Thursday, February 6, 2014
Starting again?
I've just been thinking of trying to start reading and blogging again on a regular basis. Just seems like nothing in my life is "regular" at this point.
But I'm going to try to set up another reading list for the rest of this year.
I'm teaching British Novel and Advanced Composition. So I already have quite a bit of reading to do. But I need to pick up the Inklings again.
So I'll be back in a couple of days with a list--and a plan. This is actually a good thing because I've been looking for something to write about so I can write along with my AC students. We've read Thoreau's "Walking" and are now reading Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.
I'll be teaching Inklings again in the Fall--so now's a good time to begin refreshing my memory and reading some new things.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
back again . . .
Well, as many of you know, life is entirely unpredictable! Since I last posted, two quite unexpected things have happened.
1) I moved house. Which is really a good thing, but I hadn't anticipated moving this summer. I've actually moved back to a place I lived before--into a lovely (read "rustic") log cabin just a mile or so from my college. I'm happy to have moved, but of course it was a HUGE deal! I'm still unpacking boxes and trying to figure out how to fit all my stuff into a much smaller home. Even this has been good as I've had to weed out my things to decide what I really need or love enough to keep. So--while stressful--the move is a true blessing.
2) My nephew, Ian, who is in the Army, was very seriously injured in an IED explosion in Iraq on Memorial Day weekend. He was sent to Germany and then on to Walter Reed Hospital in DC. He's paralyzed from the 3rd vertebra down. Of course this has been unsettling and stressful for my family. But at the same time we have seen God's hand in the situation every day in many different ways. One, perhaps odd, result has been increased Joy and Peace, especially for my brother and sister-in-law, as we must rely on God's Mercy, the healing power of Christ, and the indwelling power of the Spirit. Ian will be moving to a VA rehab facility in the next few days; he's making progress: his mind hasn't been affected, he can speak though he still uses the ventilator, he has "inexplicably" experienced sensation and some movement in his shoulders. He's learning to breath on his own. So much to be thankful for.
So--what with these and other things--I haven't been blogging. Haven't even really been reading. I just unpacked The Narnian a couple days ago--have no idea how it got into the box it was in!
Things are calming down a bit, and I'm really looking forward to getting back on a schedule of reading and blogging.
So. I apologize to anyone who has visited in the last few months and seen no progress. Lord willing, I'll be back on schedule before the end of the month!
1) I moved house. Which is really a good thing, but I hadn't anticipated moving this summer. I've actually moved back to a place I lived before--into a lovely (read "rustic") log cabin just a mile or so from my college. I'm happy to have moved, but of course it was a HUGE deal! I'm still unpacking boxes and trying to figure out how to fit all my stuff into a much smaller home. Even this has been good as I've had to weed out my things to decide what I really need or love enough to keep. So--while stressful--the move is a true blessing.
2) My nephew, Ian, who is in the Army, was very seriously injured in an IED explosion in Iraq on Memorial Day weekend. He was sent to Germany and then on to Walter Reed Hospital in DC. He's paralyzed from the 3rd vertebra down. Of course this has been unsettling and stressful for my family. But at the same time we have seen God's hand in the situation every day in many different ways. One, perhaps odd, result has been increased Joy and Peace, especially for my brother and sister-in-law, as we must rely on God's Mercy, the healing power of Christ, and the indwelling power of the Spirit. Ian will be moving to a VA rehab facility in the next few days; he's making progress: his mind hasn't been affected, he can speak though he still uses the ventilator, he has "inexplicably" experienced sensation and some movement in his shoulders. He's learning to breath on his own. So much to be thankful for.
So--what with these and other things--I haven't been blogging. Haven't even really been reading. I just unpacked The Narnian a couple days ago--have no idea how it got into the box it was in!
Things are calming down a bit, and I'm really looking forward to getting back on a schedule of reading and blogging.
So. I apologize to anyone who has visited in the last few months and seen no progress. Lord willing, I'll be back on schedule before the end of the month!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Back soon . . .
Well, here we are and another month has gone by without blogging. I was sick with some flu the last two weeks of the semester and then another week. Now I'm better, but I'm in the middle of packing to move next week. The only thing I've had energy to read is Dickens--a chapter or so at night. I'd love to think that next week I'll be able to start on Inklings again, but that may be a bit optimistic. The movers come on Friday so I have to have everything packed by then. I've done quite a bit--but still a lot more to do.
Once I get moved, though, I should be able to get back on a regular schedule. I really want to get quite a bit of reading done over the summer for the project I'm working on. And I have to build a website for a class I'm teaching in the fall (Writing in Hypertext); I may decide to create an Inklings site, which could be helpful for my course, The Inklings, which I'm also teaching in the fall. So maybe two birds with one stone--and lots of Inklings reading!
