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Originally Posted by davem
Forget who wrote it, forget all Tolkien's statements. Just look at the story itself. What would make an open minded reader of no faith think 'This is a Christian book'?
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But davem, the problem is taking the author out of the equation. Once a book has been written, yes, it becomes a separate entity. But it's like saying that a child, once grown, does not have within him some of his parents' biological makeup.
I see your point though. If I did not know that Tolkien was a devout Catholic, would I see Christian ideas within the book? Probably, because I was raised in a rural W.A.S.P. community. That's just the way most of NY is. I would spot it because that's what I've been submersed in since I was born. You see what you're used to seeing.
But let's say that I
wasn't raised in such a setting, that I
didn't know Tolkien's life story, that I knew nothing pertaining to religion in either of
our lives... but I still knew religion enough that I'd be curious enough to try to guess what his leanings were.
I would see Celtic nature worship in beings like Goldberry, I would see a Christian Satan in Melkor, I would see, probably, a bit of Buddha's compassion and unattachment to material goods within Bombadil. I would spot the Valar with their individual talents as maybe Greek or Roman gods. Eru would be a conglomeration of the god[s?] of every monotheistic religion. I don't know enough about any other religion to make the connections.
So your point of non-Christian Universalism is clearly accurate. There is nothing
within the text to say that the work has Christian ideals in it. It is not, as I believe Raynor said, a portrait of Christ. You can't call it a Christian book, but if you read a story with underlying themes of ultimate goodness that's written by a devout Christian, those "good" qualities, whether or not they apply to every other religion, are probably going to lean more into the Christian slot of the roulette wheel.