Recommended Books (Spring 2016)
What makes a good piece of writing? Each of us could provide an extensive list of qualifications to answer this question. Our individual personalities each cry out for and are most deeply moved by any number of approaches to writing. Perhaps our inclination toward a particular genre is different from our spouse’s or a close friend’s, leaving us to wonder how they could be satisfied without such riches. Likely those same friends and...
C.S. Lewis, Beauty, and the Experience of Story
by Alexandra Harper Great writing is not merely a matter of knowledge, clever ideas, or technical brilliance. These elements illuminate, but only as stars in light of the vast universe. Precise technique is capable of delivering a cold performance absent of the power to transform. Transformation, that is, transfiguration, is the offspring of beauty, the Mona Lisa smile of storytelling, elusive yet captivating. Whatever the genre or...
George MacDonald: Life, Works, Legacy
I was 14-years-old the first time I saw the name George MacDonald. It appeared in C.S. Lewis’ Surprised by Joy (1955). It didn’t make an impression initially, but as I read Lewis more, MacDonald’s name became unavoidable. “Whoever this MacDonald was,” I surmised, “he clearly made a profound impact on Lewis.” This may be your experience too: if you’ve heard of MacDonald at all, it’s been by way of Lewis. After all, he has been one of...
Knock-knock: Toward a Theology of Humor
What hath a “knock-knock” joke to do with Him Who stands at the door and knocks? That is, does God care about humor? Often times, humor finds itself on opposite ends of the spectrum, from a spiritual perspective. On one end it can be borderline sacrilege, making the things of God out to be trivial at best and blasphemous at worst. On the other end are the perennial “pastor jokes”—those that incite equal portions of groans and pity...
This Day in History: Kennedy, Lewis, and Huxley
Friday, November 22, 1963 witnessed the deaths of three men—first C. S. Lewis (5:30 p.m., GMT), then John F. Kennedy (1:21 p.m., CST), and finally Aldous Huxley (5:21 p.m., PST). Today marks the 50th anniversary. Though these men’s deaths are a great piece of historical irony; the fact is that they dominated their respective fields and, as such, they warrant our attention. In this article, I will consider, first, what contributions...
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