Issue 78 J.R.R. Tolkien

What's inside

J.R.R. Tolkien: Did You Know?

Windows on the life and work of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Chris Armstrong and Steven Gertz

From the Editor — He Gave Us Back Myth and with it, Truth

Tolkien found in all stories echoes of the greatest story of all.

Chris Armstrong

Meeting Professor Tolkien

An American professor spent a summer with Tolkien. He remembers the man, his faith, and his writings.

Clyde S. Kilby

Tolkien: Man Behind the Myth

At odds with his age, he created another.

Bradley Birzer

“Most Married Man”

After nearly losing her to another, Tolkien adored his beloved Edith.

Steven Gertz

A Feeling for Language

Without philology, Middle-earth would never have exisited. But what is philology?

Tom Shippey

A Niggling Art

Through a character named Niggle, Tolkien revealed his own creative process.

Clyde S. Kilby

The Christian Humanists

Tolkien joined these authors in countering the decadence of a dark century.

Joseph Pearce

One Truth, Many Tales

How did tolkien’s approach to writing for a secularizing world compare with those of his Christian contemporaries?

David Mills

Sacramental Imagination

Catholicism anchored Tolkien’s life and suffused his writings.

Thomas Howard

Christian History Timeline: The Life and Times of J.R.R. Tolkien

Chronology of major events related to Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings.

the Editors

Good & Evil in Middle-earth

The characters are mythic, but the epic sweeps across a Christian moral landscape.

Ralph C. Wood

J.R.R. Tolkien: The Gallery — The Inklings

Tolkien relished his weekly meetings with this club of remarkable friends.

Jennifer Lynn Woodruff and others

Tollers & Jack

Tolkien and Lewis made an odd couple, but the contributed profoundly to each other’s work.

Colin Duriez

Hobbits & Englishmen

His were small people surmounting impossible odds.

Humphrey Carpenter

Father of Epic Fantasy

Scores of authors have paid Tolkien the highest homage—imitation.

Aaron Belz

An Unexpected Party

Like Bilbo discovering one dwarf after another at his door, Tolkien found himself, in the 1960s, hosting a growing American fan club.

Michael Foster

Understanding Tolkien: Recommended Resources

From light romps to profound reads, a bumper crop of books tells us more about the maker of Middle-earth.

Steven Gertz and Chris Armstrong
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