Teaching Lewis & Sayers

  

I’m currently teaching my university course on C. S. Lewis. We have traversed the Lewis universe by reading Surprised by Joy, Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, and his superb sermon/essay, “Learning in War-time.” We are now deeply embroiled in the third installment of his Ransom Trilogy, That Hideous Strength. Coming attractions: The Last Battle, A Grief Observed, and Lewis’s greatest—in my estimation—sermon/essay of all, “The Weight of Glory.” I wish I could have given them even more;… Read more »

Lewis’s “Learning in War-time”

  

Rev. T. R. Milford, rector of Oxford’s University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, wanted an authority to speak on the importance of continued education in a national crisis. That crisis was the Second World War, which Britain entered in September 1939 after the Nazi invasion of Poland. Why was this topic on the rector’s mind? Some would undoubtedly question—and perhaps some already were questioning—why a university such as Oxford should continue to prioritize academics at a time when all… Read more »

Principles vs. Pragmatism

  

I chose the title “Pondering Principles” for my website because I believe that we are called by God to be principled people. I’ve taught hundreds of students the distinction between being principled and being pragmatic. Definitions are essential. Here’s how I have explained what it means to be principled. Principles are what I would call the “big truths” out of which other truths naturally should flow. Truth must be our foundation for all things, and we must not give only… Read more »

Solidifying the Faith of Mere Christians

  

I’ve finished three weeks of my university course on C. S. Lewis and enjoyed every minute of it. We began by going through his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, which I can tell was well received by the students. We have now begun key chapters in Mere Christianity and carefully analyzed and discussed Books I and II, which provide the basis for building an apologetic for the faith. As I read my students’ reading reports on the assigned chapters, I see… Read more »

Presidential Integrity: Grover Cleveland

  

We’ve had 47 presidencies in our history. Some were exceptional, others impactful one way or another, and a few almost entirely forgettable. The presidents after the Civil War up until Theodore Roosevelt, in the minds of probably most Americans, may fall into the “forgettable” category primarily because we truly have forgotten them. We focus on George Washington (as we should for the precedents he set) and Abraham Lincoln shouldering the burdens of a terrible civil war. But some of those… Read more »

The God-Is-In-Control Cliche

  

Lest there be any alarm at the title of this post, let me give the broader context first. I firmly believe that God is capable of doing whatever He chooses. Further, Scripture makes it abundantly clear that He will be the one to decide when this thing called history will come to an end. I also believe this verse is true: It’s a wonderful assurance that the Lord is an active God who works in our behalf. Keep in mind,… Read more »

The Author Who Invented Her

  

I’ve written previously about C. S. Lewis’s appreciation of Dorothy L. Sayers’s works. He was particularly enthused by her new translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy. When he first learned she was undertaking that task, he remarked in a letter to her, “I expect I shall find you loud pedaling the comic element more than I approve, but it is much better to have your Dante as your Dante than to have a compromise between it and some one else’s. That’s… Read more »