Literature in English, British Isles Commons^™

From Maldon To Mordor: Hobbits And The Lord-Retainer Relationship In The Lord Of The Rings, Samuel A. Masters

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Content warning: this paper discusses suicide and suicidal thoughts.

Tolkien’s interest in Old Germanic heroism had a profound impact upon the hobbits of The Lord of the Rings, and the Christianised form of heroism that they represent. In his essays, ‘Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics (1936) and ‘The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son’ (1953), Tolkien praises the loving, paternalistic relationship between a lord and his retainers in Old English poetry; this aspect of medieval heroism is retained in Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin However, Tolkien also highlights several shortcomings of the Old Germanic ‘Northern Courage’. In …

Tolkien's Joyful Sorrow, The "Gift Of Tears" Of Medieval Mysticism, And John Donne's Sermon "Jesus Wept", Giovanni Carmine Costabile

Journal of Tolkien Research

At the field of Cormallen, the emotion of joy felt by the victorious Hobbits is so great that Sam wonders whether everything sad will come untrue. At the same time, their joy is so great that it is described as "poignant as grief". Dimitra Fimi in 2017 pointed out Tolkien's probable indebtedness to Christian Orthodox tradition of "charmolype", or joyful sorrow. Another relevant parallel of the intermingling of joy and sorrow is the eleventh century Norman monk and abbot John of Fécamp's notion of the "Gift of Tears" (Gratia lacrymarum) from God, which brings true happiness. …

Tolkien's Oriental Sources? Renunciation Of Immortality And Fairy Nature, Giovanni Carmine Costabile

Journal of Tolkien Research

Thompson motif F302.6.2.2. Fairy gives up her fairy nature and becomes mortal to be able to return to her mortal husband and its combination with H310. Suitor tests and H1010. Impossible tasks are Oriental motifs, to be found only in the Tibetan tale of The Boy with the Deformed Head in O'Connor's 1907 collection and in the 9th century CE Japanese Taketori Monogatari. In this light, it appears necessary, assuming that Tolkien had a source for his idea of Lúthien sacrificing her Elven immortality and Elven fate, that his source must be found in the aforesaid narratives, both available …

Miscellaneous, Bruce R. Johnson

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

No abstract provided.

C. S. Lewis And The Myth That Became Fact, Tessa Carman

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

An exhibition review of C. S. Lewis and the Myth That Became Fact, Washington, D.C.: Museum of the Bible, 7 March 2025–14 February 2026.

The Major And The Missionary, G. Connor Salter

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of The Major and the Missionary, based on the book by Diana Pavlac Glyer, The Major and the Missionary: The Letters of Warren Hamilton Lewis and Blanche Biggs, Starring Mark Lewis and Kailey Bell. Produced by The Marion E. Wade Center and Wheaton College Arena Theater. Wheaton, IL: Armerding Center for Music and the Arts, 3 October 2024.

David A. Werther, C. S. Lewis And The Problem Of God, Austin M. Freeman

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of David A. Werther, C. S. Lewis and the Problem of God, Cambridge Elements: The Problems of God (Cambridge University Press, 2024). 67 pages. $22.00. ISBN 9781009283243.

Markus K. Paul, C. S. Lewis On Literature: An Introduction To His Literary Criticism, Literary History, Literary Theory, Christiana Hale

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of Marcus K. Paul, C. S. Lewis on Literature: An Introduction to His Literary Criticism, Literary History, Literary Theory (Hamden, CT: Winged Lion Press, 2024). 204 pages. $20.00. ISBN 9781935688556.

Louis Markos, Passing The Torch: An Apology For Classical Christian Education, Joshua Herring

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of Louis Markos, Passing the Torch: An Apology for Classical Christian Education (Lisle, IL: IVP, 2025). 240 pages. $30.00. ISBN 9781514011300.

Simon Horobin, C. S. Lewis’S Oxford, William Gentrup

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of Simon Horobin, C. S. Lewis’s Oxford (Oxford: Bodleian Library Publishing, 2024). 196 pages. $39.12. ISBN 9781851245642.

