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When a half-century-old base of fans combines with big media on the subject of eternal truths, the result is the engrossing, and big box-office-grossing, multimedia entertainment phenomenon of The Lord of the Rings. The much-anticipated The Return of the King, the third and final film based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s popular fantasy novel trilogy, opens in theaters Dec. 17.

Tolkien’s novels, and the films based on them, raise fundamental questions of good and evil, the power of the individual and the value of friendship. They also explore themes of loyalty, hope and sacrifice. Tolkien called his trilogy “a fundamentally religious and Catholic work,” yet he resisted allegorical interpretation. At a time when many cultural subjects excite polarized debate, admirers of Tolkien’s pre-Christian world can be found across the faith spectrum, and particularly among Christians, from mainline to evangelical Protestants to Catholics.

Written in the mid-20th century, Tolkien’s lavishly imagined work has always drawn fans, with estimated lifetime sales of more than 50 million for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. A core fan base exploded with the film adaptations, The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001 and The Two Towers in 2002, which together have grossed almost $1.8 billion.

Why it Matters

Tolkien’s work speaks to millions of people, and it addresses the same issues that religion does. Tolkien scholars say the author brings a message of hope and redemption in the midst of troubles and destruction, and that this message resonates in our challenging times.

Questions for reporters

• Check to see if there are any Tolkien events being planned in your community at such places as bookstores. Tolkien’s U.S. publisher, Houghton Mifflin, offers a guide to significant dates.

• Prowl local bookstores to find fans. Tolkien displays are generally prominent.

• What do local religious leaders and others charged with moral education say about the value of Tolkien? Check with local religious congregations to see if they have film groups. Ask also if their youth groups have plans to see the film.

• Ask local clergy if they have used the films or books in their homilies or sermons.

• Are local educational institutions offering courses or conferences?

• Religious commentators generally discuss Tolkien’s message as orthodox Christian or Catholic theology, while filmmaker Peter Jackson has emphasized its universal human appeal. What do non-Christians in your community say about Tolkien?

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National and international sources

• Ralph C. Wood is a professor of theology and literature at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and author of The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-earth (Westminster John Knox, Oct.) He calls Tolkien an ecumenical and orthodox Christian whose work presents the principal ideas of Christianity: creation, the fall, redemption and the human role in this scheme. Contact 254-710-6986, Ralph_Wood@baylor.edu.

• A specialist in Catholic and Christian literary figures, Joseph Pearce is author or editor of two works on Tolkien and gives talks around the world about Tolkien. He is writer in residence at Ave Maria College, Ypsilanti, Mich. Contact 734-337-4100 ext. 615, jpearce@avemaria.edu.

• Michael Foster is the North American representative of the Tolkien Society, based in England, and teaches English at Illinois Central College in East Peoria, Ill. He wrote in the Spring 2003 edition of Christian History about Tolkien’s popularity in America in the 1960s, when the author was a countercultural icon. Contact 309-694-5349, mafoster@icc.edu.

• Tom Shippey is the author of two definitive books on J.R.R. Tolkien and inherited Tolkien’s chair and syllabus at Leeds University in England. The English professor specializes in medieval literature and modern fantasy at the Jesuit-run St. Louis University. Contact 314-977-7196, 314-977-3010 (department), shippey@slu.edu.

• Verlyn Flieger is a professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park. A specialist in comparative mythology, her books on Tolkien include Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien’s World (Kent State University, 1983). She is co-editor of the journal Tolkien Studies and has completed a new book on Tolkien due out in 2005. Contact 301-405-3836, Verlyn@mythus.com.

• The Rev. Ed McNulty, a retired Presbyterian minister in the Cincinnati area and publisher of Visual Parables, a journal that examines faith in films, has written a discussion guide for the first film in the trilogy. He says that Tolkien’s work strikes a chord of clarity about good and evil in an age of ambiguity. Contact 859-493-0286, mcnulty@fuse.net.

• Ted Baehr is founder and president of the Christian Film & Television Commission, a ministry that has been publishing and broadcasting MovieGuide: A Biblical Guide to Movies and Entertainment since 1985. Co-author of Frodo & Harry: Understanding Visual Media and Its Impact on our Lives (Crossway, 2003), he says Lord of the Rings affirms traditional values and illustrates the destructiveness of evil. Contact 805-383-2000, Office@MovieGuide.org. His office in Atlanta is run by Sandra Bell, 800-883-3883 or 770-825-0084.

• Colin Duriez, the British-based author of Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings: A Guide to Middle Earth (Hidden Spring, 2001) and Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship (HiddenSpring, 2003), is featured as a commentator in supplemental material on the DVD version of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Contact colinduriez@btinternet.com.

Background

• The Lord of the Rings film trilogy cost $300 million to make, and the first two films have grossed almost $1.8 billion worldwide. Tolkien U.S. publisher Houghton Mifflin estimates lifetime global sales of The Lord of the Rings at more than 50 million.

• The official Lord of the Rings films website from New Line Cinema includes information about the cultures of “light” and “dark” – popular traditional religious metaphors – within Tolkien’s fantasy universe. Screenwriter Philippa Boyens says Tolkien’s work asks whether we can undo evil once it is done. The news section provides Tolkien event dates, including many product release tie-ins.

• The New York Times Tolkien archives contain Tolkien’s obituary from 1973 and other historical assessments of his work, plus trivia quizzes. A Dec. 17, 2001, CNN.com Tolkien biographical time line is here.

• Based in England, the official Tolkien Society says that Tolkien’s work is popular because it echoes present-day dilemmas.

• Evangelical Christian cultural critic Michael G. Maudlin criticizes some of the evangelical Christian embrace of Tolkien in “Frodo gets a pass while Harry (Potter) is demonized?” in a Feb. 18, 2002, Christianity Today article.

• The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops listed Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers as one of its 10 best films of 2002.

• A Dec.16, 2002 dialog between two Tolkien authors in Christianity Today explores the tensions between Catholic and Protestant Christian theological interpretations, asking whether Tolkien’s work suggests the Catholic view of salvation through works or the Protestant view of salvation through faith.

• A brief discussion of whether Tolkien was racist or anti-Semitic in light of his interest in Germanic culture is at Tolkien Newsgroups FAQ #7 and the Tolkien Society, which notes that Tolkien’s work is enjoyed across cultures. A Dec. 20, 2002, Jewish Bulletin of Northern California article reported that Tolkien’s The Hobbit was not published in Nazi Germany after the author refused a German publisher’s request in 1937 that he certify he was “Aryan.”

Regional sources

STATE BY STATE

• The Mythpoeic Society, a scholarly group interested in fantasy literature, has many members with an interest in J.R.R. Tolkien and may be able to provide local experts. It has a list of member web pages. Contact corresponding secretary Edith Crowe, Edith.Crowe@sjsu.edu.

IN THE NORTHEAST

• Matthew Dickerson is author of Following Gandalf: Epic Battles and Moral Victory in The Lord of the Rings (Brazos, 2003) and a computer science professor at Middlebury (Vt.) College. Dickerson’s book examines themes of morality, choice and free will. 802-443-5460, dickerso@middlebury.edu.

• Peter Kreeft, professor of philosophy at Boston College, is writing The Philosophy of Tolkien (Ignatius, 2004). Contact 617-552-3871, peter.kreeft@bc.edu.

IN THE EAST

• Robert Wilhelm, who has a doctorate in theology and is founder of the School of Sacred Storytelling in Adamstown, Md., conducted a seminar on Tolkien’s stories in January 2003. He says that Tolkien’s work is implicitly religious and teaches that there is always hope. Contact 301-791-9153, bobwilhelm@mac.com.

• Fleming Rutledge is an Episcopal priest, preacher and author in Rye Brook, N.Y., who has completed a manuscript titled The Battle for Middle Earth: Tolkien’s Divine Design in The Lord of the Rings. Contact her at frutledge@earthlink.net.

• David Mills is editor at Touchstone magazine, a Christian journal of letters. The Pennsylvania resident is working on a book about Tolkien and wrote in the Spring 2003 Christian History about Tolkien’s use of “unfamiliar embodiments” to teach truth and morals. Contact 412-741-8843, davidmills@touchstonemag.com.

• Edwin Tait, a doctoral candidate in Christian history at Duke University, and his wife Jennifer Woodruff, Methodist librarian at Drew University, wrote about Tolkien and his associates in a group known as “the Inklings” in the spring 2003 edition of Christian History. They live in New Jersey. Contact ert3@duke.edu.

