Tag: Christian Reflections

RETROSPECT: September 22nd – 30th

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

Highlights for September 22nd – 30th include: Debut story of a Sci-Fi trilogy, a landmark book published anonymously and the death of Lewis’s father to cancer.

It’s no secret that Lewis is known for being a versatile writer. One of his earliest efforts that spotlighted this fact is what happened on the 23rd in 1938. This is when Lewis released the first of what is referred to many fans as the Ransom trilogy. That’s because Dr. Elwin Ransom is a central character introduced in Out of the Silent Planet. Released a dozen years before the Narnia stories, some call this his first imaginative apologetic work. Apparently Lewis himself wasn’t aware of how useful of a tool fiction could be to present Christian ideas in a latent way. It was

RETROSPECT: July 22nd – 31st

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

Highlights for the period of July 22-31include: Lewis on the radio that wasn’t a part of the eventual Mere Christianity book, the U.S. release of The Four Loves and the publication of a friend’s landmark book that Lewis encouraged the author to write (hint: it has a “ring” to it).

When you consider a person’s life over the years (like this series has with C.S. Lewis), it’s no surprise that there might be a week or two were relatively little significant events happened. Such is the case for this time-period. However, there was a very meaningful moment in the life of a now more famous friend, J.R.R. Tolkien. In 1954 The Fellowship of the Ring was published at the end of July (the actual date is either the 24th or 29th, as I’ve seen both listed).

It’s not just because they were friends that it’s worth mentioning, rather

08r Essay – Fern-seed and Elephants, pt. 1 (with Reggie Gates)

William OFlaherty All About Jack

The following is the eighth essay chat produced by William O’Flaherty. It is the first of a two-part discussion of “Fern-seed and Elephants,” a shorter work by Lewis that is best found in Christian Reflections. My guest is Lewis enthusiast Reggie Gates. Reggie runs another podcast website called “All About C.S. Lewis.” In this program three of the four major points by Lewis are explored.
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(Click “Read More” to Listen to this Interview)

RETROSPECT: May 11th – 21st

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

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.

RETROSPECT: April 20th – 30th

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

Highlights for the final third of April (20th – 30th) include: Publication of Perelandra, a talk “On Three Ways of Writing for Children” and Lewis’s first marriage to Joy Davidman.

Before Lewis gain fame from a series of books about a place called Narnia, he had written a trilogy that had a science fiction theme. The second of those books, Perelandra, came out on the 20th in 1943. In it we take a trip to Venus with the main character, Ransom and follow his quest to save that world from impending corruption. In the U.S. it wasn’t released until a year later on the 11th. In 1953 a paperback version came out under the title Voyage to Venus. On some occasions in his life Lewis considered this novel to be his best (this was also said of Till We Have Faces). Perelandra was dedicated “To Some Ladies at Wantage,” as in Wantage,

Lewis on the Incarnation and Resurrection

William OFlaherty Special Feature

C.S. Lewis made comments on the Incarnation and Resurrection in several writings over the years. Previous on my C.S. Lewis Minute blog I shared this post and felt there were those who probably hadn’t seen it there, and so it would be useful to add it here.

From “Christianity and Literature” (found in Christian Reflections):

To believe in the Incarnation at all is to believe that every mode of human excellence is implicit in His [Jesus’] historical human character. . . . But if all had been developed, the limitations of a single human life would have been transcended and he would not have been a man; therefore all excellences save the spiritual remained in varying degrees implicit.

Fact / Quote / Quiz: April 5th

William OFlaherty Daily Lewis

FACT OF THE DAY:

On Church Music was published this month in 1949 in English Church Music and is available in Lewis’s Christian Reflections.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“All our offerings, whether of music or martyrdom, are like the intrinsically worthless present of a child, which a father values indeed, but values only for the intention.”

On Church Music
(Published in the April 194 issue of English Church Music)

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QUIZ OF THE DAY:

The only surviving recording from the BBC series that is a chapter is Mere Christianity is what chapter?
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(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)

RETROSPECT: March 1st – 11th

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

Highlights for the first third of March (1st – 11th) include: First book collecting quotations and shorter passages, how Charles Williams became a friend and a former student previews The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Less than five years after C.S. Lewis died a collection containing brief excerpts from a wide range of his writings came out on the 4th of March in 1968. A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C.S. Lewis would be the first of many books featuring quotations or shorter selections. This debut work was edited by Clyde S. Kilby, the person who began what we know today as The Marion E. Wade Center. The book is arranged into ten major sections and nearly all of those divisions are further divided into sub-themes.

RETROSPECT: February 10th – 18th

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

Highlights for the second third of February (10th – 18th) include: The concluding talk from the “What Christians Believe” BBC series, an explanation of the word “membership” in a talk to a group and the publication of a selection of Christian-themed essays.

In 1945 on the 10th Lewis gave a talk, simply called “Membership,” to the Society of St. Alban and St. Sergius in Oxford. It was also published later in the year and is now best found in The Weight of Glory. Lewis explained in his presentation that the word “membership” in the New Testament differs from the way it is used today. Instead of speaking of it in the sense of a group containing like items, the Christian meaning is close to “what we should call organs, things essentially different from, and complementary to, one another.” He also pointed out that believers are

Fact / Quote / Quiz: January 25th

William OFlaherty Daily Lewis

FACT OF THE DAY:

“Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism,” published in Christian Reflections on 1/23/67 was later re-titled as “Fern-seed and Elephants.”

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“If nothing is certainly right, then of course it follows that nothing is certainly wrong.”

De Futilitate
(Published in Christian Reflections on 1/23/1967)

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QUIZ OF THE DAY:

What book by Lewis dealing mainly on one topic, but had a fictional element was release on what day (in what year) this month?
(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)