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This paper briefly sketches a taxonomy of Tolkien’s reception since the 1950s, before arguing that the twenty-first century saw the emergence of ​“post-pop” Tolkien.

The taxonomy:

• literary: attention on the novels in the literary marketplace and cognate art forms (e.g. the song cycle The Road Goes Ever On)
• cult: (references and images borrowed as markers of recognition in counter-cultural discourses (e.g. ​“Gandalf for President” badges)
• pop: works interpreted within dominant discourses of popular culture (e.g. the meme ​“When a Legolas girl becomes an Aragorn woman”) post-pop: works historicized in terms of traditions which shaped them, and as contributing to those traditions (e.g. the prayer ​“O Elbereth, gracious mother…”)

This ​“post-pop” Tolkien is articulated in two strands: medieval studies and Catholic Christianity. The recent new publications of Tolkien’s own works have moved from elaborating his fictional world to disseminating his medieval scholarship: e.g. his Beowulf and Gawain. Though essays like ​“The Monsters and the Critics” were always influential in academe, this marks a development in the popular image of Tolkien.

At the same time, increased attention to the theological aspects of Tolkien’s novels has positioned him as not only a Catholic novelist — contemporary with, but very different to, Greene, Waugh and Lodge — but as one whose ideas have shaped people’s experiences of Catholic Christianity. At least one priest I know includes ​“Elbereth” in the titles by which they address the Virgin Mary, as the image originated from the Catholic tradition and can reverently be used within it. Post-pop Tolkien is a distinctive mode of reception, and identifying it can clarify his role in contemporary culture and controversy.