He was a young professor sitting at his home office grading papers. One student inadvertently left a page blank in his bluebook exam. The professor described what happened next. “I wrote in it, ‘In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.'”
You may recognize the phrase as the opening words in The Hobbit that John Ronald Reuel (J.R.R.) Tolkien (1892-1973) published in 1937. The book launched a prodigious literary career for J. R. R. that culminated in his Lord of the Rings trilogy in 1954. He wrote to a friend that Lord of the Rings is a “fundamental religious work.” It seems on the surface a strange claim, given that God is never once mentioned.
J. R. R. belonged to a literary society called the Inklings, that included C. S. Lewis. These two friends, like others in the group, sought to communicate through a fantasy genre with a wide audience, including those who didn’t share their religious convictions. Christian themes are absorbed into their fiction through metaphor and symbolism. While the gospel message is subtle and indirect, it’s integral to the story.
J. R. R. wrote to his son Christopher in 1944, “If you don’t already do so, make a habit of the ‘praises.'” One of the “praises” his father highlights, “Gloria in Excelsis,” is a prayer that originates in hymn form to the early fourth century. It is patterned after the biblical Psalms and begins with a reference to the angel’s announcement to the shepherds of the Messiah’s birth in Luke 2.14. J. R. R. wrote, “Life’s purpose is to know, praise and thank God.” Making a habit of the “praises” is good counsel as we seek to cultivate a life of prayer: