>otoh, i'd bet the percentage of people that have read none
>of the bible to be less than 10% and the countryside is
>littered with monuments to the so-called judeo-xtian dog. i
>wonder which literary tradition exerts more influence on the
>culture and politics of our society?
"The Bible" isn't just a literary tradition. Tolkien (and fantasy) is.
The actual books of the Bible have been around, what, over two thousand years? LOTR's been here for less than a century.
You're comparing apples and oranges.
>if you want to understand 'western civilization', i'd say
>the bible is pretty core reading. i can't think of any
>non-circular reference to things in our society that are
>well explained by the stories in LOTR; it just isn't that
>universal.
LOTR has lots of Biblical and Christian references.
Todd
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