Category: Education

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 »

My Lewisian 2025

  

I continue to teach as an adjunct professor at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida. This recent adjunct status after fourteen years as a full-time professor at SEU, while distressing at first (a slew of us lost our full-time positions in the wake of COVID), has offered me the grand opportunity of teaching upper-level history courses of my choice. One of those, which I have taught now ever since my academic sabbatical in 2014-2015, is my course on C. S. Lewis…. Read more »

Teaching Lewis

  

Ever since my research and writing focus changed to C. S. Lewis during my university sabbatical in 2014-2015, I was hoping for opportunities to teach about this man who has impacted my thinking and life goals so directly. Beginning in 2018, that desire found an outlet at the church where I now worship–All Saints’ Episcopal in Lakeland, Florida. The church has a robust educational ministry [known as Parish Academy], and I have found my place in that ministry. While my… Read more »

Lewis in Romania: Remembered

  

I look back to where I was one year ago this week and fondly recall some truly precious days in Romania attending a C. S. Lewis conference. It was a blessing to spend time with kindred spirits who love the Lord and who appreciate writers like Lewis, Tolkien, MacDonald, and others who point readers to the ancient truths that are actually timeless. I was asked to speak at the very first panel of the conference, a distinct pleasure and a… Read more »

The Lewis-Sayers Connection—and God’s Leading

  

Dorothy Sayers was never present at an Inklings meeting. She was never considered as a member of that weekly sharing of readings and thoughts. Yet she is often seen in conjunction with the Inklings because she graduated from Oxford herself and was friends with two of its leading members: Charles Williams and C. S. Lewis. Sayers knew Williams first, then initiated a correspondence with Lewis that grew over time and resulted in, first, a collegial relationship, and then a more… Read more »

Lewis-Sayers-History: The Research Continues

  

I mentioned in a previous post my research into the educational philosophies of C. S. Lewis and Dorothy L. Sayers and the quest to determine how closely they may have aligned. There are many facets of education to consider when doing such research. One quite evident agreement between these two friends/colleagues is the significance of studying history. This is naturally interesting to me, as I have been a historian and professor of history for more than thirty years. If you… Read more »