Ivano Sassanelli

He was born in Bari (Apulia-Italy) in 1986 and is Adjunct Professor of Canon Law at the Apulian Theological Faculty of Bari. He was awarded Bachelor’s Degree in Theology at the Apulian Theological Faculty of Bari (2010), Licence in Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas – Angelicum of Rome (2013), Doctorate in Canon Law at the Pontifical Lateran University of Rome (2015), Master Degree in Law at the LUM University of Casamassima-Bari (2017) and Ph.D. in Bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum of Rome (2023). 

He is the Director of the Academic and Interdisciplinary Series of Fantastic Studies and Contemporary Culture “Eucatastrophe” (Dots Edizioni, Bari) and the Co-director of the series “Diritto canonico, comparazione giuridica e multiculturalità” at the Cacucci Editor of Bari. He studies the relationship between Ethics, Religion, Communication, and Fantasy in J.R.R. Tolkien’s works. He is a member of the Scientific Committee of the International Exhibition “The Tree of Tales”. In March 2023 he participated as a speaker at the Conference “G.B. Smith and J.R.R. Tolkien: a meaningful friendship” at the Corpus Christi College – University of Oxford. He has published several scientific articles and academic essays (for example: Religious and Catholic: Primary and Secondary World in Tolkien’s Letter no. 142, in G. Pezzini – E. O’Brien (eds.), Tolkien and the Relation between Sub-creation and Reality, inInklings Studies Supplement, vol. 3, 2023, pp. 107-127; and “Who Is Eru?”. Literary, ethical, and theological reflections about God and Religion in Tolkien’s Middle-earth, in F.T. Barbini (ed.), Follow Me: Religion in Fantasy and Science Fiction, Luna Press Publishing, Edinburgh 2023, pp. 1-19) and five monographs (such as: Il Professore e il Poeta. Viaggio nel desiderio umano con Tolkien e Dante, Dots Edizioni, Bari 2023; and Tolkien e il vangelo di Gollum, Cacucci, Bari 2020).