January 9th Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers

On January 9th the C.S. Lewis Society of Harrisonburg will meet to discuss the Dorothy Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey mystery Murder Must Advertise.  Dorothy Sayers is often considered an informal Inkling. She and Jack Lewis became friends during the period when Lewis was broadcasting for the BBC the programs that jointly became Mere Christianity.  Both Lewis and Sayers were influenced by G. K. Chesterton whose The Everlasting Man we will be reading late in the year.  This work is relatively easy to acquire for ebooks, Kindles, Nooks, or in hard copy.  Our discussion leader will be Elizabeth.

The Future Awaits: The C.S. Lewis Society of Harrisonburg's Plan For 2014

'Tis The Season To Be Jolly ... Fal la la la la ...

Another December party for the C.S. Lewis Society of Harrisonburg is concluded.  This time we invaded the home of Iain Maclean and a marvelous adventure it was.  Iain has the special good taste to have books everywhere.  Little did we know how much of a pastry chef Stephen was as he produced pies and quiche to satisfy the most discerning palate.  There were cookies and other treats and fun was had by all.  We scored a true record by getting all the planning for 2014 done early because access to the treats was held hostage to completing the planning. 

So what does 2014 hold?  The theme focused in on Influences On C.S. Lewis and Elizabeth brought along a list of some which I'll just cite.  The Top Ten Books that influenced C.S. Lewis as published by the magazine The Christian Century in 1962 are: 1) Phantastes by George MacDonald; 2) The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton; 3) The Aeneid by Virgil; 4) The Temple by George Herbert; 5) The Prelude by William Wordsworth; 6) The Idea of the Holy by Rudolf Otto; 7) The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius; 8) Life of Samual Johnson by James Boswell; 9) Descent into Hell by Charles Williams; and 10) Theism and Humanism by Arthur James Balfour.  We've previously read Phantastes and Descent into Hell so we though picking a couple of more might be good. 

Lively discussion ensued and we came up with the following schedule based on the theme Influences. 

January 9th Dorothy Sayers Murder Must Advertise a Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery. 
This is available in paperback, Nook, and Kindle formats for nominally six or seven dollars.  Our discussion leader will be Elizabeth.

February 13th Virgil The Aeneid (Books 1 to 6)
This important epic was a significant influence on C.S. Lewis and Lewis himself undertook a translation which while incomplete was recently published (see http://tinyurl.com/mfkcypl ).  Stephen will be our discussion leader and recommended the Fitzgerald translation.  There are many translations out there and often they are available for free from ebooks or Barnes and Noble or Amazon. 

March 13th Virgil The Aeneid (Books 7 to 12)
We conclude with the second half of the Aeneid with Stephen leading our discussion.

April 10th Dante The Inferno
Dante's Divine Comedy was an influence on Lewis's The Screwtape Letters, and The Great Divorce.  Lewis was an admirer of Dante's poetry and a member of a Dante group at Oxford.  Iain will be our discussion leader for this adventure leading to May's rereading of The Screwtape Letters.  If you're getting a copy of The Divine Comedy it would be best perhaps to get the whole work which includes the sections Purgatorio, and Paradiso which have been suggested as a continuation.

May 8th C.S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters
We've read The Screwtape Letters before of course but it never hurts to read a classic again as Jack would advise and as he did advise in On the Reading of Old Books.  No doubt he'd be a bit amused to have his books considered old but in our every changing world yesterday is seen as old.  Jessica will be our discussion leader.

June 12th James Stewart Bell and Anthony P. Dawson From the Library of C.S. Lewis: Selections from Writers Who Influenced His Spiritual Journey
Many writers influenced C.S. Lewis's spiritual journey back to faith.  This book is a compendium of excerpts from these writers.  Each section is short so you might consider reading a few a day as spiritual reflections.  Ray will be our discussion leader.

