Most are aware that in addition to Lewis’s landmark books, he wrote a lot of shorter works that were published in a variety of publications. One of those is a journal called Theology. Over a three year span (1939-41) he had ten pieces released there. Last year in honor of the 50th anniversary of his death the editors created a special page online for anyone to access PDF copies of all of those writings. They include four articles, three book reviews and three letters (correspondence). The most famous selection is the essay version of Lewis’s best sermon (and it was only his second), “The Weight of Glory.”
Month: February 2014
Fact / Quote / Quiz: February 20th
FACT OF THE DAY:
John, the main character in “The Pilgrim’s Regress” was born in Puritania (on the western side of the Eastern Mountains)
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“First-hand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than second-hand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.”
On the Reading of Old Books
(Published originally as a preface to The Incarnation of the Word of God in 1944)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
If you lived in the 50’s you had to wait almost twelve months for each of the next Narnia stories except the final two…how long was the wait for each of them?
(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)
RETROSPECT: February 19th – 29th
Highlights for the final third of February (19th – 29th) include: The beginning of his fourth and final BBC series of talks, a landmark lecture series that would become one of his most insightful works aimed at a mainstream audience, and a new edition of The Screwtape Letters containing a second preface.
The fourth and final BBC radio series kicked off on the 22nd in 1944. The series itself was first called “Beyond Personality” and the first talk was entitled “Making and Begetting.” However, on the 24th the text was reprinted in The Listener and it was called “The Map and the Ocean.” This was the first time Lewis’s broadcasts were made available before being collected in a book.
The two different titles for the fourth series debut provides some hints at what was presented by Lewis. He noted the words “begetting” or “begotten” are not used today, but its
Fact / Quote / Quiz: February 19th
FACT OF THE DAY:
“On the Reading of Old Books” – an essay that was first published as the preface to a book by his friend Sister Penelope from 1944.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.”
On the Reading of Old Books
(Published originally as a preface to The Incarnation of the Word of God in 1944)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
Finish the quote and name the source (four words):
“If nothing is certainly right, then of course it follows that ___ ___ ___ ___ .”
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Fact / Quote / Quiz: February 18th
FACT OF THE DAY:
On this date (2/18) in 1938 J.R.R. Tolkien wrote a letter to his publisher to consider Lewis’s manuscript of Out of the Silent Planet.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“To some, God is discoverable everywhere; to others, nowhere.”
The Seeing Eye
(Published originally as “Onward Christian Spacemen” in the February, 1963 edition of Show)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
Lewis went back to the BBC this month in 1949 to record what talk that aired the same day of its recording?
(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)
CSL Book Club (Allyson Wieland)
The following is a repeat of a short interview I did in 2012 about a website called “CSL Book Club.” Allyson Wieland created the site to freely provide copies of study questions she created for her local C.S. Lewis group. Since the interview I also had her on the show for my occasional “Essay Chat” series.
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(Click “Read More” to Listen to this Interview)
Fact / Quote / Quiz: February 17th
FACT OF THE DAY:
The Cosmic Trilogy (a collection of all three Sci-Fi books) was released in February, 1990.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“The Christian…does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.”
The Practical Conclusion
(BBC talk given on 2/15/1942)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
Who was the most famous king of Archenland?
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Fact / Quote / Quiz: February 16th
(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)FACT OF THE DAY:
71 years ago today (2/16/1943) The Screwtape Letters was published in the U.S., but was released in the UK in 1942
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.”
The Screwtape Letters
(Released in the U.S. on 2/16/1943)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
Finish the quote and name the source (three words):
The human mind has no more power of inventing a new value than of planting a new sun in the sky or a ____ ____ ____ in the spectrum.
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Who Drew Narnia (CSLM-42)
Who illustrated The Chronicles of Narnia and how was the person selected?
If you love the stories about Narnia, you probably also greatly admire the illustrations found in the books. Pauline Baynes is the only one who drew them and we have J.R.R. Tolkien to thank in part for them. It was after Lewis saw the pictures she created for Farmer Giles, one of Tolkien’s books, that Lewis picked her.
Fact / Quote / Quiz: February 15th
FACT OF THE DAY:
The final radio talk from the second BBC series was given today (2/15) in 1942. It is now known as “The Practical Conclusion.”
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“We have to take reality as it comes to us: there is no good jabbering about what it ought to be like or what we should have expected it to be like.”
The Practical Conclusion
(BBC talk given on 2/15/1942)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
What book that was a collection of essays that were selected by Lewis were published in what year this month?
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