Dr. Louis Markos has written several books on C.S. Lewis and some have been highlighted here before (see list below). He is also one of the co-writers (with Darren Jacobs) of the forthcoming JACK & TOLLERS movie. Last year he released a book dealing with the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien AND C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. It’s called On the Shoulders of Hobbits: The Road to Virtue with Tolkien and Lewis. The following link is an interview William O’Flaherty did with him about this book.
(Click “Read More” to Listen to this Interview)
Month: December 2013
Fact / Quote / Quiz: December 16th
FACT OF THE DAY:
Lewis mentioned “Tolkien’s unfinished sequel to the Hobbit” in the preface of Essays Presented to Charles Williams (a book Lewis edited)
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Of all passions the passion for the Inner Ring is most skillful in making a man who is not yet a very bad man do very bad things.”
The Inner Ring
(Talk given on 12/14/1944)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
How old was Pauline Baynes when she first began to illustrate the Narnia books?
(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)
Fact / Quote / Quiz: December 15th
FACT OF THE DAY:
“Who Goes Home? or The Grand Divorce VI” was published today (12/15) in 1944 in The Guardian.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“A jealous man, drifting and unresisting, reaches a point at which he believes lies about his best friend…But errors which are sincere in that sense are not innocent.”
Who Goes Home? or The Grand Divorce VI
(Published in The Guardian on 12/15/1944)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
Finish the quote (four words):
“____(1)____ is ____(2)____ with ___(3)____ ___(4)___: but not all things are connected by the short and straight roads we expected.”
(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)
Podcast Recap – The Hobbit
I can’t image that any of you are not aware that this weekend marks the release of The Hobbit movie (part 2). So, it only seemed fitting to review some of the material I’ve previously done related to it. I believe these resources will help you better enjoy the book (and movie). In addition to what I’ve posted, I also selected a few additional places online that you should find useful. Since this post last year I had another author interview; meaning I’ve now done interviews with three different authors on this topic.
Fact / Quote / Quiz: December 14th
FACT OF THE DAY:
Lewis gave the annual Commemoration Oration at King’s College today (12/14) in 1944. His topic was “The Inner Ring.”
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“A thing may be morally neutral and yet the desire for that thing may be dangerous.”
The Inner Ring
(Talk given on 12/14/1944)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
What book was first published this month after Lewis’s death that dealt with topics from his professional career?
(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)
Fact / Quote / Quiz: December 13th
FACT OF THE DAY:
“The Vision of John Bunyan” was published today (12/13) in 1962 in The Listener. It was first a radio talk on the BBC.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Allegory frustrates itself the moment the author starts doing what could equally well be done in a straight sermon or treatise. It is a valid form only so long as it is doing what could not be done at all, or done so well, in any other way.We must be taught that this tent is not home.”
The Vision of John Bunyan
(Published in The Listener on 12/13/1962)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
What is the name of the first academic title Lewis had published?
(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)
Fact / Quote / Quiz: December 12th
FACT OF THE DAY:
“Peace Proposals for Brother Every and Mr Bethell” is an article in the December, 1940 issue of Theology. Reprinted in Christian Reflections.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“We must be taught that this tent is not home.”
Letter to Warfield M. Firor
(from Collected Letters, Volume 2 on 12/5/1949)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
What was the eventual title of the Narnia book that Lewis suggested “The Desert Road to Narnia”?
(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)
Land Lower Than Underland (CSLM-36)
Just when Jill, Eustace and Puddleglum think there is no place lower than Underland they find out how wrong they were.
In The Silver Chair our friends become trapped while trying to rescue the lost prince. They find Gnomes, or Earthmen who are under the spell of the Lady of the Green Kirtle. She rules Underland and is planning to use Prince Rilian as a slave-king to take over Narnia.
Fact / Quote / Quiz: December 11th
FACT OF THE DAY:
“Scraps” is a group of brief thoughts by Lewis that was published in the December, 1945 issue of St James’ Magazine.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Every story of conversion is the story of a blessed defeat.”
Foreword to Joy Davidman’s Smoke on the Mountain
(Quoted in A Mind Awake, published 12/3/69 in US)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
Finish the quote and name the source (4 words):
“An open mind, in questions that are not ultimate, is useful. But an open mind about the ultimate foundations either of Theoretical or of Practical Reason is idiocy. If a man’s mind is open on these things, let his mouth ____ _____ _____ ______.”
(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)
RETROSPECTIVE: December 11th – 20th
Highlights for the second third of December (11th – 20th) include: A follow-up piece to The Screwtape Letters, a warning about seeking to be a part of “the inner ring” and the printed version of Lewis’s final radio broadcast.
Lewis received many requests to write more material found in The Screwtape Letters but he always refused. It was almost twenty years between the time he wrote his first letter to Wormwood and something new from Screwtape would appear. However, on the 19th in 1959 readers of The Saturday Evening Post discovered the senior demon had more to say. “Screwtape Proposes a Toast” has the esteemed devil giving a speech “at the annual dinner of the Tempters’ Training College for young Devils.” After commenting on the poor quality of