English Language and Literature Commons^™

C.S. Lewis As Transformational Leader, Crystal Hurd

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

The term "leadership" usually evokes images of great warriors, politicians, or social figures that saturate the pages of a history textbook. However, these are pre-conceived notions of the term. Leaders are those who exercise influence, be they soldiers, politicians, or even artists such as writers and musicians. One such leader is author and apologist C.S. Lewis. Lewis spoke to his generation (and many subsequent ones) in his texts. Through Lewis, many have achieved a greater understanding of literature, spirituality, and human nature. His words have, in essence, transformed the minds of readers.

Transformational leadership is desired because it performs what …

"A Wild Hope": Resurrection Bodies And Lewis's The Last Battle, Michael P. Muth

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

In the last chapters of The Last Battle, Lewis gives his readers a vision of the heavenly Narnia, or really of ever more real Narnias embedded within one another, people by the characters that readers have come to know through all seven books of the Chronicles, described as existing in physical bodies, though possessing abilities beyond those known in the Narnia outside the stable door (or even our own world). In this paper I will explore Lewis' representation of these "resurrection bodies" and what his representation of them means for his views on the body and the integrity …

The Development Of J.R.R. Tolkien's Ideas On Fairy-Stories, Paul E. Michelson

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

The paper is an analysis of how Tolkien's thought on "fairy-stories" evolved between his 1939 St. Andrews Andrew Lang Lecture "Fairy Stories," through his contribution "On Fairy-Stories" to the 1947 Essays Presented to Charles Williams, and concluding with his 1967 essay on the nature of "Faërie." Time permitting, the paper will also include a discussion on how Tolkien's "Smith of Wooton Major" illustrates his concepts.

The Wise Woman As An Agent Of Identity In George Macdonald's Story The Wise Woman, Rachel Johnson

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

In this paper I investigate the Wise Woman as an agent of identity in terms of Aristotelian and modern philosophies of identity primarily drawing upon the work of Alistair McIntyre. I address the question 'how much choice does Rosamond have in the transformation process' and examine the part played by increasing self-knoweldge and personal will, given the strength of influence employed by the Wise Woman in shaping Rosamond's perception of herself.

The parallel journey of Agnes, a shepherd's daughter, is briefly mapped against Rosamond's progress in order to demonstrate choice. I conclude that Rosamond's choice is made within chosen limitations.

The Logic Of Purgatory In C.S. Lewis: Why Spiritual Formation Makes Less Sense Without It, Robert Moore-Jumonville

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

Purgatory figures significantly as a theme in the writing of C.S. Lewis. The Great Divorce represents the major fictional piece treating the subject, but theological allusions and references surface in Till We Have Faces, Narnia, and other fictional works, as well as in many of the essays.

This paper presents two main points: first, Lewis's logic of purgatory. Such an argument, though not stated explicitly anywhere by Lewis, might run like this: God is holy and human beings cannot remain in God's presence (comfortably or for long) without becoming holy themselves. Lewis consistently maintained a robust theology of sanctification. Next, …

Father Knows Best: The Narrator's Oral Performance As Paternal Protector In The Hobbit, Anderson Rearick Iii

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

In Tolkien lore, the narrator of The Hobbit is the only human connection to the world of Middle Earth. He is not, as some have suggested, a hobbit himself. In spite of his humanness, however, he apparently has a great amount of information about the time in the world "when there was less noise and more green." He is also a narrator with opinions. In fact it is clear that for the narrator the whole telling of The Hobbit is a teaching tool; however much adults may enjoy Bilbo's adventure, the teller is talking to children. Being a creation of …

Through The Lens Of The Four Loves: The Idea Of Love In Till We Have Faces, Paulette Sauders

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

It is my contention that when C.S. Lewis wrote his non-fiction book The Four Loves and published it in 1960, he had not been thinking about love in all of its manifestations for just a short time before it was written. All of the fictional works he wrote over the years, beginning in at least 1938, reflect his definitions and descriptions of the various kinds of love and their perversions that he systematically describes so well in The Four Loves. He does this in his fiction through his various characters and their actions.

Specifically, in Out of the Silent …

Chaplain Stella Aldwinckle: A Biographical Sketch Of The Spiritual Foundation Of The Oxford University Socratic Club, Jim Stockton

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

Although the Oxford University Socratic Club is most often identified with its first faculty advisor and president, C.S. Lewis, the club's inception began when several young women of Somerville College asked their newly arrived chaplain, Stella Aldwinckle, to assist them in establishing a speaker's club that would extend an open invitation to all parties who were "interested in a philosophical approach to religion . . ." The Socratic Club was an instantaneous and long-lived success, and would not have been possible without Chaplain Aldwinckle's passion, dedication, and evangelical conviction.

A Tryst With The Transcendentals: C.S. Lewis On Beauty, Truth, And Goodness Part Ii: Truth, Donald T. Williams

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

In an age of Post-Modernism and Post-Foundationalism, the very concept of truth finds itself subject to deconstruction. C.S. Lewis held to the old "correspondence theory" of truth, but did so in a way that withstands contemporary assaults better than many traditional formulations because he sought to integrate Reason and Imagination in ways not typical of earlier philosophy. Essays like "Bluspels and Flalansferes" provide a framework for understanding Lewis's statements on the nature of truth. They make possible a view of truth that is neither relativist nor reductive, but rather profoundly humane.

