Tag: God in the Dock

RETROSPECT: June 22nd – 30th

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

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 22th – 31st

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

Highlights for the final third of May (22nd – 31st) include: A prize-winning essay, his first Christian book that was his only true allegory and a Pentecost sermon.

Lewis’s first book after becoming a Christian was very different in several ways than his two previous works. Those initial titles were poetry, while The Pilgrim’s Regress: An Allegorical Apology for Christianity, Reason and Romanticism, publishedon the 25th in 1933 was his debut prose effort. Additionally, the story was pure allegory. Interestingly, it was such a difficult read that Lewis himself even admitted it and ten years after its release he wrote a preface to explain his approach to the story.

Daily Lewis – Fact / Quote / Quiz: May 20th

William OFlaherty Daily Lewis

FACT OF THE DAY:

Lewis spoke on “Religion without Dogma?” today (5/20) in 1946 before the Oxford Socratic Club. An updated version is in God in the Dock.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“[The] scientific method merely shows…that if miracles did occur, science, as science, could not prove, or disprove, their occurrence.”

Religion without Dogma?
(Talk given on 5/20/1946)

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QUIZ OF THE DAY:

What sermon did Lewis preach sometime this month?
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(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)

C.S. Lewis Said What? YES, He Really Did!

William OFlaherty Special Feature

I’ve been working on a short talk for the 2014 Taylor Colloquium (9th Frances White Ewbank Colloquium on C.S. Lewis & Friends) about quotes falsely attributed to Lewis. Along the way I’ve come across some lesser known quotations that some might have a difficult time believing he DID say. While a collection of quotes of this nature could contain a variety of categories, I’ve chosen to share sayings that are generally humorous (however, some may be more ironic, than funny).

“A good toe-nail is not an unsuccessful attempt at a brain: and if it were conscious it wd. delight in being simply a good toe-nail.”

(Letter to Hugh Kilmer from April 5, 1961 in The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3)

“If you think you are a poached egg, when you are looking for a piece of toast to suit you, you may be sane, but if you think you are God, there is no chance for you.”

(Essay – What Are We to Make of Jesus Christ? in God in the Dock)

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.

Daily Lewis – Fact / Quote / Quiz: May 8th

William OFlaherty Daily Lewis

FACT OF THE DAY:

Lewis was interviewed in May 1963 by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Published later that year and it is in God in the Dock.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“The process of living seems to consist in coming to realise truths so ancient and simple that, if stated, they sound like barren platitudes. They cannot sound otherwise to those who have not had the relevant experience.”

Letter to Dom Bede Griffiths OSB on 5/8/1939
(Published in The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume II)

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QUIZ OF THE DAY:

What Narnia book was published this month in what year?
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(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)

Daily Lewis – Fact / Quote / Quiz: May 3rd

William OFlaherty Daily Lewis

FACT OF THE DAY:

Lewis’s article “Two Ways with the Self” was published on this date (5/3) in 1940 in The Guardian. It’s available in God in the Dock.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“There are two kinds of self-hatred which look rather alike in their earlier stages, but of which one is wrong from the beginning and the other right to the end.”

Two Ways with the Self
(Published on 5/3/1940 in The Guardian)

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QUIZ OF THE DAY:

What non-fiction, professional title was published this month (but after Lewis’s death)?
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(Click “Read More” to SEE Answer)

RETROSPECT: May 1st – 10th

William OFlaherty Jack in Retrospect, Special Feature

Highlights for the first third of May (1st – 10th) include: Publication of a book about how Narnia started, the debut of Wormwood’s uncle and the release of a revised Miracles.

Over a decade apart on the exact same day two major events occurred in Lewis’s life during the first third of May. The origins of Narnia finally became known and the first of thirty-one soon to be famous letters were released. If you are even vaguely familiar with Lewis, then you are aware that I’m speaking of The Magician’s Nephew and the start of The Screwtape Letters.
The Magician’s Nephew came out on the 2nd in 1955, just eight months after the previous Narnia story (The Horse and His Boy). This was the shortest

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.