Well. Check back soon. I WILL be blogging again!
Once I get moved, though, I should be able to get back on a regular schedule. I really want to get quite a bit of reading done over the summer for the project I'm working on. And I have to build a website for a class I'm teaching in the fall (Writing in Hypertext); I may decide to create an Inklings site, which could be helpful for my course, The Inklings, which I'm also teaching in the fall. So maybe two birds with one stone--and lots of Inklings reading!
Well. Check back soon. I WILL be blogging again!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Yikes!
Well, I want to apologize for not getting posts up. It has turned out to be a pretty busy semester--which isn't really surprising--but I've had so much reading and prep on top of grading that I'm really not finding time to read for myself. And one of my colleagues has just had a baby, so I'm taking a few of her classes. And I've had to do extra reading for an Independent Study I'm directing. Anyway. It's turned out to be harder than I imagined to keep the blog going.
I hope in the next week to read the papers produced by my special topics students--and share some of their ideas here. They read CSL's cosmic trilogy and other related Inklings books, and I WILL get back to the Narnian! Only 2 more weeks of classes and then finals! I see a light shining on Inklings books at the end of the tunnel!
I hope in the next week to read the papers produced by my special topics students--and share some of their ideas here. They read CSL's cosmic trilogy and other related Inklings books, and I WILL get back to the Narnian! Only 2 more weeks of classes and then finals! I see a light shining on Inklings books at the end of the tunnel!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Fern-seed and Elephants . . . cont.
I can't believe it's been a month since my last entry! But now I'm back and hope to be more faithful; I'm pretty much caught up with grading, so I should be OK until I get my next set of exams!
I finished reading Fern-seed and will just comment on it briefly; I promised a student I'd give it to her this evening.
The book contains these lectures/papers:
1. Membership
2. Learning in War-time
3. On Forgiveness
4. Historicism
5. The World's Last Night
6. Religion and Rocketry
7. The Efficacy of Prayer
8. Fern-seed and Elephants
For our class, which read CSL's cosmic trilogy, I thought "Membership" and "Religion and Rocketry" would perhaps be most helpful. In "R&R" I found two things interesting. First, we get a glimpse of Lewis's imagination and his delight in thinking about faith in light of fantasy. He speculates that since the Incarnation took place on Earth, "It may be that Redemption, starting with us, is to work from us and through us" (91). This idea had been developed and articulated more fully in Perelandra. Having talked a bit about contact between humans and unknown races on other worlds, he says, "It sets one dreaming--to interchange thoughts with beings whose thinking had an organic background wholly different from ours, . . . to be unenviously humbled by intellects possibly superior to our own . . . , to descend lovingly ourselves if we met innocent and childlike creatures . . . , to exchange with the inhabitants of other worlds that especially keen and rich affection which exists between unlikes; it is a glorious dream. But," he says, "make no mistake. It is a dream. We are fallen" (91). This paper was published in 1958, about 15 years after the publication of That Hideous Strength; it seems Lewis' interest and delight in imaginary worlds and creatures had not abated.
Two other chapters I found especially interesting: "On Forgiveness" and "The Efficacy of Prayer." "On Forgiveness" was written in 1947; its main focus is in line with Charles Williams' The Forgiveness of Sins, which was published in 1942. It seems highly likely that the two friends, and perhaps others of the Inklings, had spent some time discussing the topic. Both reference the Lord's Prayer and conclude that if we don't forgive others, God will not forgive us. Lewis points out the difference between confessing our sins--to God and to others--and excusing our (or others) sins. "Real forgiveness," he says, "means looking steadily at the sin, the sin that is left over without any excuse, after all allowances have been made, and seeing it in all its horror, dirt, meanness and malice, and nevertheless being wholly reconciled to the man who has done it" (42). Both Lewis and Williams are very practical in their approach; Lewis admits that forgiving others, especially "to keep on forgiving," is very hard. He says the only way to accomplish this is "by remembering where we stand, by meaning our words when we say in our prayers each night 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us.'"(43).
