Philosophy Commons^™

Maleeldil And Mutual Society: A Modern Woman's Defense Of Jane Studdock, Crystal Hurd

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

Over the past few decades, many scholars and casual readers have derided C.S. Lewis as a misogynist for the "expulsion" of Susan from Aslan's Country. However, closer examinations of Lewis's underlying philosophy and previous experiences with women lend us exceptional insight into his changing perspective as well as his portrayal of feminine characters. Written before his wildly popular The Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis's science fiction or Ransom trilogy provides a glimpse into his developing talents as a fiction writer but also provides crucial commentary on the gender issues plaguing the twentieth century. This paper will investigate, through his correspondence, …

George Macdonald And J.R.R. Tolkien On Faerie And Fairy Stories, Paul E. Michelson

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

The paper discusses the ideas of George MacDonald and J.R.R. Tolkien on Faërie and Fairy Stories, based on an analysis of MacDonald's essay "The Fantastic Imagination," Tolkien's "On Fairy-Stories," Tolkien's correspondence, and Tolkien's unpublished introduction to MacDonald's The Golden Key.

What Lewis Never Wrote: Quotes Misattributed To The Oxford Professor Don, William O'Flaherty

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

Most people today rely on the Internet for quotations and their sources. While C.S. Lewis is frequently very quotable, there are many quotes attributed to him that he never wrote. This talk will present those quotes frequently falsely attributed to Lewis, provide proof that he never said them, and (where possible) show who wrote them. Examples are: "You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body," and "You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream." Additionally the talk will explore what these non-Lewis quotes say about a culture looking for …

Lewis In The Dock (Part 2): A Brief Review Of The Secular Media's Coverage Of The 50th Anniversary Of C.S. Lewis's Death, Richard James

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

In 1999, I presented a paper here at this colloquium on the secular print media's response to the 1998 C.S. Lewis Centenary Celebration. In 2014, it seems only natural to do a similar paper on the secular media's coverage of the 50th anniversary of Lewis's death which also included the dedication in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey of a memorial stone in his honor. The number of articles again abound, even more than in 1998. This second paper will consider articles by syndicated literary, news and religious columnists from secular newspapers and periodicals; internet postings by public TV and secular …

Through The Lens Of The Four Loves: The Idea Of Love In The Screwtape Letters, 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 desctibes so well in The Four Loves. He does this in his fiction through his various characters and their actions.

In Out of the Silent Planet …

Lisa Tetzner's Translation Of C.S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, Betsy Susan Morgan

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

According to UNESCO's website, Index Translationum, C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has been translated 127 times. The first person to translate the novel was Lisa Tetzner and it is this translation, which has run through the most editions. This paper proposes to look at that translation in terms of accuracy and to examine the changes that were made in terms of purpose. Were they caused by differences between the languages or were they motivated by other concerns? This paper will be an abridgment of a master's thesis written for the Children's Literature program at Hollins University.

C.S. Lewis' Warnings On Education, Zachary A. Rhone

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

The Lewis connoisseur is likely to recall his opinions on education, expressed in Surprised by Joy, "My First School," "Democratic Education," and, especially, "Screwtape Proposes a Toast." The surprise, however, is exactly how prophetic Jack was in his examination of education, its direction, and the reasons for its direction. My presentation will examine Lewis' view of education in lieu of the cultural shifts of the mid-to-late-twentieth century. Proposals to revise the British and American educational systems such as the Norwood Report of 1943, the Newsom Report in 1963, the Robbins Report of 1963, and even the No Child Left Behind …

The Good Catastrophe: Tolkien On The Consolation Of The Happy Ending, John Stanifer

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

When describing the nature of fairy-stories, Tolkien famously coined the term "eucatastrophe" ("eu meaning "good") to express the effect of the "sudden joyous turn" that leads to the story's happy ending regardless of the dark events preceding it. Tolkien applies that word specifically to fairy-stories, but I would like to explore its meaning in relation to other genres and mediums that Tolkien was either unable or unwilling to consider. Classic literature and modern popular culture alike are ripe with the use of the "good" catastrophe, and this device is well-known by cultures from all parts of the globe. If it …

A Brief History Of The New York C.S. Lewis Society, Robert Trexler

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

The proposed presentation would describe the origins and development of the first C.S. Lewis Society, formed in New York City in 1969. Along with detailing the society's growth over a period of 45 years, the talk will recount highlights from many "Lewis Weekends" held beginning in 1977, and the prominent speakers we have been honored to invite, including Own Barfield, Walter Hooper, Christopher Derrick, Cardinal Avery Dulles, Paul Holmer, Peter Kreeft, William Griffin, Christopher Mitchell, Louis Markos, Michael Ward, Charlie Star, and Will Vaus (among others!). The talk will also mention changes in the Society's publication, The Bulletin of the …

A Look At The Lewis Trilemma, Mark Taylor

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

No abstract provided.

"The Fairy Way Of Writing": Spenser's The Faerie Queene And C.S. Lewis's "Habit Of Mind", Susan Wendling

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

While readers of C.S. Lewis have commonly noted his early love for myths, fairy tales and epic poetry, the fullest impact of Edmund Spenser's 1590 classic The Faerie Queene on Lewis's "habit of mind," and his own writing has yet to be explored. Following the lead of Doris Myers, that "learning about Spenser leads us into Lewis's inner life," the essay first briefly reviews some of Lewis's responses. With his lifelong love of Spenser established, the essay then discusses two aspects of embodied in The Faerie Queene itself: 1) it's ancient neoplatonic worldview with its fusion of classical images of …

Full Issue 2014 (Volume Ix)

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

No abstract provided.

Cartographer Of The Divine: C.S. Lewis As Doctor Ecclesiae, Donald T. Williams

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

No abstract provided.

C.S. Lewis's Lost Arthurian Poem: A Conjectural Essay, Joe R. Christopher

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

C.S. Lewis aficionados know his unfinished "Launcelot," collected in Narrative Poems; but fewer know that he wrote an Arthurian poem intended for his first book, Spirits in Bondage, which was rejected by his publisher. The manuscript has since been lost, but a few things can be known or reasonably conjectured about the poem. This paper will cover the following topics:

(1) Lewis's mention of the poem in his correspondence with Arthur Greeves,

(2) its title,

(3) its date of composition,

(4) its source (quoted),

(5) its probably application for Spirits in Bondage, and

(6) the loss of …

Ethics And Afterlife: The Moral Instruction Of Thomas Aquinas And C.S. Lewis, H. Dennis Fisher

Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997-2016

C.S. Lewis's view of moral values and life after death flowed from both Scripture and his medieval sensibilities. This paper will compare and contrast medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas' views of ethics and the afterlife with those of C.S. Lewis. Special attention will be given to the controversial doctrine of purgatory. In today's postmodern world, ethical teaching is often relative and subjective. This paper will seek to find commonalities between Aquinas and Lewis to provide a viable basis for moral decision making in the 21st century.

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.

"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 …