Women of the West: True Femininity in C. S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength
Perhaps one of the most striking things about That Hideous Strength in comparison with the other two books of C. S. Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy is the large number of female characters. There are none in the first book (excepting poor Harry’s mother) and only the Green Lady in the second. But we have a long list of female characters who appear in the final installment. Jane Studdock, Mrs. Dimble, Camilla Denniston, Ivy Maggs, Grace Ironwood, Fairy Hardcastle-this list is just a few of the more prominent female characters we encounter. Why is this? Is there any significance to the sudden … Continue Reading “Women of the West: True Femininity in C. S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength”
DESTROYING the TEMPLE: C.S. Lewis on Distorted Love
But love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion. It is a state not of the emotions but of the will; that state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people. – C.S. Lewis [1] [dropcap]I[/dropcap]n just two short sentences, C.S. Lewis strikes a hard blow against the understanding of love that runs wild in our current popular culture. Words like “will” and “learn” are words that rarely, if ever, crop up in any discussions about love. They sound so contrary to the spontaneous eruption of emotion and infatuation that … Continue Reading “DESTROYING the TEMPLE: C.S. Lewis on Distorted Love”
“My Wife is the Most Beautiful Woman in the World”
A Series Exploring C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves In this second installment on The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis, David Foucachon explores how Lewis’s commentary on Eros can help us understand the objective nature of beauty. I am a Christian platonist. But neither Plato, nor the Neoplatonists, nor even St. Augustine convinced me of platonism. No, it was my wife’s beauty that made me a platonist. More specifically, the task of reconciling subjective aesthetic experiences with a worldview that affirms the objective nature of beauty. If we affirm that beauty is objective (and we should), then how can two men each … Continue Reading ““My Wife is the Most Beautiful Woman in the World””
Candor: What Jane and Lizzy Bennet Can Teach Us about Charity
The Four Loves | A Series Exploring C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves One of Lewis’ great accomplishments in The Four Loves was his ability to push back against both the errors of his ancestors, and the errors of his own time. Like Augustine, Lewis understands that “our hearts are restless until they come to rest in Thee” as he writes about the different loves, from the familiar warmth of Affection, to the powerful bond of like-minded Friendship, to the intoxicating passion of Eros, to the grace-filled love of Charity. In this first installment, Leta Sundet explores “candor” as Jane Austen uses it. This idea of candor … Continue Reading “Candor: What Jane and Lizzy Bennet Can Teach Us about Charity”
Interview with Andrew Pudewa on Classical Education
Daniel Foucachon interviews Andrew Pudewa from IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing) at the CiRCE Institute summer conference in 2015 on the subject of Classical Education. Subjects covered: What are some of the greatest “Great Books”? How do we deal with feeling inadequate to give a classical education to our children? What are some good books to get started with a classical education? If you could dine with any three educators, who would they be? What advice (and resources) do you have for writers? Poetry, learning styles, memory, history of education in America, and more! YouTube version HERE. Bibliography Books … Continue Reading “Interview with Andrew Pudewa on Classical Education”
3 Ways Dante Influenced C.S. Lewis | Part I
C.S. Lewis’s love for Dante Alighieri and The Divine Comedy was no great secret. Lewis first read Dante’s Inferno in the original Italian when he was in his teens and later read Purgatorio while he was in the hospital recovering from wounds received in World War I. He finally read Paradiso for the first time in 1930, before he became a Christian, but after he had reluctantly decided that there was a God. At this point, he was still very much conflicted as to the nature of God and whether or not there was an afterlife. After finishing Paradiso, he told … Continue Reading “3 Ways Dante Influenced C.S. Lewis | Part I”