This is the kind of meaty advice that I so much appreciate from these authors. This is something I have to work at; it's been especially convicting reading these works during Lent--along with all the Lenten readings on Reconciliation. "The Efficacy of Prayer" has also been encouraging (?) during Lent. I'll give you a couple longish quotes--and not say much about it:
"Prayer is either a sheer illusion or a personal contact between embryonic, incomplete persons (ourselves) and the utterly concrete Person. Prayer in the sense of petition, asking for things, is a small part of it; confession and penitence are its threshold, adoration its sanctuary, the presence and vision and enjoyment of God its bread and wine. In it God shows himself to us." (101)
Prayer is, for Lewis, God's allowing us to participate in His work:
"It seems to involve at every moment almost a sort of divine abdication. We are not mere recipients or spectators. We are either privileged to share in the game or compelled to collaborate in the work, 'to wield our little tridents'. Is this amazing process simply Creation going on before our eyes? This is how (no light matter) God makes something--indeed, makes gods--out of nothing." (102)
Lastly Lewis encourages us against the frustrations of seemingly unanswered prayers.
This little essay has been a real encouragement for me to continue in prayer and to pray very deliberately; yet I find it a bit discouraging to realize how little strength I have to persevere in real prayer. Still God is Good and Merciful, and, as Lewis notes, He knows our frailty.
I finished reading Fern-seed and will just comment on it briefly; I promised a student I'd give it to her this evening.
The book contains these lectures/papers:
1. Membership
2. Learning in War-time
3. On Forgiveness
4. Historicism
5. The World's Last Night
6. Religion and Rocketry
7. The Efficacy of Prayer
8. Fern-seed and Elephants
For our class, which read CSL's cosmic trilogy, I thought "Membership" and "Religion and Rocketry" would perhaps be most helpful. In "R&R" I found two things interesting. First, we get a glimpse of Lewis's imagination and his delight in thinking about faith in light of fantasy. He speculates that since the Incarnation took place on Earth, "It may be that Redemption, starting with us, is to work from us and through us" (91). This idea had been developed and articulated more fully in Perelandra. Having talked a bit about contact between humans and unknown races on other worlds, he says, "It sets one dreaming--to interchange thoughts with beings whose thinking had an organic background wholly different from ours, . . . to be unenviously humbled by intellects possibly superior to our own . . . , to descend lovingly ourselves if we met innocent and childlike creatures . . . , to exchange with the inhabitants of other worlds that especially keen and rich affection which exists between unlikes; it is a glorious dream. But," he says, "make no mistake. It is a dream. We are fallen" (91). This paper was published in 1958, about 15 years after the publication of That Hideous Strength; it seems Lewis' interest and delight in imaginary worlds and creatures had not abated.
Two other chapters I found especially interesting: "On Forgiveness" and "The Efficacy of Prayer." "On Forgiveness" was written in 1947; its main focus is in line with Charles Williams' The Forgiveness of Sins, which was published in 1942. It seems highly likely that the two friends, and perhaps others of the Inklings, had spent some time discussing the topic. Both reference the Lord's Prayer and conclude that if we don't forgive others, God will not forgive us. Lewis points out the difference between confessing our sins--to God and to others--and excusing our (or others) sins. "Real forgiveness," he says, "means looking steadily at the sin, the sin that is left over without any excuse, after all allowances have been made, and seeing it in all its horror, dirt, meanness and malice, and nevertheless being wholly reconciled to the man who has done it" (42). Both Lewis and Williams are very practical in their approach; Lewis admits that forgiving others, especially "to keep on forgiving," is very hard. He says the only way to accomplish this is "by remembering where we stand, by meaning our words when we say in our prayers each night 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us.'"(43).
This is the kind of meaty advice that I so much appreciate from these authors. This is something I have to work at; it's been especially convicting reading these works during Lent--along with all the Lenten readings on Reconciliation. "The Efficacy of Prayer" has also been encouraging (?) during Lent. I'll give you a couple longish quotes--and not say much about it:
"Prayer is either a sheer illusion or a personal contact between embryonic, incomplete persons (ourselves) and the utterly concrete Person. Prayer in the sense of petition, asking for things, is a small part of it; confession and penitence are its threshold, adoration its sanctuary, the presence and vision and enjoyment of God its bread and wine. In it God shows himself to us." (101)
Prayer is, for Lewis, God's allowing us to participate in His work:
"It seems to involve at every moment almost a sort of divine abdication. We are not mere recipients or spectators. We are either privileged to share in the game or compelled to collaborate in the work, 'to wield our little tridents'. Is this amazing process simply Creation going on before our eyes? This is how (no light matter) God makes something--indeed, makes gods--out of nothing." (102)
Lastly Lewis encourages us against the frustrations of seemingly unanswered prayers.
This little essay has been a real encouragement for me to continue in prayer and to pray very deliberately; yet I find it a bit discouraging to realize how little strength I have to persevere in real prayer. Still God is Good and Merciful, and, as Lewis notes, He knows our frailty.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Fern-seed and Elephants . . .
