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Week One of the C.S. Lewis and Women Series

Please note: In the following post, I will refer to C.S. Lewis as “Jack” to simply distinguish him from other members of his family.   I typically refer to him as “Lewis”, but to avoid confusion for this installment of the series, I will use “Jack” (since he detested the name “Clive”).

Photo courtesy of cslewis.drzeus.net

The Sinking of Atlantis: Flora Lewis

A Post on Her Birthday 

“With my mother’s death all settled happiness, all that was tranquil and reliable, disappeared from my life.  There was to be much fun, many pleasures, many stabs of Joy; but no more of the old security.  It was sea and islands now; the great continent had sunk like Atlantis”

– Surprised by Joy

 February 15, 1908 – Three doctors walked through the stately iron gate surrounding a modest home on the outskirts of Belfast, Northern Ireland.  The medical team (assisted by two nurses who had arrived the night before) came equipped with various instruments used to perform surgery which would hopefully prolong the life of a woman plagued with abdominal cancer.  Their patient was a 45-year-old mother of two and wife of a court solictor, Flora Lewis.  In the past, Flora wrestled with headaches, fatigue, and a loss of appetite.  Once the diagnosis was made, doctors and nurses worked exhaustively to restore her health.  As was the custom,  her surgery was performed in the home, on a table on the first floor.

Little Lea, taken by Crystal Hurd in May 2011

It is difficult to comprehend such an ominous sight.  Her youngest son, Clive Staples or “Jack”, must have endured unimaginable apprehension.  According to his correspondence with Nurse Davison (the “senior nurse” over Flora’s care), the young Lewis seemed determined to bear his mother’s illness with feigned fortitude, an armor of apathy that would surely tarnish as the years passed:

“Do you remember the first night before my poor mother’s operation when you both sat and talked about operations and I said

‘Well you are gloomy people'”  – letter dated September 29, 1929

After his older brother Warren was sent to an English preparatory school, Jack had grown close to his mother.  Although the Lewis boys had a nurse who read to them and taught them nursery rhymes (Lizzy Endicott) and a governess (Miss Harper), Flora attempted to educate her sons when she could.  Despite her nagging headaches and frequent episodes of bedrest, she instructed her youngest son in Latin, French, and math (which as many know, was a weak subject for Jack).  She was a woman of substantial intellect, earning a degree in math from Queen’s College in an age where most women settled into the conventional expectation as homemaker. This caused her to be teased a great deal. Her father, Thomas Hamilton, was vicar at Saint Mark’s Dundela.  She was descended from a long line of “clergyman, lawyers, sailors, and the like” (Sayer 4).

Photos of St. Mark’s, the vicarage, and the famous “Lion Head” doorknob

Photos taken by Crystal Hurd in May 2011

Flora met her future husband at her father’s church.  George Sayer writes that Flora first courted Albert’s brother William.  After deciding that she simply “could never love [William]”, she swapped him for his younger brother.  Albert was a eloquent speaker, which, as Jack claims in Surprised by Joy, illustrated his great promise as a politician.  The Lewis boys experienced a bit of ying and yang in their parents, with a passionate, argumentative father and a cool, tranquil mother: “My father’s people were true Welshmen, sentimental, passionate, and rhetorical, easily moved both to anger and to tenderness; men who laughed and cried a great deal and who had not much of the talent for happiness” (3).  This was in great contrast to his mother, whose family was a “cooler race” in which their “minds were critical and ironic and they had the talent for happiness in a high degree – went straight for it as experienced travelers go for the best seat in a train” (3).  Sayer disagrees with this statement, as he remarks that Thomas Hamilton often  railed against Roman Catholicism in the pulpit while her mother incessantly argued politics, namely the restoration of Irish nationalism and Home Rule.

 Nonetheless, the marriage endured.  Albert worked tirelessly, leaving his children with his wife and the house staff.  Flora wrote short stories and articles that her husband critiqued but which, unfortunately, were never published.  In her better days, she travelled often with her sons while her husband was preoccupied with work.  Jack remembered these holidays with much fondness.

After that fateful February morning, Flora experienced a brief period of convalescence.  In May, Flora felt well enough to take her two sons to a house in Castlerock, located in County Derry.  Due to the damp Irish climate and the consistent fear that Jack suffered from a “weak chest”, Flora often took her sons to this northern resort for warmer temperatures and relaxation.

Photo courtesy of www.richardcrowe.co.uk

But the season of hope and healing would not last.  In June, Flora was ordered to remain on bedrest. Her symptons continued to worsen and on the morning of August 23 (Albert’s birthday), Flora passed away.  The night before, Albert spoke to her about the goodness of God, to which she poignantly inquired, “What have we done for Him?”  Albert later reflected in his notebook that Flora was, “As good a woman, wife and mother as God has ever given a man”.

