The Translator’s Bible: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Jonah and the Christian Imagination

Though they are primarily known for their works of fiction, including fairy stories and detective mysteries, authors George MacDonald, Dorothy L. Sayers, and J.R.R. Tolkien brought the world of the Bible to their literary pursuits as public theologians. In various ways and through different genres, these three authors extended the reach of the Bible’s message and the public perception and understanding of the Christian faith in expansive and influential ways. Over the course of three lectures, Dr. Jennifer Powell McNutt will pair the burgeoning field of Bible reception history with the public theology of MacDonald, Sayers, and Tolkien as it spans Christian traditions and reaches beyond the walls of the church. McNutt’s lectures will build upon the recent publication of Lewis scholar, Dr. Leslie Baynes and her book, Between Interpretation & Imagination: C.S. Lewis and the Bible (2025), to reflect on the interplay between the artistic contributions of the Wade authors and their reception of the biblical text. The Bible and the Christian imaginations of MacDonald, Sayers, and Tolkien come to life in their contributions respectively as literary preachers, broadcasters, and translators with an impact that continues today.

J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) is widely celebrated for the way in which his expertise as a philologist informed his fantasy literature including The Lord of the Rings. In fact, Tolkien’s skill also extended beyond the bounds of the academy and the world of fiction to the pages of The Jerusalem Bible (1966). Dr. McNutt’s lecture will explore Tolkien’s translation of the Book of Jonah and his contribution as lexicographer to enhance our understanding of how his encounter with the Bible shaped the public theology of his literary contribution. This lecture builds upon the work of Clyde S. Kilby’s Tolkien and The Silmarillion to understand Tolkien as Public Theologian of the Christian imagination.

The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Powell McNutt, Ph.D., Fr.Hist.S. is Professor of Theology and History of Christianity at Wheaton College in the Litfin Divinity School where she holds the Franklin S. Dyrness Chair of Biblical and Theological Studies. Dr. McNutt received her Ph.D. in History from the University of St. Andrews, M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, and B.A. in Religious Studies from Westmont College. She is a Fellow in the Royal Historical Society and program director of Wheaton’s M.A. programs in Theology and History of Christianity. Her scholarship and teaching explore the history of Christianity, Reformed theology, and the French Bible. Recent publications include co-editing The Oxford Handbook of the Bible and the Reformation (Oxford University Press, 2025), which received the John Tedeschi Prize for the Best Reference Book of 2025 from the Sixteenth Century Society. She is the author of The Mary We Forgot: What the Apostle to the Apostles Teaches the Church Today (Brazos Press, 2024), a 2025 ECPA Book of the Year Finalist. She co-wrote Know the Theologians (Zondervan, 2024) with Dr. David McNutt, which was the CT Book Awards Finalist in Public Theology for 2024. She is also the recipient of the Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize and the Sydney E. Mead Prize by the American Society of Church History for her scholarship on Geneva’s eighteenth-century clergy. The primary focus of Dr. McNutt’s current research seeks to uncover the reception of the Bible and its interpretive force in the context of Christian history and society.

This event is free and open to the public and will take place in Marion E. Wade Center, Room 130 Bakke Auditorium, located at 351 East Lincoln Avenue in Wheaton on the Northwest corner of campus at the intersection of Washington Street and Lincoln Avenue. For more information, contact the Wade Center at 630.752.5908 or wade@wheaton.edu.