Reading C. S. Lewis

Welcome to A TRUE GOOD BEAUTIFUL LIFE podcast! 

Here we discuss all things Charlotte Mason in light of the ideas of the TRUE, the GOOD, and the BEAUTIFUL! I am your host, Jennifer Milligan, and throughout this series I share with you how to find and cultivate various elements of TRUTH, GOODNESS and BEAUTY in our homes and classrooms through conversations with homeschooling parents and classroom teachers; interviews with experts, entrepreneurs, and artists; discussions regarding the great books, great minds, and great resources; fun travel and field trip summaries; and practices and creative experiences that embody the TRUE, the GOOD, and the BEAUTIFUL life. Over 100 years ago, British educator, Charlotte Mason, declared that, "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline,  a life," and so today, I hope you will join me on this adventure in education.

This new season will be a little different in that I am moving from two episodes a month to one a month. I hope this gives you even more time to get out and enjoy being with your people while also getting some encouragement and helpful ideas you can implement in your teaching and home life.

 

 

ON THIS EPISODE

 

I am treated to an insightful conversation this episode with C. S. Lewis scholar Dr. Steven Boyer. He guides us on a dive into the life of Lewis and a fascinating element in his Chronicles of Narnia that you may have never even considered!

 

Dr. Steven Boyer has served for 26 years as Professor of Theology at Eastern University, where he also teaches in the Templeton Honors College. He holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Boston University, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on one aspect of Lewis’s thought.

 

He is also co-author of an award-winning book called The Mystery of God: Theology for Knowing the Unknowable, and he has published articles on Christian theology and on the work of Lewis in a variety of academic and popular journals, including a piece in Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity called “Narnia Invaded: How the New Films Subvert Lewis’s Hierarchical World.”

 

Steve and his wife, Heidi, have four children, and they live in Honey Brook, PA.

 

Our Favorite Resources:

• The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis (perferably in Lewis's original order, which has The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as the first story in the series: this order allows the reader to be gradually introduced to the awesome figure of Aslan in just the way Lewis himself intended)
• "On Three Ways of Writing for Children" essay by C. S. Lewis, On Stories: And Other Essays on Literature
• A Life Observed: A Spiritual Biography of C. S. Lewis by Devin Brown
• Jack: A Life of C. S. Lewis by George Sayer
• C. S. Lewis -- A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet by Alister McGrath
• The Most Reluctant Convert: C. S. Lewis's Journey to Faith by David Downing
• The Mystery of God: Theology for Knowing the Unknowable by Dr. Steven Boyer and Dr. Christopher Hall
• "Narnia Invaded: How the New Films Subvert Lewis's Hierarchial World" by Dr. Steven Boyer, Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity, November/December, 2010
• "C. S. Lewis Through the Shadowlands" film, starring Joss Ackland (this is a BBC production which is far closer to the actual story of Lewis's late-in-life marriage to Joy Davidman than is the Hollywood version that stars Anthony Hopkins)
• The Chronicles of Narnia Complete Set - audio dramas (note that these are audio dramatizations, not just "audiobooks," by Focus on the Family's "Radio Theatre" series -- much more faithful to Lewis's original stories than the Hollywood films)

 

COMMONPLACE QUOTES

“myth[s] get under our skin” and “hit us at a level deeper than our thoughts.” - C S. Lewis, "Introduction," An Anthology of George MacDonald

 

A 12th Century writer called John of Salisbury declared that it was a knight's duty "to protect the Church, to fight against treachery, to reverence the priesthood, to fend off injustice from the poor, to make peace in your own province, to shed blood for your brethren, and if needs must, to lay down your life.”( https://www.abdn.ac.uk/sll/disciplines/english/lion/chivalry.shtml )

 

"one of its chief functions is to re-enchant a disenchanted world." - Devin Brown, "Introduction," Inside Narnia: A Guide to Exploring The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, p. 16

 

Regarding fantasy/fairytale-type stories: children do "not despise real woods because [they] have read of enchanted woods: the reading makes all real woods a little enchanted" - C. S. Lewis, "On Three Ways of Writing for Children," On Stories: And Other Essays on Literature

. . . give a child a single valuable idea, and you have done more for his education than if you had laid upon his mind the burden of bushels of information . . . - Charlotte Mason, Volume 1: Home Education, p. 174

 

APPLICATION

1. Read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe this summer -- to yourself, to your kids, to your campers, to your students. Enjoy it for its adventure and its battle between Good and Evil.
2. Start a Book Club and read one Chronicles of Narnia book a month and have students bring in a drawing of their favorite scene in that month's book. At the end, have a Narnian Tea Party with Turkish Delight and other tasty goodies.  Discuss what Truth, Goodness, and Beauty were discovered within the pages.
3. Get your students/children to write up a script of one of Lewis's stories and put together a play, including set and costume design.