Tolkien's magnificent mythology that began in The Silmarillion and culminated in The Lord of the Rings had its origin in Celtic, Finnish, Greek, and Norse myths that he loved, but also in accounts of the Bible, which he, as a practicing Christian, knew well. Tolkien's tales illustrate, and are illuminated by, themes such as creation, the fall, providence, sacrifice, redemption, and judgment that he drew from Jewish and Christian scriptures. Understanding these themes will help you follow the flow of Tolkien's grand tale of the world of Middle Earth from its birth in the Great Music in the Timeless Halls before the world began to its end and rebirth in the Second Great Music after the Great Enemy's overthrow. Understanding these themes might also help you grow spiritually through the applicability — never the allegory! — of Tolkien's work. It was Tolkien's grasp of timeless themes that gives his writings their timeless appeal to us.