Looking For God in The Lord of the Rings: "Tolkien could not create from nothing," writes Joseph Pearce. "Only God can do that. But he was able to sub-create an entire world using his imagination, his beliefs, and his experiences in the world around him." His goal, according to Pearce, was to create a myth combining a variety of different mythological elements -- "a body of more or less connected legend," as Tolkien put it -- in such a fashion that the entire epic would be "illumined from within by a Trinitarian, Christian light." Interestingly enough, the "connectedness" readers sense throughout this "body of legend" is a direct result of the author's faith and worldview. Apart from the light of that Christian perspective, Pearce adds, "the story isn't going to make sense anymore. It may, literally, become incoherent -- a neo-pagan fantasy." (via Relapsed Catholic)