Reflections on God … Man … Life
As I noted in my previous post, my re-reading of C. S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces has brought me face-to-face—so to speak—with the value of the book in ways I hadn’t fully appreciated in my first two readings of it. This novel based on the Greek tale of Cupid and Psyche didn’t attract me at first. One reason probably was due to my lack of interest in pagan myths. The other reason was that I had no knowledge of… Read more »
C. S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces, for many years, was kind of a mystery to me. All of my Lewis reading prior to tackling this book was centered on his apologetics and fantasy. I loved the logic of Mere Christianity and Miracles and basked in the delights of the Ransom Trilogy, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, and of course, the Narnia tales. The first time I read Till We Have Faces, I came away from it disappointed. This… Read more »
I have used C. S. Lewis’s autobiography, Surprised by Joy, every time I have taught my Lewis class at the university. I’ve also used it in an adult class at my church. The title perfectly expresses the end result of Lewis’s early life as he finally turned to Christ. For years, he sought something he defined as “joy.” Three moments in his childhood stood out to him with respect to his quest for joy. The first was when he “stood… Read more »
Not long ago, I dreamed of writing a book highlighting C. S. Lewis’s views on history. At the time, I thought this would be a solo endeavor. Then I found out that a former student of mine was exploring the idea at the same time. The result was a cooperative venture that is now a reality. Further, the Wade Center—repository of all things Lewis—awarded me the Clyde Kilby Research Grant for 2022 that made another trip to the Center to… Read more »
My previous post revealed how C.S. Lewis and Dorothy L. Sayers established a relationship as authorial colleagues and friends. Interestingly, Lewis had never read Sayers when she was primarily focused on her Lord Peter Wimsey novels. In fact, Lewis only read one of the Wimsey tales after being impressed with her Christian writing. As he wrote to his friend Arthur Greeves, “Dorothy Sayers The Mind of the Maker I thought good on the whole: good enough to induce me to… Read more »
Readers of this blog know that I have been working (along with my co-author Jamin Metcalf) on a proposed book dealing with C. S. Lewis’s views on history. One begins researching and writing an academic book usually without any promise that it will see publication. We academics don’t normally receive any up front funding based on future royalties principally because royalties for such books are not equivalent to royalties earned by “popular” authors. We write from a deep desire to… Read more »
I have just this week completed teaching Out of the Silent Planet to a dedicated small group in person at my church while a larger number watch on Zoom, and a much larger number than the first two groups watch the video later. It’s a privilege that I don’t take for granted. Now that I have finished that book and will enter into Perelandra next, I would like to take a few moments to note that one of the benefits… Read more »