Reflections on God … Man … Life
I’ve written a couple posts this year about the course I have developed for my church’s Parish Academy this fall. The title for the course is “Writers C. S. Lewis Admired.” The four writers I’ve chosen to focus on in the course are George MacDonald, G. K. Chesterton, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Dorothy L. Sayers. A previous post centered on Chesterton, the one of the four I knew the least about. It wasn’t that I was completely ignorant of… Read more »
Those of us who love reading and thinking about the writings of C. S. Lewis, J. R.R. Tolkien, and others who were part of their company don’t want to do all of our reading and thinking alone. We like to gather together as often as possible to share in this mutual affection for authors who have made an impact on our faith and imagination. We do so at conferences, but schedules, finances, and other impediments limit our attendance—we have to… Read more »
Last year’s major teaching project was the Ransom Trilogy. I’m now embarking on another one for the coming fall semester for my church’s Parish Academy program. I have no title for it yet, but the substance is set: an examination of key authors in C. S. Lewis’s life and circle. They are George MacDonald, G. K. Chesterton, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Dorothy L. Sayers. Lewis knew two of these writers by their works only; the other two he knew… Read more »
Last week, I attended a C. S. Lewis conference in Montreat, North Carolina. It was a welcome respite from my regular routine of teaching and grading. To be clear, I love teaching (not so much the grading), but there are times of refreshing when one can simply sit and listen and take in what the Lord wants one to hear. This was one of those times. Some of the most accomplished Lewis scholars were there as presenters. In the photo… Read more »
In a letter to lifelong friend Arthur Greeves, C. S. Lewis expressed his deep appreciation for the blessing of true friendship. How highly did he value it? “Friendship is the greatest of worldly goods,” Lewis declared. “Certainly to me it is the chief happiness of life.” He continued with advice to young men who were contemplating where to live: “I think I shd. say, ‘sacrifice almost everything to live where you can be near your friends.’ I know I am… Read more »
I watch from afar (via Facebook posts) those who are participating in the C. S. Lewis Foundation’s Oxbridge conference. I already had my England trip this summer; couldn’t afford this one. It’s nice to relive, through the posts, some of the spots I visited earlier, especially the Kilns. The conference now moves on from Oxford to Cambridge, where Lewis taught in the last decade of his life. I’ve never been there; my bucket list is not yet emptied. Moving from… Read more »
In my last C. S. Lewis post, I drew from one of his lesser-known essays entitled “On Criticism.” I find that it contains a number of great insights into how reviewers of books can fall into errors. The first error Lewis pointed out is that some reviewers simply don’t do the work necessary: they don’t read carefully and miss the mark on the actual facts contained in a book. A second error, according to Lewis, is when a reviewer attempts… Read more »