Although these institutions are vital in our world, in other circumstances they may not be. This statement suggests that, for Tolkien, the critical aspect of religion is separate from its institutions, the wine inside an often imperfect bottle. The most precious wine must (in this world) have a bottle” (Letters 337). Tolkien writes that “you cannot maintain a religion without a church and ministers and that means professionals: priests and bishops – and also monks. Catholic.” There is an interesting passage in a letter to Michael Tolkien in which J.R.R. There is certainly no reference to religion in the traditional sense in The Lord of the Rings (there are not Churches or Temples to be found), let alone specifically Catholicism, but Tolkien’s letters make it clear that such organized religion is not necessary for him to consider his work “fundamentally. What does Tolkien mean by this claim, particularly in light of the fact that The Lord of the Rings clearly lacks organized religion in the manner of the modern world and does not explicitly reference Catholic teachings or writings? Namely, in a letter to a close friend about the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien writes that the work is “of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision” (Letters 172).

Of the many insights Tolkien’s letters give into his legendarium, one of the more initially puzzling claims from his letters we’ve discussed in class this quarter is Tolkien’s statement on the inherent religiosity of his work.

Lord of the rings medieval