Summer Series 2010: The World of CS Lewis

Join CLC staff member Jennifer Strange for a four-week series investigating the essays of literary scholar and Christian apologist CS Lewis. We will meet Monday nights in July from 5:30 pm to 7 pm in Room 207 of the Smith Building at Centenary College.

Reading

We will read and discuss most of The World's Last Night and Other Essays, a collection of theological essays that Lewis originally published between 1952 and 1959. Each registrant will receive a copy of this collection on the first night of our series. On that first night, we will also discuss together excerpts from Lewis's fiction, aiming to understand how Lewis's theology sets a rich framework for his fictional worlds.

July 5: excerpts from The Screwtape Letters (1942), Perelandra (1943), The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952), and Till We Have Faces (1956)

July 12: "The Efficacy of Prayer" (3-11) and "On Obstinacy in Belief" (13-30) with "Good Work and Good Works" (71-81)

July 19: "Lilies That Fester" (31-49) and "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" (51-70)

July 26: "Religion and Rocketry" (83-92) and "The World's Last Night" (93-113)

Consider these questions (perhaps in written reflection) as you read these essays:

Think about Christian doctrine and practice: how do Lewis's observations and arguments affirm or challenge what you know, believe, assume, and do?
Think about Lewis's fiction: how do Lewis's arguments seem to shape his imaginative worlds (Narnia, Malacandra, Perelandra, Hell, Heaven, Glome, etc)?
Think about your own educational experiences as well as contemporary pedagogy in public and private schools: do you agree or disagree with Lewis's arguments about educational philosophy and practice, and why?
Think about Lewis's nonfiction: how do the arguments here dovetail (or not) with arguments made in Mere Christianity or A Grief Observed or The Four Loves, etc?

Registration

Register for this summer series online and pay via credit card online or send your $50 registration by check, payable to Centenary College of Louisiana, to

Christian Leadership Center Summer Series
Centenary College of Louisiana
2911 Centenary Blvd
Shreveport, LA 71104

.6 CEUs available (.15 per class with a minimum of two classes required).