A Prisoner's Duty: The Sacred Role Of Reading In The Christian Life, John Stanifer

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

Just how important is reading to the Christian life? Most of us are willing to assert that the Scriptures are an important part of our reading diet, but what about classic literature or popular fiction? Reading anything and everything we can get our hands on is not so far from the formula followed by some of the most influential figures in Judeo-Christian history, from C.S> Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien to Daniel and Paul the Apostle. By the end of this presentation, our goal will be to gain a closer understanding of the sacred role of all reading in the Christian …

A Speculative Meditation On Tolkien's Sources For The Character Gollum, Susan Wendling, Woody Wendling

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

In speaking of his sources for ents, Tolkien said they "are composed of philology, literature, and life." Was Gollum composed in the same way? Gollum got his start in Tolkien's writings as a creature in his poem "Glip." Gollum got his name from his "gurgling sound," the "horrible swallowing noise in his throat." From which literary sources did Tolkien arrive at the name Gollum? From the Old Norse word for gold, gollum? From the Jewish Golem (Psalm 139:16)? From the giant Goliath in the Old Testament? From Gorbo or Golithos, two characters in E.A. Wyke-Smith's book, "The Marvellous Land of …

'Few Return To The Sunlit Lands': Lewis's Classical Underworld In The Silver Chair, Benita Huffman Muth

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

As his early interest in Greek mythology and his Aeneid translation testify, classical motifs resonated with Lewis. In The Silver Chair, his characters, like Orpheus and Herakles, travel to a Greco-Roman inspired Underworld on a mission to retrieve an inhabitant. Besides lending mythic dimension to the journey, these classical echoes and Lewis' original additions create an Underworld markedly different from a popular idea of Hell. Through doing so, he underscores that this fictional place, though frightening and dangerous, is not Hell and therefore makes a theological point about the fallen condition.

By emphasizing classical references and reforming Miltonic ones (fiery …

Full Issue 2012 (Volume Viii)

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

No abstract provided.

2012 Printed Program, Taylor University

Colloquium Schedules

No abstract provided.

"Between Two Strange Hearts": Spiritual Desolation In The Later Poetry Of Gerard Manley Hopkins & Charles Williams, Sørina Higgins, Rebecca Tirrell Talbot

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

Spiritual desolation, while a perennial human experience, is expressed in historically-determined diction. Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) and Charles Williams (1886-1945) are an interesting case study, especially as Hopkins shaped Williams' later prosody. "My Own Heart" (Hopkins) shares desolation with Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises, and reading "My Own Heart" through Williams theory of spiritual "schism" as literary analysis reveals a cleft self similar to the split kingdom in "Prayers of the Pope" (Williams). Neither writer excludes hope: Hopkins' Ignatian language frames "My Own Heart" as a hopeful surrender, while Williams offers hope via occult vocabulary.

A Meaningful Hierarchy: How C.S. Lewis Perceives Humanity's Significance, Zachary A. Rhone

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

"Humans are amphibians -- half spirit and half animal," writes Screwtape. In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis would clarify these halves as the Bios and the Zoe -- the biological and the spiritual, respectively. Humans are, as Dr. Ransom admits in That Hideous Strength, "More. But not less" than animals, yet humanity's Fall resulted from "the idea that they could 'be like gods' -- could set up on their own as if they had created themselves -- be their own masters -- invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God" (MC). Humans are …

C.S. Lewis: An Overlooked 1963 Monograph By Roger Lancelyn Green, William O'Flaherty

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

The first full-length (and authorized) biography of Lewis was published in 1974. One of its authors was Roger Lancelyn Green. Few are aware of (or have even seen) a monograph he wrote before Lewis's death about Jack's life and writings. While Jack saw and approved of the manuscript in 1960 it wasn't released until the same year he died. The purpose of this talk is to reveal what information and insights this trusted friend presented in this rare monograph about Jack at the end of his career.

Whimsy And Wisdom: Fairyland As A Window To Reality In The Fiction Of Chesterton And Macdonald, Jessica D. Dooley

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

A comparison of how fairyland is employed in the fiction of G.K. Chesterton and George MacDonald, and the role fairyland plays in the personal development of their fictional characters, reveals parallels and important divergences between the two writers' philosophies. Their treatments of fairyland share the context of fixed moral standards that are clearly understood by fairyland's habitants and visitors, but disclose the authors' differing definitions of the relationship between personal responsibility and consequences. Fairyland, with its mysterious, imperative rules, and glorious generosity of rewards, provides a framework for explicating with startling clarity the dangerous immediacy of the consequences of moral …

The Pedagogical Value Of The Screwtape Letters For A New Generation, Brenton Dickieson

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters launched a genre of demonic epistolary fiction. Intriguingly, we have seen Screwtape-style letters about psychotherapy, (anti-) creativity, pedagogy, and scientific research. Evidently, Screwtape continues to be relevant among contemporary writers, but is it relevant to students? From the results of a spiritual perspective survey and various teaching methods in a secular undergraduate class, and including the analysis of ninety-five student-created Screwtape letters of cultural critique, we see that the genre of demonic epistolary fiction gives space for creative cultural critique and the contentprovides inspiration for that critique -- even for generically spiritual, nonreligious, or …

Hidden Heroes In Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings, Jan Prewitt

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

Joseph Campbell in his seminal book The Hero with a Thousand Faces says in the final chapter, "The Hero Today," that unlike the classical hero, the modern hero faces a world that does not embrace a single mythology. "Then all meaning was in the group, in the great anonymous forms, none in the self-expressive individual; today no meaning is in the group -- none in the world: all is in the individual" (334). That does not mean, however, that there are no heroes in the modern world or that the modern world requires no heroic figure -- quite the contrary. …