July 10th J.R.R. Tolkien On Fairy Stories and Leaf by Niggle
Any publication that contains these is fine.  They are both available on-line as pdf files.  The first is 27 pages and the second is eleven pages.  Each is important and reflects Tolkien's deep thoughts about the role of the imagination and the act of creation.  We don't have a discussion leader yet, so here's an opportunity.

August 14th C.S. Lewis  On Stories and Other Essays On Literature
In this collection of essays by C.S. Lewis we'll be focusing on the continuing theme of imaginative literature so that we'll be emphasizing the essays: On Stories; On Three Ways of Writing for Children; Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What's To Be Said; and On Juvenile Tastes.  The essays in this volume are a fun read.  We don't have a discussion leader yet, so here's an opportunity.

September 11th Jane Austen Persuasion
C.S. Lewis was an admirer of Jane Austen seeing her age as a dividing line between an age when people were still mannered and rational and an age that was increasingly irrational.  Those interested in more on that theme should read Lewis's de descriptione temporum which can be found at http://tinyurl.com/lqrzznf   We don't have a discussion leader yet, so here's an opportunity.

October 9th G.K. Chesterton The Everlasting Man
Together with Orthodoxy, The Everlasting Man is Chesterton's masterpiece of faith and apologetics and it led a young Oxford Don back to his faith as described in Surprised by Joy.  Chesterton's book is a romp of good humor and faultless development, a send up of all the canards of the modern age.  Lewis loved it and loved Chesterton.  We don't have a discussion leader yet, so here's an opportunity.

November 13th C.S. Lewis Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold
This is a book that C.S. Lewis considered his best.  It retells the myth of Cupid and Psyche in a way that communicates many deep spiritual messages.  Here's a review http://tinyurl.com/mm4cnan  to whet your appetite.  We don't have a discussion leader yet, so here's an opportunity.

December 11th or some other date TBD We are fortunate indeed to have Stephen Chappell volunteer to host the annual December Christmas party where we do this planning for the year to come.  The date will be further discussed since we want to make sure Stephen and Iain are finished with that grading chore so they can fully enjoy the festivities with us.

Audio From Symposium on Telling the Truth Through Imaginative Fiction

AUDIO LINK

November 22, 1963 C.S. Lewis Died A Week Short Of His 65th Birthday

Visit this LINK to read an account of C.S. Lewis in honor of the 50th anniversary of his death.

November 14th We'll Be Discussing The Literary Impact of the Authorized Version

The reading assignment for November is light, just seventeen pages.  Check it out by clicking the link in the schedule below.  Iain will be our discussion leader and at the October meeting he volunteered to host the annual Christmas party.  We'll discuss some of the details of that at the meeting. 

November 14th The Literary Impact of the Authorized Version an essay by C.S. Lewis (17 pages) led by Iain 
December 12th or thereabouts The Annual C.S. Lewis Society Christmas Party where we bring a snack to share and discuss the plans for the coming year.  

October 10th We Will Be Discussing God in the Dock

Melissa will be Skyping in as our discussion leader for essays from God In The Dock.  The list of essays is given below and you're encouraged to read all the essays in the book but we'll be focusing in on six:

• Religion and Science
• Work and Prayer
• On the Reading of Old Books
• Meditation in a Toolshed
• God in the Dock
• We have No 'Right to Happiness'

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Below is a list of all the essays in the book.  If you are excited about ideas from one or more of the essays, make a few notes and come and share your excitement with the group.

