[Gelato]

One of Tolkien's friend's makes this connection in the book "Tolkien: A Celebration", an excellent collection of essays by people who knew Tolkien and his work.

Thanks. I just looked up Tolkien: A Celebration at Amazon.com. The book by Bradley Birzer looks interesting, as well, and was co-authored by Joseph Pearce.

The Platonist/Augustinian themes of the Lord of the Rings are obvious, as GOPcapitalist said. I'm just surprised more readers don't bring that up.

[Pelham]

FWIW a friend of mine, whose knowledge of Tolkien I respect (with good reason), disagrees with the Platonic issue:

I don't really agree. If you know Tolkien's paradigm for all of Middle Earth, it is not platonic at all -- and the one ring is not really like Plato's at all. I think the connection with Augustine at the end is a little more solid, but only because both Tolkien and Augustine share a Christian worldview and theology, not because Tolkien was imitating or borrowing from Augustine