Is Eru God?

[Cailín]

This post is most unhelpful. Just a warning.

I agree with Kuru here. This might be just an unanswerable question. To discuss this, we'd first have to establish who God is, for even 'the Christian God' can have many different meanings. And taking all things in consideration, Eru is fictional and therefore cannot be our God, since God is arguably fictional, but then again, he might not be.

I think Esty gave quite an adequate explanation why Eru is unlike our God. There is also evidence that might point towards Eru being like our God. Except that there is no our God.

And since I have read quite a few times on the Downs that Tolkien hated allegories, I don't think he intended Eru to be the elvish name for God. He might have just - being catholic himself - been unable to conceive a world not having a Creator and therefore inserted Eru to make Middle Earth more real in his view.

But as I said, I don't know.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Cailín

And since I have read quite a few times on the Downs that Tolkien hated allegories, I don't think he intended Eru to be the elvish name for God. He might have just - being catholic himself - been unable to conceive a world not having a Creator and therefore inserted Eru to make Middle Earth more real in his view.

Ah, but it's not an allegory- it's a (fictional) history. Of this world.

Therefore, if Tolkien believed in this world having a God- which he did- then that same God would have existed during the time of the fictional history.