Walt’s Comments (group member since May 16, 2014)

Walt’s comments from the Fans of C. S. Lewis group.

Thought it might be interesting to recommend other authors or books while connecting them to Lewis. To start the ball rolling, I'm reading now Ideas Have Consequences by Richard M. Weaver. In it I hear echoes of The Abolition of Man. Both authors rail against relativism, arguing that if we truly believe all opinions and views equally valid and correct, then we've effectively put ourselves on the road to annihilation.

If you loved The Abolition of Man, Ideas Have Consequences is worth a look.

Kingsley,

Investigation complete. Go to https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group... and click the "new topic" link.

Cheers,

Walt

Kingsley,

This group is inactive but still alive. I had grand plans for a book discussion, but life happened, and I found myself with less time and drive than I'd imagined. I'll have to look into the permissions for this group to see whether/how new threads can be started.

Bit like this. I envisioned a series of threads, probably chapter-based. For each chapter there'd be one or two initial questions to get us rolling, and we'd then see how things progressed.

To be honest, I've not given too much thought to the format. I'm up for getting a good conversation rolling in any way possible :-)

Thanks Ron! I've been "laid low" these past few weeks with a summer-term MBA course that's occupying all my reading time. So I probably can't make good on my promise for another couple of months. But I'm keen for a Divorce discussion, as there's much ground to cover and much we can learn from each other.

Thanks all for the posts. Ron - thanks for the Sayer's recommendation. I'll definitely have to look into his writings. Erin - I'm looking forward to reading (soon, I hope) A Grief Observed, although I know it won't be fun, light read. I absolutely agree about Lewis' transparency. It's part of what makes his apologetics works so inviting and resonant. I've never sensed a "holier than thou" tone in any of his works.

As we're lucky enough to have in this new group a few big Lewis enthusiasts, I was wondering whether anyone might be up for leading a reading-club discussion.

Two potential approaches would be ...
* Pick a book that few/none of us have read, read it, and then have an unmoderated discussion
* Have someone volunteer to guide a discussion on Lewis book that impacted them

Anyone up for this? I just finished my first reading of The Great Divorce and liked it so much I'm going through it a second time. I'd be happy to guide a discussion on it within the next week or so.

Who's in? :-)

Welcome - great introduction! I'll post mine soon. Just "liked" CS Jack Lewis on FB.

I'd like to start a list of readers' favorite Lewis study and discussion guides. I found this morning an interesting set at https://www.cslewis.com/us/lewis-reso.... Some of the guides introduce the works; others get straight to discussion questions.

Are there other resources folks find useful?

I'm not yet sure. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Mere Christianity are definitely on the list, but that third spot ... it might depend on the person to whom I'm introducing Lewis.

Though I've not yet read it, I suspect A Grief Observed would be a worthy candidate, as it shows how a leading light of Christian apologetics struggled with his own faith after the death of his wife.

Another candidate might be Out of the Silent Planet, which shows how Christian thinking can applied to unlikely genres, such as science fiction.

Finally, the third spot might go to The Great Divorce, which I'm now reading at the suggestion of Dr. Louis Markos, whose lectures on C. S. Lewis (http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/co...) are outstanding and highly recommended.

I'm reading enough Lewis now that I'll likely have a firm opinion on this in six months ... and an equally firm, but different, opinion six months after that!

If you were to choose three books to someone interested in (but unfamiliar with) C. S. Lewis, which ones would you choose?

I expect Mere Christianity and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe will occupy 2/3 of many people's lists ... but what about that third and final spot?