Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Matthew Dickerson, Aslan’S Breath: Seeing The Holy Spirit In Narnia, Crystal Kirgiss

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of Matthew Dickerson, Aslan’s Breath: Seeing the Holy Spirit in Narnia (Baltimore: Square Halo Books, 2024). 144 pages. $19.99. ISBN 9781941106334.

Paths In The Snow: A Literary Journey Through The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, Sarah R. A. Waters

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of Jem Bloomfield, Paths in the Snow: A Literary Journey Through The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 2023), 288 pages. £16.99. ISBN: 9781915412300.

The Last Romantic: C. S. Lewis, English Literature, And Modern Theology, Louis Markos

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of Jeffrey W. Barbeau, The Last Romantic: C. S. Lewis, English Literature, and Modern Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2025). 176 pages. $22.00. ISBN 9781514010518.

The Great Regress, Samuel Schirra

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

No abstract provided.

What The Birds Had To Say About It, Charlie W. Starr

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

No abstract provided.

Cat’S Death, David Isaacs

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

No abstract provided.

Anxiety/Mud, Anna A. Friedrich

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

No abstract provided.

Birch Bark Poem, Tyler Rogness

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

No abstract provided.

Tryst, Tyler Rogness

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

No abstract provided.

Playing Adam, Tyler Rogness

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

He cuts and cultivates his world, a two-foot hoe and matching rake his words to body forth his love.

Deeper Magic: Theology Of The Body In C. S. Lewis And John Paul Ii, George French

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

C. S. Lewis tells us that science and magic are “twins.” “They were born,” he says “of the same impulse”3 of man to master the natural world. We think of them very differently because science has succeeded where magic has failed, but that should not make us blind to their “strong family likeness.”4 Science and magic are intertwined for much of their history, and it is in the Enlightenment that the two begin to separate. While magic died and science survived, Lewis thinks that modern applied science still retains much of the “family likeness.” Unfortunately, not all of the family …

N.I.C.E. Alchemy: The Quest For Immortality In That Hideous Strength, Joseph Weigel

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

In the third and final chapter of The Abolition of Man, C. S. Lewis makes what may be one of the most provocative statements in his entire corpus of writings: “The serious magical endeavour and the serious scientific endeavor are twins. . . . They were born of the same impulse.”1 This claim is jarring because science and magic are thought of as opposites. One seeks knowledge through observation, the other deals in spells, rites, and incantations. However, Lewis recognized something deeper that united the two disciplines. The impulse for “magic and applied science alike,” he continued in Abolition, “is …

One Dominant Age: The Technological Singularity In The Abolition Of Man, Christopher Tissell

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

I doubt whether we are sufficiently attentive to the importance of the third part of C. S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man. Much ink has been spilled analyzing Lewis’s thoughts on the dangers of subjectivism as outlined in the first two parts of the book, but less so on the endpoint to which Lewis thinks subjectivism leads when whole societies succumb to it. Yet Lewis himself, or at least his editor, thought the final part important enough to name the lecture series after it, and dramatize it in a novel afterward. If Lewis saw the train leaving the station over …

The Abolition Of Man, Eighty Years Later: An Engineer’S Perspective, Paul G. Lorenzini

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

I n 2021 Michael Ward published After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man. His purpose was to call attention to the continuing relevance and significance of Lewis’s book, originally published in 1943, now almost a century old. Among his many works, it is one of the least known, yet it was perhaps Lewis’s most highly acclaimed book among secular critics. Ranked seventh by the National Review in its list of 100 best non-fiction books in the 20th century, it is second on a similar list by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.1 While Abolition can be a difficult …

C. S. Lewis’S Most Important Message: The Abolition Of Man As Lewis’S Self-Conscious Struggle For The Value Of Human Persons, Dwain Tissell

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Over the roughly sixty years since C. S. Lewis’s death, many have asked, what was the message he most wanted to convey? A decade before Lewis’s passing, Dr. James Houston asked him that very question. Lewis answered that he was fighting “reductionism.” More specifically, Houston heard C. S. Lewis to be most concerned about reduction of the value of the human person. At the time of this writing, Houston is 101 years of age, and he has kept a low profile all these years about his relationship with C. S. Lewis. From 1947 until 1954, he and Lewis were more …

The Importance Of Recognizing Truth, Goodness, And Beauty: C. S. Lewis’S Antidote To The Poison Of Subjectivism, David H. Mcilroy

