Sorry to double post but I wish to respond to this:
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Originally Posted by davem
What I find interesting is Tolkien's statement that God's toleration of evil is a 'permanent' problem. Clearly, whatever his Church's teaching on the nature of evil & free will, Tolkien couldn't understand it, & certainly had no easy answers to offer. Sauron couldn't be destroyed by Eru in his Secondary World, for the same reason that God hasn't destroyed Satan in this world - Tolkien simply didn't know what that reason was. ... This 'permanent problem' suggests uncertainty, even doubt, in Tolkien's mind regarding God's purposes. In Middle-earth he explores these doubts & uncertainties but never, it seems to me, comes to a conclusion.
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Indeed. To believe that God is both just and merciful at once, is a problem for all humanity. But knowledge that God is both, is necessary to belief in one God, and does shed light on much that Tolkien wrote. I'd say that Tolkien did come to conclusions in LotR, just not propositional ones. Otherwise the story would not be so deeply satisfying on so many levels, not least of which is the spiritual.