Very succinctly and well put,
tar-ancalime!
Bethberry -- for the record, I wasn't trying to persuade anyone that "Tolkien was obliquely hinting at a specifically Christian or Catholic meaning in the Forewards". On the contrary, I think in Tolkien's view it was "fatal" to try to overtly impose or even discuss meaning or to link the truths of his story to a specific system. I think Tolkien would agree with the excerpt I posted on our old friend, the Canonicity thread, regarding
story. For those not inclined to click over, the salient point is this: "A great story authenticates its ideas solely within the dynamics of its events."
I think this is why Tolkien resists, as
Saucepan has observed, getting specific about theme and meaning, though you can feel the temptation to lecture burning behind his refutation of certain approaches and interpretations which had arisen in the ten years between First and Second Forewords (incidentally,
Sauce, I agree completely with your assessment of Tolkien's use of the term "allegory" in the Foreword -- harmony for once!). He is content to hope that his tale will at times "maybe" excite or deeply move his readers.
And that's as it should be. As
t-a has observed, you have to send your children out into the world to stand on their own two feet (or not) sooner or later.
Dang it -- cross-posting with
davem means I have neglected his latest provocative post. I have thoughts on it, but alas, not time to address them at the moment.