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

T aken in isolation, The Abolition of Man is different from most of C. S. Lewis’s other works. It is not a work of fiction or a work of expressly Christian apologetics. It is, however, rightly recognized by Dyer and Watson as “the lynchpin for understanding of all of [Lewis’s] work.”1 The thesis set out in The Abolition of Man is foundational to C. S. Lewis’s worldview. Lewis explored its implications in the third novel in his scientific trilogy, That Hideous Strength, which Lewis expressly described as a story whose moral was “the serious “point” which I have tried to …

Gender And The Abolition Of Man: The Masculine And The Feminine In Lewis’S Natural Law Thought, Joshua P. Herring

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

C. S. Lewis wrote extensively about gender in both nonfiction and fiction works. In nonfiction, he lays out a specific understanding of gender with logical clarity; in fiction, Lewis develops a series of poetic images magnifying the depth of meaning found in being masculine and feminine. In both forms of writing, Lewis celebrates the goodness of God’s gift of gender, and summons his readers to receive the gift with gratitude. Reading Lewis’s works on gender functions as an antidote to gender ideology. Rather than a severing of felt experience and bodily reality, Lewis calls his readers to see the ideas …

The Positive Educational Program Of The Abolition Of Man, Jon Fennell

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Readers of The Abolition of Man, certainly those who have engaged it repeatedly and have thought deeply about what it says, recognize that the book is fundamentally a commentary on the reality—and predictable consequences—of the miseducation of the young. Much has been written on this topic. Not so commonly recognized, nor as frequently understood, is the positive educational program that arises out of Lewis’s largely critical “reflections on education.”2 The Abolition of Man, like its fictional counterpart, That Hideous Strength, elaborates a nightmare scenario. That scenario is the product of what, logically, is a reduction and absurdum. The details of …

The Eschatological Vision Of The Abolition Of Man, Joshua J. Paladino

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

C. S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man is ultimately an eschatological work, a vision of the end of history, a warning about the fully conditioned society, an insight into the nature of the universal and homogeneous state, and even a prophecy of Hell on Earth. The end-times significance of the Abolition is perhaps overlooked because it lacks an apocalyptic framing. Lewis presented, rather, a “snug” eschatology.1 There is none of the apocalyptic drama that Lewis crafted in The Last Battle. We do not hear the Lion roar, “Now it is time,” before watching Father Time squeeze the sun in his …

The Riddle Of The Sphinx, Owen Barfield, Rory O'Connor

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Owen Barfield, whom C. S. Lewis described archetypally as his “Second Friend” —“the man who disagrees with you about everything . . . not so much the alter ego as the antiself ”1 —expressed his agreement with the argument of The Abolition of Man and his admiration of the book on a number of occasions. For example, describing various means by which one can become aware of the presuppositions of one’s thoughts, Barfield once wrote: One, of which the best example I know is C. S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man, is to take some typical utterance by a contemporary …

In Memoriam: J. Stanley Mattson (1937–2024), Gayne J. Anacker

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

John Stanley (Stan) Mattson will be best remembered for what he accomplished as the Founder and President of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. Those who knew him best would add that what he accomplished flowed from who he was as a person and as a child of God.

Frontmatter (Volume 18 Issue 1), Bruce R Johnson

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

General Editor’s Note:

C. S. Lewis delivered a series of lectures in February 1943 for the University of Durham, published the month prior as The Abolition of Man. It remains a robust defense of moral law and objective values against the onslaught of what Lewis soon labeled “The Poison of Subjectivism.” He argued that children who are not schooled in ancient wisdom regarding mercy, justice, beneficence, and duty become not simply self-centered adults but easily manipulated people. A society bent on pursuing such a path becomes a society in peril.

Last year’s issue of Sehnsucht included a call for papers …

Mr. Dan Mosley

African American Funeral Programs

Handwritten Obituary for Mr. Dan Mosley

Mr. David Mckinley Munlin

African American Funeral Programs

Death Notice for Mr. David McKinley Munlin

Relative Chronology Of The Proto-Historic Remains At Naḥal Saflul 71 In The Gal‘Ed Hills (Hebrew, Pp. 1*–20*; English Summary, Pp. 221–223), Nimrod Getzov

'Atiqot

Two areas were excavated (A, B) at the site, and a report on Meir’s Excavation C (1976–1982) is included as well. Six round, rock-hewn pits were exposed in Area A, all of which probably belong to one system. In Area B, three natural steps were found on bedrock, as well as part of a pressing installation(?) for wine or oil production. Areas A and B were covered with gray soil that contained stones, potsherds, flint items and animal bones. The site also yielded limestone and basalt vessels, pottery spindle weights, bone points and archaeozoological remains. The pottery at the site …

