Theologian delves into what’s holy in Hobbits

Gandalf and Aragorn, Frodo and Sam, Merry and Pippin are household names now, thanks to the blockbuster film trilogy “The Lord of the Rings.” But in the 1960s, when J.R.R. Tolkien‘s masterful fantasy was first published in paperback in the United States, the books were more underground classic than mass market marvel. Ralph Wood stumbled upon them as a ’60s-era graduate student and was immediately taken by the richness of the world Tolkien created. But he saw more in the heroic struggle between good and evil than mere skilled storytelling. There was a profound Christian message in the text as