English Language and Literature Commons^™

Review Of C. S. Lewis’S Mere Christianity: A Biography, Bruce R. Johnson

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of George M. Marsden, C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity: A Biography, Lives of Great Religious Books Series (Princeton, 2016). 262 pages. $24.95. ISBN: 9780691153735.

Review Of The Pilgrim’S Regress, Wade Annotated Edition, Arend Smilde

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Review of C. S. Lewis, The Pilgrim’s Regress, Wade Annotated Edition, ed. and introduced by David C. Downing; illustrated by Michael Hague (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2014). xxiv + 239 pages. $25.00. ISBN 9780802872081.

The Continuing (Ir) Relevance Of C.S. Lewis, Robert Macswain

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

found myself profoundly frustrated with the polarization that became evident between Lewis’ friends and foes, devotees and detractors. At the extremes of this debate were those who apparently regarded Lewis’ work as, for all intents and purposes, Holy Writ; at the other end of it were those who, for whatever reason, regarded Lewis with disdain and contempt. Sane, balanced, objective, sympathetically-critical and critically-sympathetic assessments seemed so rare as to be almost non-existent. The devotional attitude was largely characteristic of the United States, where I had grown up; and the disdain and contempt seemed especially prevalent in England, where I was …

In Memory: Walter Hooper (1931-2020), Steven A. Beebe

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

No abstract provided.

"There Is No Emperor": Merlin And The Ideal State In That Hideous Strength, L. S.B. Maccoull

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

C. S. Lewis’ Merlin has been brought forward from the sixth century. In the world he knew, though there was no longer a Roman Emperor in the West, there certainly was an Emperor reigning in Constantinople who could be called upon for aid. A closer look at Lewis’ depiction of Byzantium reveals what role the positive qualities he attributed to the city played in the development of his own views regarding the nature of the realm (or world) we should strive to realize here on earth.

"A Dreadful Thing": C.S. Lewis And The Experinces Of War, Timothy J. Demy

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

From a Christian perspective, war entails the death and killing of people who are all created in the image of God and therefore have inherent dignity and incalculable worth. And yet, even after experiencing war at firsthand, C. S. Lewis believed that war is sometimes justifiable and necessary.

Like others of his generation, Lewis was deeply affected by the experience of war. He lived through the First and Second World Wars, serving as an officer on the Western Front between November 1917 and April 1918. His brother Warren (“Warnie”) was a career officer serving in the British army in both …

A Friend's Death: C.S. Lewis' Disagreement With St. Augustine, Jason Lepojärvi

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Lewis did nothing to conceal his admiration of—and theological pedigree to—Augustine: as he wrote, Augustine “is a great saint and a great thinker to whom my old glad debts are incalculable.”3 This is why the only time he explicitly disagrees with Augustine on an important point concerning love, he does so “with trembling.”4 Lewis’ sentiments in having to disagree with Augustine may be comparable to Stanley Hauerwas disagreeing with Lewis. It is difficult, Hauerwas wrote, “to criticize a writer who has done so much good as C. S. Lewis.”5 The purpose of the present article is to evaluate the gentlemanly …

Jack Lewis And His American Cousin, Nat Hawthorne: A Study Of Instructive Affinities, D. G. Kehl

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

When he was a student at Oxford University, C. S. Lewis wrote to a friend expressing his great admiration of and enthusiasm for the novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne, particularly The House of the Seven Gables and Transformation (British title of The Marble Faun). This study examines the parallels between these two kindred spirits and their works, focusing on their similar worldviews, their personal backgrounds and lifestyles, and the "Ultimates" they both pondered. It discusses common themes in their works, such as myth, scientism, and "the great power of blackness." Their respective attitudes toward these issues and others, such as faith, …

Back Matter (Volume 2, Issue 1), Grayson Carter

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

No abstract provided.

Front Matter (Volume 2, Issue 1), Grayson Carter

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

No abstract provided.

Backmatter (Volume 1, Issue 1), Grayson Carter

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

No abstract provided.

Review Essay: Lewis Agonistes: How C. S. Lewis Can Train Us To Wrestle With The Modern And Postmodern World, William Gentrup

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A lengthy review of Lewis Agonistes: How C. S. Lewis Can Train Us to Wrestle with the Modern and Postmodern World. By Louis Markos. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003.

ISBN 0-8054-2778-3. Pp. xv + 174. $19.99 [paper].

A Time For Joy: The Ancestry And Apologetic Force Of C.S. Lewis' Sehnsucht, James P. Helfers

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Excerpt: "In sum, it is clear that Lewis owes a great debt to Wordsworth’s idea of Joy, a debt he acknowledges explicitly through the title of his autobiography. Their views of the experience have much in common: for both it is an intense long- ing, for both it undergirds their sense of the reality of an eternal realm, as well as guiding them toward either virtue (in Wordsworth’s case) or a contemplation of and belief in the eternal (in Lewis’ case). Both of their experiences connect, ei- ther explicitly or implicitly, with the philosophical notion of the sublime. There are …