A Burial Cave Of The Late Chalcolithic And Early Bronze Age I At Midrakh ‘Oz, Western Jezreel Valley (Hebrew, Pp. 21*–46*, English Summary, Pp. 224–225), Nimrod Getzov, Yossi Nagar Israel Antiquities Authority, Anat Cohen-Weinberger

'Atiqot

Remains of a natural cave that was used for burial were exposed north of Moshav Midrakh ‘Oz. Four strata were identified: Strata IV and II contained finds from the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze I periods respectively; Strata I and III were sterile. The majority of the finds comprise pottery vessels from both occupation periods, as well as skeletal remains of approximately 50 individuals. Stratum IV contained ossuary fragments, V-shaped bowls, a flint blade and beads. The finds in Stratum II included pottery vessels, a clay disk, beads, sickle blades, a dagger and human bones. This is the first Chalcolithic …

Excavations At Tel Lod: Remains From The Pottery Neolithic A, Chalcolithic, Early Bronze Age I, Middle Bronze Age I And Byzantine Periods (Pp. 141–218), Edwin C.M. Van Den Brink, Liora Kolska Horwitz, Robert Kool, Nili Liphschitz, Henk K. Mienis, Vladimir Zbenovich

'Atiqot

The salvage excavations at the ancient tell of Lod revealed six strata (I–VI). Stratum I consisted of much-disturbed topsoil. The partial remains of three buildings were uncovered in Stratum II, dated to the Byzantine period. Stratum III consisted of sand deposits with a high concentration of MB I potsherds. Stratum IV represented the main phase of human occupation at the site, containing the remains of two superimposed settlements (Strata IVa, IVb), dating from the later phases of EB I. Stratum IVa revealed segments of three sundried mud-brick walls, lacking stone foundations; a large storage jar was found sunk into a …

Tell Qasile (North): Remains Of A Pre-Ghassulian Structure On Fichmann Street, Tel Aviv (Pp. 131–139), Ronit Lupu, Ayelet Dayan Israel Antiquities Authority

'Atiqot

The excavation revealed remains of walls, living surfaces, pottery sherds, flint artifacts, stone vessels and animal bones that can be attributed mainly to Pre-Ghassulian entities dating within the first half of the fifth millennium BCE. The small assemblage of finds from the site suggests a chrono-cultural attribution within the transitional period between the late Wadi Rabah and the beginning of the Ghassulian Chalcolithic cultures. The faunal assemblage comprises mainly sheep/goat remains, as well as a single hippopotamus(?) bone. The site represents an important milestone in the research of late prehistory in the Tel Aviv area, attesting to the presence of …

Abu Ghosh, Jasmine Street: A Pre-Ghassulian Site In The Judean Hills (Pp. 85–130), Ianir Milevski, Ofer Marder, Henk K. Mienis, Liora Kolska Horwitz

'Atiqot

The excavations at Abu Ghosh revealed two phases dated to the Pre-Ghassulian period, between the end of the sixth millennium and the mid-fifth millenium BCE. Three archaeological-sedimentary layers were identified at the site: Layer I—topsoil, Layer II—possibly EB I, and Layer III—Pre-Ghassulian. The architecture of Layer III consisted of rectilinear units, with apparent passages and entrances between them, whose walls were built on stone foundations. Most of the pottery shows affinities with the Qatifian-Besorian horizons typical of southern sites. The lithic assemblages are characterized by sickle blades, bifacials and perforators. The groundstone tools and stone bowls are characteristic of repertories …

Beisamun: An Early Pottery Neolithic Site In The Hula Basin (Pp. 1–61), Hamoudi Khalaily, Tali Kuperman, Nimrod Marom, Ianir Milevski, Dmitry Yegorov

'Atiqot

The excavation was conducted along the western fringes of the site of Beisamun. Three areas were opened (Areas A–C), revealing four layers. Layer I, the upper layer, is a dark brown clayey soil, which contained few archaeological finds. Layer II is a gray-brown clayey soil, rich in organic material and ash—most of the artifacts and architectural remains, dating to the Pottery Neolithic, were found in this layer. Layer III (in Area C) was rich in architectural remains dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. The lowest layer (Layer III in Areas A and B; Layer IV in Area C) is of …