I'm taking a brief break from The Narnian and reading CSL's Fern-seed and Elephants, and other essays on Christianity (ed. Walter Hooper). My students are looking for non-fiction to read after reading the trilogy; one has already started The Narnian, and I thought I'd look through a few other things to see if I can suggest something for them.
The first essay in this collection (which was published posthumously) is "Membership"; I thought maybe it would shed some light on Mark in THS, which I think it may. It's an interesting discussion, first read as a lecture in 1945. Its focus is the contrast between membership in the "collective" and "participation in the Body of Christ" (13). Lewis sets up a hierarchy: Body of Christ, "personal and private life," and "collective life" (13).
He references literature to provide examples; he mentions Charlotte Yonge, who has been on my list of authors I want to read -- maybe after I work my way through Dickens. He sees Rat, Mole, and Badger (in The Wind in the Willows) as symbolizing "the extreme differentiation of persons in harmonious union which we know intuitively to be our true refuge both from solitude and from the collective" (16). This is the function of the "mystical body" of Christ, the Church (15).
One sentence did remind me of themes in the trilogy, perhaps especially in THS: "Obedience is the road to freedom, humility the road to pleasure, unity the road to personality" (18). This seems to sum up the paths both Jane and Mark had to follow too find peace and fulfillment.
Lewis's medievalism and Platonism show up here in a privileging of hierarchy over equality, though he recognizes that "artificial equality is necessary in the life of the State"; he says, "in the church we strip off this disguise, we recover our real inequalities, and are thereby refreshed and quickened" (18). He seems in this essay to value humans only partially correctly; he says, "the value of the individual does not lie in him. He is capable of receiving value. He receives it by union with Christ" (24). I think later in his career he recognizes the intrinsic value of the individual as Imago Dei; still the value is not because of anything the person does but is due to what we are as creatures. He does counter the Platonic influence with a clear statement that our eternal existence will be corporeal, which I think Christians sometimes need to be reminded of.
Then he says, " . . . as organs in the Body of Christ, as stones and pillars in the temple, we are assured of our eternal self-identity and shall live to remember the galaxies as an old tale" (23).
I've said before that Charles Williams' Arthurian poems make me feel like I'm levitating . . . Lewis's prose can sometimes have the same effect. What an amazing description of eternity--outliving the galaxies! While the "collective . . . is mortal," the individual and the Body "live forever" (22).
The first essay in this collection (which was published posthumously) is "Membership"; I thought maybe it would shed some light on Mark in THS, which I think it may. It's an interesting discussion, first read as a lecture in 1945. Its focus is the contrast between membership in the "collective" and "participation in the Body of Christ" (13). Lewis sets up a hierarchy: Body of Christ, "personal and private life," and "collective life" (13).
He references literature to provide examples; he mentions Charlotte Yonge, who has been on my list of authors I want to read -- maybe after I work my way through Dickens. He sees Rat, Mole, and Badger (in The Wind in the Willows) as symbolizing "the extreme differentiation of persons in harmonious union which we know intuitively to be our true refuge both from solitude and from the collective" (16). This is the function of the "mystical body" of Christ, the Church (15).
One sentence did remind me of themes in the trilogy, perhaps especially in THS: "Obedience is the road to freedom, humility the road to pleasure, unity the road to personality" (18). This seems to sum up the paths both Jane and Mark had to follow too find peace and fulfillment.
Lewis's medievalism and Platonism show up here in a privileging of hierarchy over equality, though he recognizes that "artificial equality is necessary in the life of the State"; he says, "in the church we strip off this disguise, we recover our real inequalities, and are thereby refreshed and quickened" (18). He seems in this essay to value humans only partially correctly; he says, "the value of the individual does not lie in him. He is capable of receiving value. He receives it by union with Christ" (24). I think later in his career he recognizes the intrinsic value of the individual as Imago Dei; still the value is not because of anything the person does but is due to what we are as creatures. He does counter the Platonic influence with a clear statement that our eternal existence will be corporeal, which I think Christians sometimes need to be reminded of.
Then he says, " . . . as organs in the Body of Christ, as stones and pillars in the temple, we are assured of our eternal self-identity and shall live to remember the galaxies as an old tale" (23).
I've said before that Charles Williams' Arthurian poems make me feel like I'm levitating . . . Lewis's prose can sometimes have the same effect. What an amazing description of eternity--outliving the galaxies! While the "collective . . . is mortal," the individual and the Body "live forever" (22).
Sunday, February 14, 2010
The Narnian, ch 5 . . .
Just the highlights tonight; between my injured hand and the Olympics I'm not sure whether I'll get the blogging done regularly for the next couple of weeks. But I'll give it a shot.
