Month: May 2017

Literary England II: The Wordsworth-Lewis Link

Prior to my recent England trip with students, the only time I can recall reading English poet William Wordsworth was in one of our sessions in preparation for the trip. For today’s blog post, I was simply going to include Wordsworth as one of three authors whose homes we visited. Then, just yesterday, as I was doing more research on him, I discovered a stronger connection with C. S. Lewis than I had imagined. I decided Wordsworth needed a post… Read more »

Literary England I: Shakespeare & Austen

Thus far, in my review of my trip to England, I’ve focused on history, cathedrals, and C. S. Lewis. Well, I’m not going to leave the history sphere, but let’s stay with it via the literary aspect. Some of the students were taking the course for credit as a literature offering with my colleague who accompanied us. I must also point out that she was the true organizer of the trip; I was merely along to help out (and give… Read more »

At the Kilns

If I had an official bucket list, what transpired on Thursday, May 11, would have been at the top of that list. That’s the day I arrived at C. S. Lewis’s home, the Kilns. Lewis lived in this house for the final thirty-three years of his life. It was here where he wrote most of his books and essays, here where he took care of the cantankerous Mrs. Janie Moore for twenty of those years, and here where Joy Gresham… Read more »

Lewis’s Oxford

Twenty years ago, I had a whirlwind tour of a very small section of Oxford. This time, with my university students, I was able to spend a little more time—not enough, but more directed, more significant, more focused on the sites with which C. S. Lewis was familiar. Lewis taught at Magdalen College for approximately thirty years. For the first time in my sixty-six years, I was on the same grounds. Lewis’s rooms were in the New Building (“new” because… Read more »

Stonehenge, Romans, & Beautiful Bath

It seems to be obligatory that all tourists in England must go see a certain circle of stones. The reason is that they are quite ancient, dating back to the third millennium B.C., and that they remain a source of academic study: how did they get all those huge stones there and what was the purpose of this structure? Stonehenge probably started as a burial place and then developed into a way to calculate the seasons by the position of… Read more »

Cathedrals, Grandeur, & Vitality

Another recurring theme in my recent trip to England with university students was the grandeur of major cathedrals and how they point to the glory of God. Some personal history: I grew up in the Lutheran church, which has a lot of tradition. The stained-glass windows of the church told stories, and I loved the atmosphere of the stained glass. Then I left that tradition and became part of the new evangelical and charismatic world that came into prominence in… Read more »

The Churchill Theme

Winston Churchill’s life and legacy was one centerpiece of the trip I took with students in the past couple of weeks. Yesterday, I highlighted Dover Castle and its prominent role in Britain’s defense during WWII, along with a photo of Churchill emerging from the underground tunnels. We also made two other Churchillian stops: Blenheim Palace and the Churchill War Rooms. Churchill was born and raised in this modest home outside Oxford. I know—my definition of “modest” needs some reworking. Blenheim… Read more »