The reader of Raymond Edwards’ 2014 biography of J. R. R. Tolkien will indeed find an extensive examination of the author’s ‘academic interests,’ for the strength of this work is in its author’s sympathy with two of the major influences in Tolkien’s life: philology and Catholicism. The dust jacket says that Edwards “followed the Oxford undergraduate course originally devised by Tolkien,” which would have required mastery of Old English and Middle English philology as well as Anglo-Saxon and Medieval texts through Chaucer: the very matters which occupied Tolkien’s professional life. Edwards is also Catholic, and has published works on Catholic Traditionalism and the Reformation, and has some experience working as a researcher for the Oxford
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One of these was, of course, Father Francis Morgan, who became Tolkien’s guardian on his mother’s death. Edwards fills in Father Morgan’s life story, briefly describing his Welsh and Spanish background, and how he came to be at the Birmingham Oratory. He points out that Father Morgan granted Tolkien permission to attend the (Protestant) headmaster’s class in New Testament Greek, an early exercise in ecumenism. Edwards also presents historical context for the story of Tolkien and Edith’s forced separation. In light of contemporary Edwardian customer, Father Morgan’s actions were only “a touch old-fashioned” (36), and the fact that Tolkien acquiesced shows that he did not think him entirely unreasonable. Once more Edwards takes note of the numerous orphans in Tolkien’s fiction, as well as the sometimes misguided efforts of parents and …show more content…
He looks first at how Tolkien’s faith was expressed in his life: his attendance at Mass, the prayers he memorized, and his devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. He contrasts Tolkien’s commitment to the sacraments and to private prayer to Lewis’ public evangelism. Interestingly, although many know that Tolkien preferred the Latin form of the Mass, Edwards suspects that his complaint may well have been with the translation rather than the actual vernacular. Tolkien did, after all, at one point say that it was a great loss that the Goths had lapsed into the Arian heresy, for otherwise Gothic might have been the language of the early
One of these was, of course, Father Francis Morgan, who became Tolkien’s guardian on his mother’s death. Edwards fills in Father Morgan’s life story, briefly describing his Welsh and Spanish background, and how he came to be at the Birmingham Oratory. He points out that Father Morgan granted Tolkien permission to attend the (Protestant) headmaster’s class in New Testament Greek, an early exercise in ecumenism. Edwards also presents historical context for the story of Tolkien and Edith’s forced separation. In light of contemporary Edwardian customer, Father Morgan’s actions were only “a touch old-fashioned” (36), and the fact that Tolkien acquiesced shows that he did not think him entirely unreasonable. Once more Edwards takes note of the numerous orphans in Tolkien’s fiction, as well as the sometimes misguided efforts of parents and …show more content…
He looks first at how Tolkien’s faith was expressed in his life: his attendance at Mass, the prayers he memorized, and his devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. He contrasts Tolkien’s commitment to the sacraments and to private prayer to Lewis’ public evangelism. Interestingly, although many know that Tolkien preferred the Latin form of the Mass, Edwards suspects that his complaint may well have been with the translation rather than the actual vernacular. Tolkien did, after all, at one point say that it was a great loss that the Goths had lapsed into the Arian heresy, for otherwise Gothic might have been the language of the early