In this chapter Jacobs covers Lewis's early years at Oxford until his first (temporary) appointment which began his career as a don. The focus is on Lewis's relationship with Mrs. Moore and the friendships established during this time.
While Lewis had (and was required to have) rooms in college, he set up house with Mrs. Moore and apparently spent nearly every spare moment there, going in to college for lectures, to meet with his tutors, and to spend the night in his rooms--he had to be in by curfew! We learn that he could work in the midst of chaos and interruptions and be productive in such circumstances, which, according to Warnie and others, were constant in the household. It seems clear that Lewis's "affair," at least at this time, was an intimate relationship; he saw this as his family--at a time when his relationship with his father was quite strained. He maintained a relationship with Mrs. Moore for 30 years, caring for her as she became ill and even more eccentric than she was at this time. She is described here as "unintellectual" and "anti-Christian" (94, 95). No one seemed to understand their relationship either then or now; Jacobs says, "Indeed, this is the great mystery of C. S. Lewis's life" (93).
During these years, but being careful to keep the "home" and academic sides of his life separate, he developed several friendships which would be influential for years. Foremost of these new friends was Owen Barfield; Lewis wrote of him, "he is not so much the alter ego as the antiself" (91). They were worthy sparing partners for each other but also so fond of one another that their friendship grew through, in spite of, because of their very different ideas on many topics. [To learn more about what they called the "Great War," you might look at C. S. Lewis' "Great War" with Owen Barfield (1978), by Lionel Adey.] I love this relationship--and many of the friendships among the Inklings--because it allows for so much freedom and difference; too often, I think, we (only) see friendships between people who "have things in common." Lewis's friendships seem to have really stretched him, causing him to develop his ideas and his ability to articulate them.
Jacobs comments that Lewis joined a literary group, the Martlets, and read to them a paper on William Morris (100). I'd love to know if this paper exists and where. This brings me to the one complaint I have so far of Jacobs' book; there's obviously a lot of scholarly research here, but the "notes" appear in truncated, sometimes unclear, format at the back of the book, and there's no indication in the text itself when there may be a note available. I suppose when writing for a popular audience it's difficult to strike a balance between readers and academic documentation, but I still wish the text had included endnote numbers and the endnotes themselves were more clearly documented. However, it's an interesting and sometimes enlightening read.
In this chapter Jacobs covers Lewis's early years at Oxford until his first (temporary) appointment which began his career as a don. The focus is on Lewis's relationship with Mrs. Moore and the friendships established during this time.
While Lewis had (and was required to have) rooms in college, he set up house with Mrs. Moore and apparently spent nearly every spare moment there, going in to college for lectures, to meet with his tutors, and to spend the night in his rooms--he had to be in by curfew! We learn that he could work in the midst of chaos and interruptions and be productive in such circumstances, which, according to Warnie and others, were constant in the household. It seems clear that Lewis's "affair," at least at this time, was an intimate relationship; he saw this as his family--at a time when his relationship with his father was quite strained. He maintained a relationship with Mrs. Moore for 30 years, caring for her as she became ill and even more eccentric than she was at this time. She is described here as "unintellectual" and "anti-Christian" (94, 95). No one seemed to understand their relationship either then or now; Jacobs says, "Indeed, this is the great mystery of C. S. Lewis's life" (93).
During these years, but being careful to keep the "home" and academic sides of his life separate, he developed several friendships which would be influential for years. Foremost of these new friends was Owen Barfield; Lewis wrote of him, "he is not so much the alter ego as the antiself" (91). They were worthy sparing partners for each other but also so fond of one another that their friendship grew through, in spite of, because of their very different ideas on many topics. [To learn more about what they called the "Great War," you might look at C. S. Lewis' "Great War" with Owen Barfield (1978), by Lionel Adey.] I love this relationship--and many of the friendships among the Inklings--because it allows for so much freedom and difference; too often, I think, we (only) see friendships between people who "have things in common." Lewis's friendships seem to have really stretched him, causing him to develop his ideas and his ability to articulate them.
Jacobs comments that Lewis joined a literary group, the Martlets, and read to them a paper on William Morris (100). I'd love to know if this paper exists and where. This brings me to the one complaint I have so far of Jacobs' book; there's obviously a lot of scholarly research here, but the "notes" appear in truncated, sometimes unclear, format at the back of the book, and there's no indication in the text itself when there may be a note available. I suppose when writing for a popular audience it's difficult to strike a balance between readers and academic documentation, but I still wish the text had included endnote numbers and the endnotes themselves were more clearly documented. However, it's an interesting and sometimes enlightening read.
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