Robert Murray
Robert Murray | |
---|---|
Biographical information | |
Born | 8 June 1925 |
Died | 24 April 2018 |
Education | 1944-48, Classics at Christi College, Oxford 1961-63, Theology at the Gregorian University, Rome |
Occupation | Priest, Scholar, Author |
Location | England |
Father Robert Patrick Ruthven Murray (b. 8 June 1925 - 24 April 2018) was an English Roman Catholic theologian and grandson of Sir James Murray (the founder of the Oxford English Dictionary).
A personal friend of the Tolkien family (a friendship which contributed to his conversion to Roman Catholicism) since 1944, Murray was entrusted by J.R.R. Tolkien to proofread drafts and manuscripts of The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien and Murray corresponded frequently, especially on matters of religion, and several letters from Murray were published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (letters 142, 156, 209).
He became a Jesuit in 1949 and was ordained in 1959. On 1 August 1959, Tolkien served Murray's first Mass, and on 6 September 1973, four days of the death of Tolkien, he assisted in a requiem Mass for Tolkien in the Church of St Anthony of Padua in Headington, Oxford.
He was on the Faculty of Heythrop College in Oxfordshire and London since 1963.
During the Tolkien Centenary Conference in Oxford (1992), Father Murray gave the sermon preach at the Thanksgiving service.
Bibliography, selected
Articles
- 1973: The Tablet, 15 September 1973
- 1995: Proceedings of the J.R.R. Tolkien Centenary Conference
- "Sermon at Thanksgiving Service, Keble College Chapel, 23rd August 1992"
- 1999: Tolkien: A Celebration: Collected Writings on a Literary Legacy
- "J.R.R. Tolkien and the Art of the Parable" [reprint of the sermon given in the Tolkien Centenary Conference]
Filmography
- Tolkien Remembered (1992)
- J.R.R.T.: A Film Portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien (1996)
- Secrets of Middle-Earth: Inside Tolkien's Lord of the Rings (2003)
References
- J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 142, (dated 4 August 1953)
- Pearce, Joseph, Tolkien: A Celebration: Collected Writings on a Literary Legacy
- Hammond, Wayne G. and Scull, Christina, The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Reader's Guide, pp.614-5
- Tolkien Centenary Conference 1992