[NYer]

Tolkien himself responed defensively in an interview in 1968 to this charge. "Of course God is in The Lord of the Rings.

According to Jane Chance, professor of English, Medieval Studies, and Women and Gender at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and author of "Tolkien's Art" and "Lord of the Rings."

Tolkien was a Roman Catholic, close to being Tridentine in his conservative Catholicism.

The Bible As 'The Ultimate Fairy Tale' A Tolkien expert explains how for the creator of hobbits, a tree was never just a tree.

[Pyro7480]

I don't know if someone who is a professor in "Women and Gender" is entirely trustworthy, but she is absolutely right. ;-)

[Maximilian]

According to Jane Chance, professor of English, Medieval Studies, and Women and Gender at Rice University

As though she will be able to make Catholic distinctions.

"Tolkien was a Roman Catholic, close to being Tridentine in his conservative Catholicism."

My suspicions confirmed immediately. This statement demonstrates a simple ignorance. Tolkien lived virtually his entire life prior to Vatican II, certainly all the years that were spent writing the trilogy occurred before Vatican II, so there was no "Tridentine" or "conservative" Catholicism at the time. A Catholic in the early 1950's would have found these labels meaningless.