RETROSPECT: June 22nd – 30th

Highlights for the final third of June (22nd – 30th) include: Sharing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with his close friends four months before it was published, being awarded an honorary Doctorate of Divinity and more talk from Screwtape about the “law of Undulation.”

As you may recall, Lewis met frequently with a group of friends called the Inklings. They gathered at a variety of places, but on the 22nd in 1950 it happened to be at the Eagle and Child. When they came together at this location it was unusual for them to actually read any of their works. Nevertheless, this was a special occasion, as Lewis brought the galley proofs of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

RETROSPECT: May 11th – 21st

Highlights for the second of May (11th – 21st) include: Initial publication of Miracles, the landmark first meeting with a famous friend and securing his longest employment.

“Miracles” is among the many misused words in our vocabulary today. This was true even back in 1947 when Miracles: A Preliminary Study was released on the 12th by C.S. Lewis. Of course, Lewis was addressing more of an unbelief in the miraculous. In fact, as the inside dusk jacket of the first edition notes, the subtitle isn’t about Lewis giving his tentative thoughts on the subject, but rather the book is designed to be “a study preliminary to any historical inquiry into the actual occurrence of miracles.” That is, before any examination of specific miracles one has to believe that the miraculous can genuinely occur. Nearly thirteen years later (as mentioned in the previous column) a new edition was released containing a revised third chapter.

Lewis & Women #4 – Top Three Women

This is the forth and final show that explores how C.S. Lewis viewed women. Some think he either hated females, or at least feared them. Even those who know this isn’t true have a hard time explaining why. Dr. Crystal Hurd, who has done a series of blog posts on the topic, is William O’Flaherty’s special guest to explore this topic. Gina Dalfonzo, the editor of Breakpoint.org joins in as guest co-host. This last episode examines three women in Lewis’s later life that he was closest to: Ruth Pitter, Dorothy Sayers and Joy Davidman.
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(Click “Read More” to Listen to this Interview)

Lewis & Women #3 – The Fictional Women

This is the third of four shows that explores how C.S. Lewis viewed women. Some think he either hated females, or at least feared them. Even those who know this isn’t true have a hard time explaining why. Dr. Crystal Hurd, who has done a series of blog posts on the topic, is William O’Flaherty’s special guest to explore this topic. Gina Dalfonzo, the editor of Breakpoint.org joins in as guest co-host. This third podcast examines women that Lewis created in his stories. The focus is mostly on Narnia, but Crystal also addresses equality between the sexes.
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(Click “Read More” to Listen to this Interview)

Lewis & Women – Get the COMPLETE SERIES!

If you’ve been enjoying the Lewis & Women podcast miniseries and can’t wait for the last two shows then you will want to know this:

I’m releasing all the shows through BandCamp. You can get the last two shows for just $1 each, or all FOUR for just $3. You can also preview ALL of the shows there in their entirety.

I’ll be doing a REPEAT for the next two weeks on my All About Jack page, so it will be several weeks before you can get them there. Purchasing them helps me paid for the hosting I have here on Wordpress and over at PodOmatic. Thanks in advance for considering to help support my efforts to enable others to learn about the life and work of C.S. Lewis.

Lewis & Women #2 – The “Factual” Women

This is the second of four shows that explores how C.S. Lewis viewed women. Some think he either hated females, or at least feared them. Even those who know this isn’t true have a hard time explaining why. Dr. Crystal Hurd, who has done a series of blog posts on the topic, is William O’Flaherty’s special guest to explore this topic. Gina Dalfonzo, the editor of Breakpoint.org joins in as guest co-host. This second podcast examines women that Lewis either knew or wrote to during his life (“factual” as opposed to the fictional females he created in his books).
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(Click “Read More” to Listen to this Interview)

RETROSPECT: March 22nd – 31st

Highlights for the final third of March (22nd – 31st) include: Publication of The Four Loves, his first essay collection and republication of a landmark professional work.

During the last decade of Lewis’s life his Christian-themed titles had less to do with defending the faith and more with sharing his understanding of a variety of aspects of it. The Four Loves, released on the 28th in 1960 is one of those works where he shares his wisdom on a topic related to the faith he had gained a greater understanding of over his life. Many individuals are not aware of the fact that two years prior to the book release Lewis had given ten radio talks on this theme.

RETROSPECT: February 1st – 9th

Highlights for the first third of February (1st – 9th) include: Two more BBC talks from the second series, “What Christians Believe,” an often misunderstood debate and the first book that made Lewis famous.

An idea that started in 1940 led to international fame for Lewis. This is before he gained fame for being the author of The Chronicles of Narnia and even before he was loved as a defender of the Christian faith. A small book containing thirty-one letters set things in motion that made Lewis gain international fame. Although The Screwtape Letters had been released weekly in 1941, it was not until a year later, on the 9th of this month that all of them could be found in one place. The first edition of 2,000 copies sold out even before the date of publication! In fact it was reprinted eight times before the end of 1942. Despite being so popular, it is well known that Lewis actually didn’t enjoy writing it.

RETROSPECTIVE: November 1st -10th

The following is part of a series reflecting on the life of C.S. Lewis. This is accomplished by summarizing various events or happenings during his lifetime for the noted period and may include significant events related to him after his death.

Highlights for the first third of November (1st – 10th) include: A two-part broadcast talk on “Faith,” a posthumous book on Spenser and the start of bus ride to an unknown destination.

Mere Christianity, as many people know, is a collection of three smaller books that were published in the early 1940’s. Before that they were individual broadcasts on the BBC. A person can pick any of them and gain insight from what Lewis shares. However, as I was reading over the two radio talks for this period I got to thinking that if out of all of the material he shared

Retro: June 20th – 30th

Highlights in Lewis’s life for this time frame are: Sharing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with his close friends four months before it was published, being awarded an honorary Doctorate of Divinity and Screwtape talking about the “law of Undulation.”

As you may recall, Lewis met frequently with a group of friends called the Inklings. They gathered at