ADAMSTOWN, Md. -- Hobbits in their holes could hardly have been cozier than Robert Wilhelm's students, who gathered before a flickering fireplace to swap the stories behind the story of "The Lord of the Rings."

Sipping hot cider against the winter chill, they took turns telling tales from England, Ireland and elsewhere containing themes mirrored in J.R.R. Tolkien's works.

"We're finding stories that may have inspired him or are similar to his," said Wilhelm, founder of the School of Sacred Storytelling. "The story of the quest, the story of the struggle between good and evil."

The recent seminar was the first since Wilhelm and his wife, Kelly, moved the school last year from New Mexico to a conference center in Maryland farm country that could double as the Shire, the hobbits' fictional home.

The center, owned by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, an order of education-minded Roman Catholic priests, is on a 400-acre dairy farm in the Appalachian foothills, about 30 miles north of Washington.

Tolkien, a devout Catholic, rejected allegorical interpretations of his work. But Wilhelm, who has a doctorate in theology, said much in the Rings trilogy reflects his school's broad, ecumenical definition of "sacred stories." Besides religious scriptures, they may include folklore and personal experiences, he said.

"Many that we tell are about the search for meaning and our looking for a direction and purpose in our life," Wilhelm said. "We frequently use the metaphor, 'the road.' We're on a journey, and there are many stories about that journey -- some happy ones, some not so happy ones -- but it's a struggle to make sense out of one's life's journey."

The Rings trilogy is "not explicitly religious, but it is implicitly religious," teaching "there's always hope," Wilhelm said.

Wilhelm, 59, established the school in 1994, offering those who attend six classes over three years a certificate, a sweat shirt and membership in the Guild of Sacred Storytellers.