Valeria, my dear cousin :D
Thanx very much for that quote! I must admit I still haven't read "The Monsters and the Critics"
As far as I remember Beowulf was written in the 8th century, when in England the poise between paganism and christianity was really "pregnant" and Christianity finally prevailed. However in my opinion both Beowulf and Grendel do possess mainly pagan characteristics.
And I can understand what Professor meaned :

He could view from without, but still feel immediately and from within, the old dogma: despair of the event, combined with faith in the value of doomed resistance.

As for Christianity, getting the whole picture of this wonderful epic ( "Beowulf"), I had the feeling that it was something artificial, something added, as if the whole story was far more ancient. So with Beowulf I really don't need that comparison, although it is inevitable.

As for Tolkien's world, let me quote you something more from the letters: Letter 142 to Robert Murray:

" That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like 'religion', to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism."