Tolkien’s Faith: A Spiritual Biography by Holly Ordway takes a deep dive in how Tolkien’s Catholic faith was a central part of his life. In this second of a two-part interview, Holly tells William O’Flaherty more about the forty year span BEFORE The Lord of the Rings was published, details the extras material in the book (including …
Read the full post →“(PODCAST) Tolkien’s Faith: A Spiritual Biography, pt. 2 (Holly Ordway)”
Dr. Sarah Waters spoke on “Sacrifice in The Lord of the Rings” at the Inklings Weekend in Montreat on April 2, 2023. The theme of the weekend was “The Legacy of J.R.R. Tolkien Fifty Years After His Death.” Inkling Weekend in Montreat is an annual event in Montreat, NC at Montreat College hosted by Drs. …
Read the full post →“VIDEO of Sacrifice in The Lord of the Rings (Dr. Sarah Waters)”
The first season of The Rings of Power recently began. The following is a conversation with Dr. Sørina Higgins about her initial reactions to the first two episodes. William O’Flaherty recorded this with her the day before she was giving a talk about the Holy Grail. Sørina actually attended one of the premiers of The Rings …
Read the full post →“(PODCAST) Initial Reactions to The Rings of Power (Sørina Higgins)”
Here’s the sixth regular episode of my 90 second YouTube show. The focus is on the fact that Lewis read Tolkien’s The Hobbit years before it was published. – – – Mentioned in this episode: Join the 90 Seconds to Knowing C.S. Lewis FB group The Hobbit The Lord of the Rings (one-volume edition) The Letters of …
Read the full post →“90 Sec #6 – Tolkien’s The Hobbit Read by C.S. Lewis Before Published (YouTube)”
Here’s something new I’m doing…a 90 second YouTube “show” to help people briefly learn about significant events in the life of C.S. Lewis. I plan to release something new each week. Hopefully, it will eventually be a book with 365 entries. Note the text version of the show is below, WITH footnotes! Met J. R. …
Read the full post →“90 Seconds #1 – Met J. R. R. Tolkien (YouTube Show)”
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
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.
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.
This Inklings member had a very profound impact on C.S. Lewis, even though he died less than ten years after they became friends.
As noted in a previous post Lewis often met with a group of friends where they frequently discussed their writings. After reading Charles Williams’ The Place of the Lion Lewis developed a friendship with him. Williams was working at the Oxford University Press at the time.
Highlights for the period of July 22-31 include: 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
