A question to ponder

[Ælfwine]

One of the most magnificent questions I have come across regarding the importance of Tolkien's works was posted at TTF two years ago. I don't know if it has been posted here, but if it has, please forgive me for posting this:

We all know that Tolkien's work is an immense one, with many mythological and extraordinarily vast topics, stories, events, and epics. In fact, there is more mythology in Tolkien's work than in most religions today. It dwarfs(no pun intended) the Bible, Quran, and other sacred texts of religions around the world as it pertains to history. That being said, I have a question. Forgive me if this has already been brought up, I am new. I will first give a very simple hypothetical situation. Again, a very SIMPLE situation. Just go along with it. Say all the people of the earth are destroyed. The only thing remaining on the earth is dust. Another race from another planet land on earth, searching for forms of intelligent life. They find a single Bible, Quran, and all of Tolkien's works. They somehow manage to translate the books into their own language.
My question is this: Would the roles of these texts be reversed now that a new being has encountered them for the first time? Would Tolkien's works be considered the religious and/or historical texts and the Bible and Quran considered stories? Both sacred texts are much shorter than Tolkien's works, and Tolkien goes to depths beyond the Bible and Quran on a historical level. Look at the length of The Lord of the Rings alone. It's unbelievable. Who would blame a newcomer, foreign to these texts, in believing that Tolkien's works represented reality and the Bible and Quran represented fantasy. Ponder, reply, and be gentle, please.

Many thanks to Xoranix, whom I haven't seen around for a looong time, for bringing up this question.

[Beren3000]

A few things I don't get:

-When you say that the Bible is much shorter than Tolkien's work, which part(s) of the Bible do you mean exactly? Because the OT and the NT put together would be much longer than any Tolkien book I know of.

-Just because the Bible is shorter, how does that make it "shallower" than Tolkien's work?

After these 2 questions, I think my opinion is quite clear. The Bible has many layers of meaning to it, too. Much more layers than any human work could have.

[Ælfwine]

It isn't easy for me to reply on behalf of the original poster, but from the description as much shorter, I take it that he refers to the New Testament.
But of course, all of Tolkiens works put together does amount to quite a lot of pages.
Anyway, I don't think that the length of the works would be crucial when determining what is true and what is fiction. I think that how the works are written would be the determining factor. At least if the reader is completely unfamiliar with the works, and is able to read them with an unbiased attitude.

As the original poster said, the world of Tolkien is better described in depth historically.

[Valandil]

I'm certainly biased, so I would HOPE they would choose the Bible.

Hard for me to be objective on this one, so I'll just watch a bit.

[inked]

If these aliens had only the Bible, the Koran, and LOTR?

If their universal language translator worked for Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Arabic, English, and the subtleties of Elvish?

I think they would discover that the Bible was the original and the Koran and LOTR derivative.

This assumes they are objective and submit the works to analysis on the multiple levels of letters, words, phrases, concepts, development, and "moral of the story" comparisons. Equal attention to analysis on all levels to each book (eg, they all get source criticism, redaction criticism, etc).

[Attalus]

I agree with inked. I think any impartial observer would consider Tolkien's work to be derivative of the Bible. I won't comment on the Koran, being biased.

[Ælfwine]

Originally Posted by inked

If these aliens had only the Bible, the Koran, and LOTR?

Read the piece again: It said Tolkien's works. Not only LOTR. You'll have to throw in The Silmarillion as well, and I think that it will level the field considerably.