Although a devout, lifelong Catholic, J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth is nevertheless one which, by his own admission, lacks much of the ritual and religious behaviour of the more familiar, real world, as well as very little direct reference to divine powers. This is despite the explicit existence of such divine entities in the backstory to the major portion of the work, The Lord of the Rings.

This talk will attempt to unpack the complex intertwining of non-religious and secular themes in the mythological world of the work of Tolkien against the backdrop of his own religious outlook. From angelic superbeings and Elven religion-free theology, through to the effectively secular communities of Rohan and, famously, the Shire, we will endeavour to disentangle and comment on the non-religious particularities of Middle-earth.

A lifelong devotee of the created world of J. R. R. Tolkien, Deak Kirkham couldn't sleep the night he first finished the world-famous Lord of the Rings at the age of 11. Now in later life, with a familiarity with Tolkein's wider work – linguistic, literary and academic – and that of his son and literary heir Christopher Tolkien (1924-2020), as well as the copious scholarship about the Professor and his achievements, Deak participates in the life of the Tolkien Society and continues to find inspiration in the life and literary output of John Ronald Tolkien.