When the Lord of the Rings first appeared, 50 years ago, it was loved by many and misunderstood by some from the start.

Some critics wondered: What is this Oxford Professor wasting his time on?

And yet today, 50 years later, Tolkien's work is as popular, and in certain academic circles as divisive, as ever. What is it about his vision that can cause one to dismiss it as irrelevant or which can capture one’s heart completely.

Make the journey into Middle-Earth and discover what makes Tolkien's epic, in his own words, a ''fundamentally religious and Catholic work.''