John Hendrix, The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship Of C. S. Lewis And J. R. R. Tolkien, John Stanifer

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of John Hendrix, The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien (New York: Abrams Fanfare, 2024). 218 pages, including index. $24.99. ISBN 9781419746345.

Norbert Feinendegen - C. S. Lewis: Űberrascht Von Gott: Wie Der Groβe Christliche Denker Zum Glauben Fand, Monika B. Hilder

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of Norbert Feinendegen, C. S. Lewis: Űberrascht von Gott: Wie der groβe christliche Denker zum Glauben fand (Basel: Fontis-Verlag, 2023). 304 pages. $25.00. ISBN 9783038482567.

Leslie Baynes, Between Interpretation And Imagination: C. S. Lewis And The Bible, Donald T. Williams

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of Leslie Baynes, Between Interpretation and Imagination: C. S. Lewis and the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2025). viii + 343 pages. $38.99. ISBN 9780802874009.

Aaron Bair, A Joyful Outpost: Exploring The Household Economy Of The Beavers From The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, Annie Crawford

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of Aaron Bair, A Joyful Outpost: Exploring the Household Economy of the Beavers from The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe (Independently published, 2023). 125 pages. $12.99. ISBN 9798869938367.

David Baggett, Gary R. Habermas And Jerry L. Walls, Eds., C. S. Lewis As Philosopher: Truth, Goodness And Beauty, 3rd Ed., Norbert Feinendegen

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of David Baggett, Gary R. Habermas and Jerry L. Walls, eds. C. S. Lewis as Philosopher: Truth, Goodness and Beauty, 3rd ed. (Houston, TX: High Bridge Books, 2024). 543 pages. $25.99. ISBN 9781962802116.

As I Was Saying, As I Have Said,, Scott Cairns

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

severest pain will drop you to the floor; and its descent may draw you farther yet, where it reveals a neat, new aperture your pain just now has opened in your head.

Stage Iv Intercession Prayer To Mary, Mother Of God, Elisa A. Garza

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

May your example inspire me as I long for a fearless future.

On The Importance Of Sacred Art, Elisa A. Garza

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

The stately Madonna of Romano’s painting seems out of character for Our Lady but no more unusual than a calm lamb resting under her firm hand, or colonnade that suggests she sits in the Vatican garden.

Beatitudes For This World, Elisa A. Garza

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Blessed are those who unfairly labor; they shall allocate the fruits.

The Corinthian Twins: The Mystery Behind Naming King Lune’S Sons, Jono Darville

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Michael Ward’s landmark discovery, as outlined in Planet Narnia, unlocked the hidden structure of C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. Ward persuasively demonstrated that Lewis used the seven planets of medieval cosmology as an organizing principle for the Narnia series. With his discovery firmly in place, Ward has encouraged others to investigate the Narniad for new planetary connections and influences. To that end, in this article, I argue that C.S. Lewis named Cor and Corin after the books of 1 and 2 Corinthians in The Horse and His Boy, as these names are a perfect fit …

Sin, Grace, And Conversion In C. S. Lewis’S The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, Christopher Varga

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Was C. S. Lewis Pelagian? While his apologetic works make skillful use of the concept of free will, some worry that he takes the emphasis on free will too far, allowing no room for God's gracious intervention in works such as The Great Divorce and The Problem of Pain. This essay seeks to challenge a Pelagian characterization of Lewis. It argues that there is in Lewis’s theology a dialectic in which the burden for damnation rests solely with the sinner’s own free choice, and yet where God is solely to praise for actively rescuing the saved, resembling a single …

What Does Nature Mean In The Abolition Of Man? Or, The Participatory Ontology Behind The Sublime Waterfall, Chris R. Armstrong

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

If Lewis’s Abolition of Man is simply an argument for objective moral value, or what we have called “the natural law,” then why begin with waterfalls that demand of us certain kinds of aesthetic judgment,[1] and end by saying that technocrats who take Nature in their own hands to control others with it have stepped outside of something larger than moral law, viz. the Tao, the Real itself, and thereby lost their very humanity?[2]

What, that is, is Nature in the Abolition? Certainly, it is not nature as construed in philosophical naturalism after Jane Austen, after the advent …

Teaching The Abolition Of Man, Joel Heck, Robert Koons, Josiah Peterson

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

The authors also hope that this article will help readers better understand The Abolition of Man and raise the level of interest in teaching this important book in schools, churches, and in many other venues and that many will find here helpful practical ideas for such teaching.