God In The Dock GITD (List of Essays)
Part I
1. Evil and God
2. Miracles
3. Dogma and the Universe
4. Answers to Questions on Christianity
5. Myth Becomes Fact
6. 'Horrid Red Things'
7. Religion and Science
8. The Laws of Nature
9. The Grand Miracle
10. Christian Apologetics
11. Work and Prayer
12. Man or Rabbit?
13. On the Transmission of Christianity
14. 'Miserable Offenders'
15. The Founding of the Oxford Socratic Club
16. Religion without Dogma?
17. Some Thoughts
18. 'The Trouble with "X" ...'
19. What Are We to Make of Jesus Christ?
20. The Pains of Animals
21. Is Theism Important?
22. Rejoinder to Dr. Pittenger
23. Must Our Image of God Go?
Part II
1. Dangers of National Repentance
2. Two Ways with the Self
3. Meditation on the Third Commandment
4. On the Reading of Old Books
5. Two Lectures
6. Meditation in a Toolshed
7. Scraps
8. The Decline of Religion
9. Vivisection
10. Modern Translations of the Bible
11. Priestesses in the Church?
12. God in the Dock
13. Behind the Scenes
14. Revival or Decay?
15. Before We Can Communicate
16. Cross Examination
Part III
1. 'Bulverism'
2. First and Second Things
3. The Sermon and the Lunch
4. The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment
5. Xmas and Christmas
6. What Christmas Means to Me
7. Delinquents in the Snow
8. Is Progress Possible?
9. We have No 'Right to Happiness'
Part IV
Letters

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October 10th Selected Essays from God In The Dock by C.S. Lewis led by Melissa
November 8th The Literary Impact of the Authorized Version an essay by C.S. Lewis (17 pages) led by Iain 
December 12th or thereabouts The Annual C.S. Lewis Society Christmas Party where we bring a snack to share and discuss the plans for the coming year 

Prepping For "The Magician's Twin" Two Videos

"The Magician's Twin" is our book for September and our meeting this Thursday, September 12th at the Harrisonburg Barnes and Noble from 7:30 p.m. to about 9:00 p.m.  If you have not read the book try the videos below for the flavor and some of the content.



If you want to just jump into this 31 minute video it starts with the material in the earlier video.



The book The Abolition of Man which Lewis wrote that focuses on the problem of scientism was originally a series of three lectures delivered at the University of Durham in February 1943.  It is a powerful book that makes the case that we are faced with a phenomenon that will empty our society of moral integrity and replace it with manipulation by people claiming to take a scientific approach to designing society, the tyranny of The Conditioners.

Later the third volume of his Space Trilogy, That Hideous Strength, he gave us a fictionalized view of the same thing.

Here's another video that focuses on C.S. Lewis's view of scientism and a dogmatic view of evolution which is treated often not as a scientific theory but as a dogmatic dictum. C.S. Lewis was fine with the science but not with scientism.



Come join us and discuss this fascinating and prescient idea.

Our Book for September 12th Is The Magician's Twin

The Magician's Twin is a book of fascinating essays edited by John G. West.  The subtitle of the book is C.S. Lewis on Science, Scientism, and Society.  The essays derive their inspiration from Lewis's work, especially The Abolition of Man and the third novel in his space trilogy, That Hideous Strength.  We live in a world which has in large measure accepted the Faustian bargain of power through science and has extended an often uncritical authority to scientists and their testimony.  C.S. Lewis respected science but was a sharp critic of scientism.  Peggy will be our discussion leader and we hope to see many of you as we explore the scientist, the magician's twin.

September 12th The Magician's Twin a group of essays edited by John West and our discussion leader will be Peggy (We'll also agree on the selection of essays to read from God In The Dock)
October 10th Selected Essays from God In The Dock by C.S. Lewis led by Melissa
November 8th The Literary Impact of the Authorized Version an essay by C.S. Lewis (17 pages) led by Iain 
December 12th or thereabouts The Annual C.S. Lewis Society Christmas Party where we bring a snack to share and discuss the plans for the coming year 

August 8th We Will Be Discussing Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility

Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility will be our book for the August 8th meeting and Cristabel will be our discussion leader.  The choice of a work by Jane Austen was doubly motivated by C.S. Lewis's admiration for Austen as an author and by his sense that she and her contemporary Sir Walter Scott stood on one side of what he called The Great Divide and we and our generation stood on the other and were guilty of chronological snobbery.  Reading Austen puts one in touch with a world of manners and high mindedness which we have largely lost.  Come out and discuss this work with us on August 8th at the Harrisonburg Barnes and Noble where we meet from 7:30 p.m. to about 9:00 p.m.

