavy that none could lay it on another. I do not lay it on you. But if you take it freely, I will say that your choice is right; and though all the mighty elf-friends of old, Hador, and Hurin, and Turin, and Beren himself were assembled together your seat should be among them.

And, as Tolkien noted about Frodo's journey, "few others, possibly no others of his time, would have got so far".

Looking forward to your parallels in the other religions .
EDIT:

Originally Posted by TSpM

Certainly it is held by many (the author included, I believe) that Eru had a "hand" in Gollum's "accidental" over-balancing at the Crack of Doom.

Indeed:

Originally Posted by Letter #192

Frodo deserved all honour because he spent every drop of his power of will and body, and that was just sufficient to bring him to the destined point, and no further. Few others, possibly no others of his time, would have got so far. The Other Power then took over: the Writer of the Story (by which I do not mean myself), 'that one ever-present Person who is never absent and never named' (as one critic has said).