Tolkien expert Joseph Pearce delivered a public lecture titled “Unlocking the Catholicism of The Lord of the Rings” at Christendom College on March 30, in which he revealed the deep, theological truths that permeate Tolkien’s masterpiece.

Pearce, an internationally renowned author or editor of over twenty books, including Tolkien: Man or Myth, pulled two quotes from Tolkien together, explaining that the Lord of the Rings must fundamentally be religious and Catholic, and the fact that Tolkien is a Catholic is, by far, “the most important element in his authorship of that work.”

Joseph Pearce, the director of the Center for Faith and Culture at Aquinas College, is the co-editor of the St. Austin Review, and one of the world’s most acclaimed authors. Born in London, England, Pearce was formerly involved with radical politics in his youth, before a discovery of the works of G. K. Chesterton led him to convert to Roman Catholicism in 1989.