Today In Fact, 2 October

The author of the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings was a very British character, born in Bloemfontein in 1892.

One of his lesser known contributions to literature is the translation of the Book of Job for the Catholic Jerusalem Bible. A devout Catholic, Tolkien is credited with the conversion of his lifelong friend C.S.Lewis.

In reflecting upon the influence of religious thought in his masterpiece, Tolkien wrote: “The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like ‘religion’, to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism.”

J.R.R. Tolkien died today in 1973

– Posted by Douglas Racionzer (serendipiday.blogspot.com)

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