John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, veteran of the WWI (First Lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers, British Army), philologist and university professor, best known as the author of fantasy classic works The Hobbitand The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford from 1925 to 1945 and Merton Professor of English was an English language professor at Oxford. These, together with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, form a connected body of tales, poems, fictional stories, invented languages, and literary essays about an imagined world called Arda, and the Middle Earth within it. Between 1951 and 1955, Tolkien applied the word "legendarium" to the greater part of these writings. While before Tolkien many other authors had published fantasy works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings' great success led directly to a popular genre resurgence. This has led to the popular identification of Tolkien as the "father" of modern fantasy literature or, more accurately, high fantasy. Tolkiens writings have inspired many other works of fantasy and have had a lasting effect on the whole field. In 2008, The Times ranked him sixth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945." Forbes ranked him 5th top-earning dead celebrity in 2009. Religious influences J.R.R. Tolkien, born in South Africa in 1892, but his family moved to Britain when he was about 3 years old. His mother converted to Catholicism when Tolkien was eight years old, and throughout his life he remained a Catholic. He unhesitatingly testified in his last interview, two years before his death, Im, a devout Roman Catholic. Tolkien married Edith, the sweetheart of his childhood, and they had four children. Every year, as if from Santa Claus, he wrote them letters and a selection of them was published as The Father Christmas Letters in 1976. A Catholic priest became one of the Tolkiens sons. Tolkien was a Jerusalem Bible translation consultant. To his friend Robert Murray, an English Jesuit priest, Tolkien once described The Lord of the Rings as "a primarily religious and Catholic work, unconsciously at first, but consciously in revision." There are many theological themes underlying the narrative, including the battle of good versus evil, the triumph of humility over pride, and the activity of grace. The saga also includes themes that include death and immortality, mercy and compassion, resurrection, salvation, repentance, self-sacrifice, free will, justice, fellowship, authority, and healing. Moreover, the Lords Prayer "and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil" was reportedly present in the mind of Tolkiens as he described Frodos' struggles against the "one ring" power.... Read More