IN THE SOUTHEAST

• Bryan Hickox of Bryan Hickox Pictures Inc., with offices in Jacksonville, Fla., and Santa Monica, Calif., is a veteran film and TV producer. His seminar Conquering Hollywood is for film professionals who want to do values-oriented storytelling that can be commercially successful. A Christian, he says the swing in viewership is toward movies with religious themes. Contact 904-354-3027.

• The Carolina Association for Medieval Studies, a student group at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, held a 3-day Tolkien festival in February. Contact festival organizer and graduate student Kathyrn Wymer, wymer@email.unc.edu, or festival speaker Kenneth Reckford, UNC classics professor emeritus, kreckfor@email.unc.edu.

IN THE SOUTH

• J. Ligon Duncan, senior minister of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Miss., and professor at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, favorably reviewed The Fellowship of the Ring movie for The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. He says that Tolkien’s work is saturated with redemptive metaphor and Christian virtue. Contact 601-973-9104, lduncan@fpcjackson.org.

• In a Dec. 29, 2002, Boston Globe article, New Orleans-based writer and Tolkien fan Chris C. Mooney reviews secular and Christian interpretations of Tolkien and asks whether the most religiously devout interpretations are “turn-offs.” Contact moonecc@yahoo.com.

• The Rev. Richard Donohoe, pastor of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Birmingham, Ala., taught a course this summer on Tolkien, myth and Catholicism. Contact 205-251-1279, rector@stpaulsbhm.org.

IN THE MIDWEST

• Cleveland State University is the site of a Tolkien celebration Nov. 20-22, 2003, that includes a reading marathon, presentations and such Tolkien-themed refreshments as Mount Doom cupcakes. Contact The Edge Lutheran Campus Ministries, 216-241-7120, luthcampmin@csuohio.edu.

• Russell W. Dalton teaches religious communication at the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, and is the author of Faith Journey through Fantasy Lands: A Christian Dialog with Harry Potter, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings (Augsburg, 2003). He offers a Christian understanding of the mythic journey of the hero portrayed in The Lord of the Rings. Contact 937-278-5817 ext. 2115, russdalton@united.edu.

• Bradley J. Birzer, author of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle-earth (ISI Books, 2002), examines the Catholic content of Tolkien’s work. Contact 517-607-2389, Brad.Birzer@hillsdale.edu.

• Marquette University in Milwaukee hosts twice-weekly presentations about its J.R.R. Tolkien Collection, which includes original manuscripts for The Lord of The Rings. Contact university archivist Matt Blessing, 414-288-7256, Matt.Blessing@marquette.edu.

• Mark Eddy Smith is author of Tolkien’s Ordinary Virtues: Exploring the Spiritual Themes of the Lord of the Rings (Intervarsity Press, 2002). Contact 630-734-4020.

IN THE SOUTHWEST

• Dennis Kratz is a University of Texas at Dallas professor who is teaching a course this fall on religion and medieval philosophy in The Lord of the Rings for students at three Dallas area universities. Contact 972-883-2984, dkratz@utdallas.edu.

• Jim Ware is a co-author of Finding God in The Lord of the Rings (Tyndale, 2002). He also writes for the office of the president at Focus on the Family, the evangelical Christian ministry in Colorado Springs, Colo. Contact him through the organization’s corporate publicity manager Lisa Anderson, 719-548-5883, anderslc@fotf.org.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST

• A lifelong Tolkien fan, Richard Purtill is a professor emeritus of philosophy at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., and author of the recently republished J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality and Religion (Ignatius Press, 2003). He says Tolkien’s view of the world is filled with hope, and that the movies provided a boost to the author’s existing and enduring popularity. Contact 360-734-9712.

• Jonathan Bock is a Hollywood publicist and Presbyterian whose Grace Hill Media promotes films with positive portrayals of faith and values. Contact jonathanbock@gracehillmedia.com.

• Richard Abanes, an evangelical Christian author who specializes in the occult and who wrote Fantasy and Your Family: Exploring the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Modern Magick (Horizon, 2002), says that Harry Potter draws from occult sources, while Tolkien’s mystical world provides heroic role models and objective moral and ethical standards. Contact richardabanes@earthlink.net.