Randel Helms


Randel McCraw Helms is an American professor of English literature, a writer on J. R. R. Tolkien and critical writer on the Bible.

Biography

Helms studied at University of California, Riverside, B.A. 1964, University of Washington, Ph.D. 1968, then taught from 1968 at the University of California as assistant professor of English, before becoming professor at the Department of English, Arizona State University. In 2007 he established the Randel and Susan McCraw Helms Homecoming Writing Contest for undergraduate students.

Writings on William Blake

As Loyce Randel Helms he wrote his dissertation on William Blake: Artful thunder: a literary study of prophecy He has also written on Blake's "Everlasting Gospel".

Writings on Tolkien

Helm's writings on Tolkien include Tolkien's world and Tolkien and the Silmarils.

Biblical criticism

Helms has written a series of books using Higher Criticism to analyze the Bible. In Gospel Fictions, Helms argues that the Gospel writers used the Old Testament as a source of material to build up fictional details about events surrounding Jesus. He also wrote Who wrote the Gospels? and The Bible against itself on similar themes.