Nils Ivar Agøy (born 19 November 1959) is a Norwegian historian, theologian, tolkienologist and translator. He hails from

Gjøvik Gjøvik () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Gjøvik (town), town of Gjøvik. Some of the villages in Gjøvik include Biri, Norway, Biri, Bybrua, ...

. He took the cand.philol. degree in history at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

in 1987, with the master's thesis ''Kampen mot vernetvangen. Militærnekterspørsmålet i Norge 1885–1922''. The thesis chronicled and explained

conscientious objection A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

in Norway before 1922. His academic advisor was Jorunn Bjørgum. Already in 1988 he graduated with the cand.theol. degree in theology at the MF Norwegian School of Theology. Subsequently, he was employed as a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

in history at the

Peace Research Institute Oslo The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO; ) is a private research institution in peace and conflict studies, based in Oslo, Norway, with around 100 employees. It was founded in 1959 by a group of Norwegian researchers led by Johan Galtung, who was ...

, finishing his dr.philos. degree in history in 1994. His thesis ''Militæretaten og "den indre fiende" fra 1905 til 1940. Hemmelige sikkerhetsstyrker i Norge sett i et skandinavisk perspektiv'' explored the military precautions against "inner enemies"—defined as revolutionary segments—between the 1905 Norwegian independence and the Second World War, against a Scandinavian backdrop. His doctoral advisor was Ottar Dahl. He was appointed as

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

of modern history at Telemark University College in 1994, and was promoted to professor in 2002. In 2010 he released ''Kirken og arbeiderbevegelsen'', the result of ten years of work. The book explores ties between the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

and other congregations, and the labour movement in Norway. He concluded that the relations between Christians and labour leaders were less marked by strife and more by cooperation that hitherto believed. Agøy is a co-founder of Norwegian Tolkien Society Arthedain. Agøy's translation debut was

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

's '' Silmarillion''. For this he was awarded the Bastian Prize, a translator's prize in Norway, in 1995. He has later been a jury member for the children's literature class of the Bastian Prize, which is awarded by the Norwegian Association of Literary Translators. In 1997 he released the second Norwegian translation of ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ...

'', and he has also translated '' Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth''. In 2003 he released a book on J. R. R. Tolkien himself, titled ''Mytenes mann'' ("Man of the Myths"). The purpose was to write an introductory Tolkien book in Norwegian, and Agøy used original Tolkien documents archived in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

to construct a compounded biography and analysis of Tolkien's body of work. The book received a favourable review in '' VG''; the reviewer gave a " die throw" of 5 out of 6 and complimented Agøy for his "deep insight in Tolkien's world of ideas and sources of inspiration". ''

Aftenposten (; ; stylized as in the masthead) is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation as well as Norway's newspaper of record. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 daily copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen ...

'' praised it moderately as a "readable entry portal to the world of Tolkien". He resides in

Bø i Telemark Bø may refer to the following: Places Norway In Norway, Bø commonly refers to: *Bø Municipality (Nordland), a municipality in Nordland county *Bø i Vesterålen, a village within Bø Municipality in Nordland county *Bø Municipality (Telemark), ...

, where Telemark University College is located, and is married to current secretary-general and former chair of the Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations, Berit Hagen Agøy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agoy, Nils Ivar 1959 births Living people People from Gjøvik University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of Telemark University College 20th-century Norwegian historians Norwegian theologians 20th-century Norwegian translators Translators from English Tolkien scholars Norwegian Lutherans The Tolkien Society members Norwegian military historians 21st-century Norwegian historians