Discovering C. S. Lewis’S Argument From Awe Against Philosophical Naturalism, Piotr Bylica

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Although Clive Staples Lewis’s (1898–1963) works on the intersection of philosophy and religion were aimed at a broader readership and are indeed well-known among the general public, they are also valued among professional philosophers and theologians alike, especially those focusing on the relations between theism, atheism, and naturalism. His three most popular arguments against naturalism are the Argument from Reason, the Moral Argument, and the Argument from Desire. In that context, the present article aims to show that Lewis actually made use of a fourth type of argument against philosophical naturalism that has so far escaped identification. Since this argument …

C. S. Lewis And The Argument From Reason, Elijah Mcclanahan

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

This essay surveys and demonstrates that the "argument from reason" is a dominant methodological theme in the apologetics of C. S. Lewis.

C. S. Lewis And Artificial Intelligence: An Ai Ethics Problem, Justin E. Edgerly

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

This paper demonstrates that the quest for safe and ethical AI is undermined by much of the philosophy, implicit and explicit, in AI literature and undergirding AI research and development. C. S. Lewis’s writings provide a prescient and penetrating critique of this philosophy and point toward a “regenerate science” that addresses the present need for wisdom in AI development. This paper contributes to the field of AI ethics by presenting several Lewisian concerns about the nature, application, and undergirding philosophy of current and future AI technologies, as well as a Lewisian perspective on the requirements for safe and ethical AI.

Divergent Paths: The Spiritual Friendship Of C. S. Lewis And Dom Bede Griffiths, Martha Abele Mac Iver

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

This essay argues that despite their parallel conversion journeys at Oxford and their lifelong friendship, C. S. Lewis and Dom Bede Griffiths ultimately came to different understandings about the relationship between humans and God and what it means to commune with God in what we commonly call prayer. Despite the frequent mention of prayer in their letters, their views of the way in which God was present within them and what communion with God entailed diverged in significant ways as Griffiths sought to integrate Christian and Hindu conceptions of God. Their own spiritual friendship may have survived this rift, but …

C. S. Lewis’S Lost French Doctorate, Anne-Frédérique Mochel-Caballero

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Before the American Narnia films, C. S. Lewis was virtually unknown in France. Even today, his fame is nowhere near the level it has reached in the English-speaking world, be it in academia, among Christians, or in popular culture. The number of French doctoral theses or books on Lewis is extremely small. As for the French translations of his books, many of them are now out of print. However, this was not always the case. Lewis has never been as well-known in France as in Britain or America, but during his lifetime he achieved a certain fame in secular universities, …

Re-Dating An Inklings Photograph, Harry Lee Poe

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Perhaps the most delightful and helpful introductory biography of C. S. Lewis is Walter Hooper’s Through Joy and Beyond: A Pictorial Biography. Published in 1982, it was the first book I reviewed for an academic journal as a freshly minted PhD graduate. The lavish presence of photographs takes the reader into the world of Lewis from his earliest childhood until his death in 1963. Hooper probably knew more about Lewis and his works than any other person, but even Hooper had to make educated guesses from time to time, which very rarely proved wrong.

Dating The Undated Poems In Don King’S Collected Poems Of C. S. Lewis: A Critical Edition, Charlie W. Starr

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Don W. King made a monumental contribution to Lewis studies when he released his Collected Poems of C. S. Lewis: A Critical Edition. Prior to this volume, Lewis’s poetry was scattered among at least four books and much remained unpublished. King gathered all of Lewis’s poetry, apart from a few poetic fragments, into a single volume. Since the book’s publication in 2015, a handful of additional Lewis poems have been discovered. Nevertheless, the fact that the vast majority of Lewis’s poetry now exists in a single volume remains a huge step forward in Lewis scholarship and our ability to appreciate …