Quote:How might we read this riddle of Incarnational prophecy in Middle-earth? Did J.R.R. Tolkien change his mind about the error of making Secondary World theology resemble overmuch that of the Primary World?
You have to remember that "Athrabeth" is not "canon", as JRRT never chose to publish this essay. We know very well that throughout his life he tinkered with the ideas of Middle-Earth as they unfolded, examined his ideas and followed the ramifications where they logically led. However, much that he pondered, and committed that pondering to private writings, never rose to the status of being considered a definitive answer.
One could say that since the era in which the Arda sagas were supposed to have occurred were of our world in a legendary past, pre-Mosaic and possibly anteDiluvian, one could posit it necessarily must include as background those matters he as a Roman Catholic Christian accepted as primal truth, and therefore might occasionally peep out in some fashion.