Contains the papers given at the first Tolkien Seminar in Cologne in 2004, where the topic was "Interpreting Tolkien". Most of the essays are in German language.

Contents
• "Tolkien Criticism - reloaded" by Marcel Bülles
• "Verbotene Pfade nach Mittelerde" by Oliver D. Bildo (argues that Tolkien's work is indeed allegorical)
• "Die interpretatio mediaevalia von Tolkiens Werk" by Thomas Honneger (researching Tolkien from a medievalist point of view)
• "The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work" by Thomas Fornet-Ponse (researching Tolkien from a Christian approach)
• "It was always open to one to reject" by Frank Weinreich (freedom of will in Tolkien's works, compared to Erasmus of Rotterdam)
• "Verschiedene Interpretationen eines Textes als Grundlage von Übersetzungsstrategien" by Rainer Nagel (compares the two German translations of The Lord of the Rings and some of the implications)
• "Die Texte sum Soundtrack der Peter-Jackson-Filme - »Tolkien's linguistic heresy«- eine legitime Interpretation von Tolkien?" by Alexandra Velten (were the pamphlets included with the orchestral scores true to Tolkien?)
• "Hin und Zurück? - Frodo's Reise im Licht dialektischen Denkens und einer Ethik des Andersen" by Gregor Raddatz (philosophical discussion tying Frodo's behavior to Judeo-Christian ethics)
• "Works in Progress" by Stefan Rösch (the marketing of the sets of major film productions by tourist organizations)
• Review of Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review Volume 1, 2004 (Thomas Honneger)
• Review of J. R. R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth by Bradley J. Birzer (Thomas Fornet-Ponse)
• Review of Tolkien the Medievalist by Jane Chance (Thomas Honneger)
• Review of Tolkien and the Invention of Myth by Jane Chance (Thomas Honneger)
• Review of Following Gandalf: Epic Battlesand Moral Victory in The Lord of the Rings by Matthew Dickerson (Thomas Honneger)
• Review of Tolkien and the Great War by John Garth (Marcel Bülles)
• Review of J. R. R. Tolkien by Neil Heims (Thomas Honneger)
• Review of Unquendor: Lembas Extra 2004 (Christian Weichmann)
• Review of Tolkien als religiöser Sub-Creator by Martin J. Meyer (Thomas Fornet-Ponse)
• Review of Tolkien's Mythology for England by Edmund Wainwright (Thomas Honneger)
• Review of Understanding The Lord of the Rings by Rose A. Limbardo and Neil D. Issacs, eds. (Thomas Honneger)