Schedule for the Remainder Of The Year

August 8th Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility led by Cristabel
September 12th The Magician's Twin a group of essays edited by John West and our discussion leader will be Peggy (We'll also agree on the selection of essays to read from God In The Dock)
October 10th Selected Essays from God In The Dock by C.S. Lewis led by Melissa
November 8th The Literary Impact of the Authorized Version an essay by C.S. Lewis (17 pages) led by Iain 
December 12th or thereabouts The Annual C.S. Lewis Society Christmas Party where we bring a snack to share and discuss the plans for the coming year 

Discussion Questions For Our July 11th Meeting

Saving the Appearances: A Study in Idolatry by Owen Barfield

     

Owen Barfield had many influences on his thought. He was a very original thinker.  Indeed, he influenced C.S. Lewis more than Lewis influenced him.  Among the major influences on Barfield were Samuel Coleridge, Rudolf Steiner, and

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  Barfield wrote a book on Coleridge "What Coleridge Thought" and he like Lewis was a poet.  He was influenced by Steiner who was an expert on Goethe and became a lifelong anthroposophist.  Steiner adopted a view pioneered by Goethe that thinking was a process like seeing or hearing only the object was ideas.  Barfield's own thought was original and extended the views of Goethe and Steiner.  He was born the same year as C.S. Lewis (1898) and only died in 1997.  Barfield's reputation has only increased since his death.  While not as prolific as Lewis his books, like Lewis's are still in print.

1. According to Barfield, Idolatry is the valuing of images or representation in the wrong way and for the wrong reason.  An idol is an image so valued. (p.110). Does current science indeed fall into this category? Why do you think it does or does not?
2. I have personally read articles and letters to the editor in science magazines where science writers reflect anger and frustration and accuse people of deteriorating into superstition when people question if science has the full answer. I  have read articles that mock and ridicule those use a concept of a First Mover, Higher Power or something like that,  as having a hand in the universe.  Would Barfield consider this a natural result when the role/value of science is distorted?
3. Are materialism and science two sides of the same coin?
4. Barfield refers to the animism (natural physical entities have a spiritual essence) of very early man.  This animism is reflected in in such things as the Australian aborigines Dream Time and the emphasis of the power of words as magic.  Many fantasy writings (The Earth Sea Trilogy and The Belgariad, for example) incorporate these concepts as a basic part of the story.  Is this a return to Original Participation or another evolutionary step to “Final Participation”?  Or is it a reaction to the emptiness of the scientific idol?  Or is it the expression of that “something” deep within ourselves?
5. Can you find any of Barfield’s thought in Lewis’ writing?
6. In chapter 8 (p 53) Barfield invites us to “Consider the relation of scientific knowledge and truth”.  Further on (p 56)  he mentions Bacon and his view of scientific knowledge as “that which enables nature to do our bidding”.   What are the fruits of this kind of attitude?  Is this approach the one that has lead to science as politics and the great increase of scientific fraud?
7. How would you say the medieval environment was different from ours?  How are the fruits of that environment and ours different?
8. On Page 111 “Idolatry is the valuing of images or representations in the wrong way or for the wrong reason…transmuting the admired image into a desired object.” If you did a street-corner survey, what do you think would be the average definition of the word “idol” or “false idol”? Do people believe there is such a thing anymore?
9.Does anyone  in the group speak Hebrew or know anything about the language and can give us insight/enlightenment on Barfields’ comments on the form of the language itself?
10. Thinking about his chapter on the origin of language, do you see any relationship between the abundance of slang, empty words, filler words etc and all the movies etc, that are remakes of older movies.
11. Did you find the last two chapters surprising? If you read just the first few chapters, would you have expected the book to end as it did? Did it work?
12. I valued this book because though I know I need to read it a dozen more times to feel that I really understand it, I also know that it has changed the way I look at the world.  Has this book influenced you at all?
13. You know how children always like to have the same stories retold and it has to be done in the same way?  Is this an element of Original Participation?  The connectedness to the stories?  Just as human development in the womb calls forth a connection to biological development, do the stages of growing up (awareness of self then others)connect to the evolution of consciousness?

