You may have heard recently that the Chronicles of Narnia are coming to Netflix! Can Netflix save the struggling franchise? Glumpuddle from the Talking Beasts podcast discusses…
C.S. Lewis & the Catholic Church is a book which investigates a fascinating question: why didn’t C.S. Lewis convert to Catholicism? After all, many Catholics who read Lewis discover a faith which they very must recognize as Catholic (with a capital “C”). One of his best friends, Tolkien, was a Catholic, he possessed a robust sacramental theology, believed in Purgatory and went to confession regularly. Why did he not “swim the Tiber”?
Joseph Pearce takes the reader through a tour of several of Lewis’ works, particularly The Pilgrim’s Regress, Surprised By Joy, The Great Divorce and Mere Christianity, tracing the threads of Catholic thought which can be found there, as well the points of contention with the Catholic Faith. He also digs into Lewis’ Ulster background, seeing what prejudices may have been deeply laid in his childhood.
One nice addition to this book was the appendix, which recounted the stories of those devoted to Lewis who eventually converted to Catholicism, including his own secretary, Walter Hooper. Lewis may have never formally entered into communion with the Bishop of Rome, but it becomes clear that his writings nevertheless influenced others in their journey “home to Rome”.
This past week I’ve been working my way through Becoming Mrs Lewis by Patti Callahan, a novelisation of the relationship and romance between my hero, C.S. Lewis, and Joy Davidman. I hadn’t known that much about either Joy or her writings prior to starting this book, most of which was gleaned from the rather unreliable Shadowlands movie.
I have to say that, by the time I finished this book, my appetite had greatly increased to know more about this fascinating woman. In fact, I immediately ordered two books by Dr. Don King, one an edited collection of her letters, and another of her poetry, short extracts of which we were treated to at the start of each chapter.
The book is beautifully written. I can’t emphasize that enough. Patti Callahan took me on a journey. I couldn’t help be drawn in as I travelled with Joy, experiencing the highs of her trip to England, as well as the lows of her crumbling marriage.
We’re currently going through “Surprised By Joy” at the moment in our book club and I wanted to assemble a workable chronology for the events of C.S. Lewis’ life and the years in which he published…
1898 – Born in Belfast (November 29th)
1905 – Family moves to “Little Lea”
1908 – Mother (Flora Lewis) dies
1910 – Attends Campbell College
1911 – Attends Cherbourg House, Malvern
1913 – Enters Malvern College
1914 – Begins tutoring with W.T. Kirkpatrick in Surrey
1917 – Starts at University College, Oxford
1918 Wounded in action
1919 – Spirits in Bondage: A cycle of lyrics
1923 – Graduated from Oxford University
1925 – Hired as a don in English
1926 – Dymer
1929 – Father (Albert Lewis) dies
1929 – Becomes a theist
1931 – Becomes a Christian
1933 – The Pilgrim’s Regress
1936 The Allegory of Love
1938 – Out of the Silent Planet
1939 Rehabilitations and Other Essays
1939 The Personal Heresy
1942 – The Screwtape Letters
1942 – A Preface to Paradise Lost
1943 – Perelandra
1945 – That Hideous Strength
1945 – The Great Divorce
1949 – The Weight of Glory
1950 – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
1951 – Prince Caspian
1952 – The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
1952 – Meets Joy Davidman
1953 – The Silver Chair
1954 – The Horse and His Boy
1954 – Hired as Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University
1954 – English Literature in the Sixteenth Century Excluding Drama
1955 – Surprised By Joy
1956 – Marries Joy Davidman in a civil ceremony
1957 – Marries Joy Davidman in an Anglican ceremony
1958 – Reflections on the Psalms
1960 – The World’s Last Night and other essays
1960 – Studies in Words, The Four Loves
1961 – An Experiment in Crticism
1961 – A Grief Observed
1963 – Lewis dies at home (November 22nd)
1964 – Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer
1964 – Poems
1964 – The Discarded Image: An introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature
1966 – Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories
1966 – On Stories: And other essays on literature
1966 – Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature
1967 – Letters to an American Lady
1970 – God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics
1977 – The Dark Tower and Other stories
1979 – They Stand Together: The Letters of C.S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves
1980 – The Weight of Glory (Expanded version)
1985 – Boxen: The Imaginary World of the Young C.S. Lewis
1985 – C.S. Lewis’ Letters to Children
1991 – All My Road Before Me: The Diary of C.S. Lewis, 1922-1927
The hosts, Daniel and Phil are going through C.S. Lewis’ book, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, chapter by chapter and they invited me on to discuss with them Chapter 16: What Happened About the Statues…
It was an intriguing approach to discussing Lewis’ thought – imagining a series of lunches with the man himself – the dream of any C.S. Lewis fan! The book is not, as one might imagine, a fictional dialogue between the author and Lewis. Instead, in each chapter, the author looks at some topic close to Lewis’ heart and provides a digestible overview of what Lewis had to say about it. Such areas of discussion include the meaning of life, friendship, the importance of stories, apologetics, education, suffering and Heaven.
This was a quick, enjoyable read and provides a nice alternative to the more traditional books about Lewis.
