04.13.08
Life-Changing Lewis Books
John Mark Reynolds, Director of the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University and co-editor of The New Media Frontier with me, posted today on five C.S. Lewis books that changed his life.
12.03.07
On Reading C.S. Lewis
Check out this post "On Reading C.S. Lewis" by JollyBlogger David Wayne.
11.24.07
2007 Conference Audio
Here are the plenary session audio files from the C.S. Lewis conference last month.
C.S. Lewis: The Man & His Work, October 26-27, 2007 at SEBTS. (courtesy SEBTS)
Walter Hooper: "Walter Hooper’s Work as Editor of C.S. Lewis Works"
Bruce Edwards: "C.S. Lewis: America’s Bonny Fighter"
Walter Hooper: "C.S. Lewis: Reflections about the Man"
James Como: "Culture and Public Philosophy: The Other C.S. Lewis"
10.30.07
C.S. Lewis and My First Academic Paper
Last weekend I had the privilege of presenting my first academic paper at a conference on C.S. Lewis in Wake Forest, NC. The paper is titled- "The Virtuous Case fore Christ: How C.S. Lewis’s Theological Virtues Should Aid Christians Living in a Postmodern Culture." It’s available on request if you send me an email at rogeroverton@hotmail.com. I do have audio, and I hope to post it here later this week. However, due to the time limit I only read about two-thirds of the paper, so if you’re interested in the whole thing you’ll want a text copy.
The conference was one of the best I’ve been to. It was a great opportunity to meet several notable Lewis scholars. Here are a few pictures….
Walter Hooper signing my copy of Past Watchful Dragons. This is one of the few books he’s written on Lewis’s works (as opposed to editing) and was published in 1979. When I handed it to him to sign he said, "Well I didn’t expect to see this!"
Me with Bruce Edwards and James Como. Bruce has been in the Lewis field for awhile and recently edited a 4 volume anthology of essays on C.S. Lewis. I doubt I would have been presenting a paper at the conference without him. James Como co-founded the New York C.S. Lewis Society back in 1969. Hooper credited him as one of the reasons for interest in Lewis growing in America.
Evidence that people actually showed up to hear my paper. The room was just about full- my guess around 60 people.
06.20.07
C.S. Lewis: The Man and His Work
October 26-27, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary will be hosting an incredible conference on C.S. Lewis. The plenary speakers are Walter Hooper, Bruce Edwards, and James Como. That should be enough to get you to go. But there are also a slew of great papers being read by notables Will Vaus, Diana Glyer, and many others. And, by what appears to be some fantastical error that will undoubtedly come back to haunt the organizers, I’ll be presenting a paper entitled "The Virtuous Case for Christ: How Lewis’s Theological Virtues Should Aid Christians Living in a Postmodern Culture." I’m already nervous, this should be interesting…
Speaking of Diana Glyer, I had the privilege of meeting her this past weekend at a local CSL conference. I recommend you pick up her new book, The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community, and her website: The Place of the Lion.
06.09.07
Updates
For those of you looking to keep up with the latest work on C.S. Lewis, I’ve finally updated my Chronological List of Works Related to Lewis to reflect recent and future releases as well as a few revised titles.
I’ve also updated the links on the side, adding Will Vaus and Brian Sibley to the site list.
02.17.07
Book Review: Mere Humanity by Donald T. Williams
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In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Lucy Pevensie found an interesting book on her friend’s bookshelf titled Is Man a Myth? The subject matter makes sense from a world in which no human had been for quite some time. But even in our world questions about what it means to be human are at best unresolved by our culture. In Mere Humanity, Donald T. Williams explores humanity in the work of G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien. |
Mere Humanity consists of an introduction, six chapters, concluding thoughts, and two appendices. In between each of these are one-page poetic “interludes” that reflect on various aspects of humanity. Over the six chapters, Dr. Williams analyzes The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton, “On Faerie Stories” and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, and The Abolition of Man, The Space Trilogy, and The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.
Dr. Williams did an excellent job of analyzing these popular works in light of contemporary philosophies and, most importantly, biblical revelation. He showed how Chesterton, Tolkien, and Lewis each dealt with contrary ideologies in their own ways in order to point their readers to the biblical understanding of what it means to be human. My favorite chapter was “The Abolition of Talking Beasts,” as it shows what peril our culture is in by losing its human identity.
It is often said that we stand on the shoulders of giants. Chesterton, Lewis, and Tolkien were three Christian giants who have given people a better perspective of the world. In Mere Humanity, Dr. Williams brings their collective perspectives together to form an insightful and urgent critique of the contemporary view of humanity.
08.08.06
Lewis in the Letters VIII: 1916a
At this time Lewis was seventeen years of age. The war was raging and conscription was enacted on February 10th, but Lewis was exempt on account of his age and Irish descent. In the midst of the turmoil, Lewis continued his studies with Kirkpatrick, and continued to find more objects that held imagination. One of the most important was George Macdonald’s Phantastes. He appealed to Arthur Greeves:
“At any rate, whatever the book you are reading now, you simply MUST get this at once… Of course it is hopeless for me to try and describe it, but when you have followed the hero Anodos along that little stream to the faery wood, have heard about the terrible ash tree and how the shadow of his gnarled, knotted hand falls upon the book the hero is reading, when you have read about the faery palace – just like that picture in the Dulac book – and hear the episode of Cosmo, I know that you will quite agree with me.” (March 7, 1916 p169)
In his next letter to Arthur, Lewis suggested: “I think you and ought to publish our letters (they’d be a jolly interesting book by the way) under the title of lamentations, as we are always jawing about our sorrows.” (March 14, 1916 p173) I agree with him in that it is a jolly interesting book :) Though, I would love also to have read the letters Arthur wrote to Lewis.
As an aspiring writer, I’ve been reflecting lately on what accounts for good writing. Even a small number of the right words grouped together can mysteriously conjure feelings and thoughts beyond the context. In his following letter to Arthur, Lewis noted: “Isn’t it funny the way some combinations of words can give you – almost apart from their meaning – a thrill like music? It is because I know that you feel this magic of words AS words that I do not despair of teaching you to appreciate poetry.” (March 21, 1916 p175) I hope that’s a lesson I learn as well.