"Saving The Appearances" by Owen Barfield Is Our Book For July

Owen Barfield was C.S. Lewis's friend of the second kind.  He was also C.S. Lewis's soliciter and handled his financial affairs.  Lewis describes a friend of the second kind in his autobiography, "Surprised by Joy" as:

"... the Second Friend is the man who disagrees with you about everything.  He is not so much the alter ego as the antiself.  Of course he shares your interests; otherwise he would not become your friend at all.  But he has approached them all at a different angle.  He has read all the right books but has got the wrong thing out of every one.  It is as if he spoke your language but mispronounced it.  How can he be so nearly right and yet, invariably, just not right? ..."

That was the relationship that Jack Lewis had with Owen Barfield.  They went at each other hammer and tongs in what Lewis, at least, characterized as The Great War.  Lewis came out of it cleansed of his chronological snobbery while Barfield emerged largely unscathed.  We'll be exploring Barfield this month and on July 11th Elizabeth will be our discussion leader on Barfield's Saving the Appearances.

July 11th Owen Barfield's Saving the Appearances led by Elizabeth
August 8th Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility led by Cristabel
September 12th The Magician's Twin a group of essays edited by John West and our discussion leader will be Peggy (We'll also agree on the selection of essays to read from God In The Dock)
October 10th Selected Essays from God In The Dock by C.S. Lewis led by Melissa
November 8th The Literary Impact of the Authorized Version an essay by C.S. Lewis (17 pages) led by Iain 
December 12th or thereabouts The Annual C.S. Lewis Society Christmas Party where we bring a snack to share and discuss the plans for the coming year 

Discussion Questions For Our June 13th Meeting

The Inklings  
       C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, And Their Friends by Humphrey Carpenter

Discussion Questions: (June 13th meeting Ray as discussion leader)

1) What is this all about anyway?  How would you summarize what Carpenter is trying to accomplish with the book?  Do you think he succeeded?  Why? or Why Not?
2) What is it like ... comparables? How does this book compare with other biographical books about C.S. Lewis and his friends that you may be familiar with.
3) What are the fundamental common threads that joined the company, the Inklings, and how did they change over time?  What were the factors that drew them together and what were the factors that tended to drive them apart?
4) Share something you strongly agree with or strongly disagree with that is in the book.
5) Lewis and Tolkien shared a common sense of myth that was not widely shared outside their group.  What is your view of myth and Mythopoeia?
6) Carpenter goes looking for a 'A fox that isn't there' is Part Three (153).  What did you think of his search?  Do you agree or disagree?
7) Carpenter seems to be very critical of Lewis, especially towards the end of the book.  Comment on your perceptions of his criticisms.
8) What did you make of the treatment of Charles Williams in the book?  Was Williams an attractive or unattractive individual based on your perspective?
9) Is the treatment of the Inklings as an instance of an Inner Ring fair or unfair to the Inklings?
10) What do you carry away after reading it?

Schedule:

July 11th Owen Barfield's Saving the Appearances led by Elizabeth
August 8th Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility led by Cristabel
September 12th The Magician's Twin a group of essays edited by John West and our discussion leader will be Peggy (We'll also agree on the selection of essays to read from God In The Dock)
October 10th Selected Essays from God In The Dock by C.S. Lewis led by Melissa
November 8th The Literary Impact of the Authorized Version an essay by C.S. Lewis (17 pages) led by Iain (http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/kjv_lewis.pdf )
December 12th or thereabouts The Annual C.S. Lewis Society Christmas Party where we bring a snack to share and discuss the plans for the coming year

The website for the C.S. Lewis Society of Harrisonburg can be found at:

http://cslewissocietyhburg.blogspot.com/