 A stiff, uncomfortable nine-year-old Jack was brought in to view the body of his recently deceased mother.  He recounts this episode with great horror in Surprised by Joy:

“Grief in childhood is complicated with many other mysteries. I was taken into the bedroom where my mother lay dead; as they said, ‘to see her,’ in reality, as I at once knew, ‘to see it.’ There was nothing that a grown-up would call disfigurement – except for that total disfigurement which is death itself.  Grief was overwhelmed in terror.  To this day I do not know what they mean when they call dead bodies beautiful. The ugliest man alive is an angel compared with the loveliest of the dead. Against all the subsequent paraphernalia of coffin, flowers, hearse, and funeral I reacted with horror…To my hatred for what I already felt to be all the fuss and flummery of the funeral I may perhaps trace something in me which I now recognize as a defect but which I have never fully overcome – a distaste for all that is public, all that belongs to the collective; a boorish inaptitude for formality.”  (19-20)

Jack would come to face a stark truth – it would take years, perhaps the rest of his life, to recover from Flora’s death.  In fact, the feeling would revisit him many years later, as his wife Joy was dying of cancer. Surely Jack felt empathy for her sons David and Douglas.  There is a remnant of this sensation found in The Magician’s Nephew when Digory Kirke asks Aslan for a Narnian apple to restore his mother’s health.  In his fictional tale, Jack could control the outcome; in the conclusion of The Magician’s Nephew, Aslan gives Digory an apple to heal his mother.

But life seldom imitates art. There is little doubt that Jack was haunted by Flora’s death for the rest of his life. He admits to Phyllis Elinor Sandeman on December 31, 1953:

“I can well understand how in addition to, and mingling with, the void and loneliness, there is a great feeling of unprotectedness and a horror of coping with all the things – the harsh, outer world – from which you have hitherto been shielded.  I first met this ‘cold blast on the naked heath’ at about 9, when my Mother died, and there has never really been any sense of security and snugness since.  That is, I’ve not quite succeeded in growing up on that point: there is still too much of ‘Mammy’s little lost boy’ about me.”

Flora’s absence left Jack and Warnie alone with their workaholic father. Jack wrote at length about his father’s lack of interest in his sons, mainly because Albert preferred to work. Did the young sons remind Albert of the painful loss of his wife?  Did he retreat further into his career as a coping mechanism? As Jack entered early adulthood, he nurtured a growing resentment for his father. This is evidenced in his correspondence, but is also mentioned in Surprised by Joy.  Jack mentions that Albert was less like a father, and more like a much older brother. Perhaps Lewis displaced some of his anger on his father. Jack and Warnie relied on each other for support, and struggled with their father’s ostensible lack of emotion.  Jack would later relinquish much of his pain and become more understanding of his father long after Albert’s death.

It is imperative to note that Jack was surrounded almost exclusively by males at Little Lea (not counting Aunt Annie); in other words, women were present in Jack’s early life, but mainly absent during his late childhood and early adolescence (a crucial period during which many males form opinions about the opposite sex).  After Flora’s death,  Jack found himself wisked off to school and away from his former sanctuary. He was placed in all-male boarding schools, where boys were mercilessly judged by their displays of aggression and athleticism.  Surely he missed his mother and felt that her passing had drastically altered the trajectory of his life (at minimum, it interrupted his childhood). Between the horrible bullying he endured to the emotional bankruptcy demonstrated by his father, Jack struggled to find footing in this unfamiliar new life.  Flora left a vacuum, a deep, unrelenting wound.  Jack would find himself utterly alone and seeking answers from God, from teachers, from schoolmates and colleagues. Her death would catalyze a long, labyrithine journey from God and a returning to God, truly proving that “the longest way round is the shortest way home”.

But in the meantime, young Jack would find refuge in one woman, a woman who became a surrogate mother to the “orphaned” boy and paid a heavy price for her affection.

Next week, I will share her story, the story of Ms. Cowie.

Photo courtesy of Barnes and Noble

“To all those who have received that terrible phone call about a loved one – injured, in the hospital, or in a crisis – and filled the waiting rooms, in pain and in prayer.  I wrote this book for you.  May you discover the faithfulness of the Father as I have”

 As long as I live, I will never forget that 5 A.M. phone call.  My father had just endured a quadruple bypass operation and wanted to retain his dizzy, pre-surgery schedule.  But his body, and his newly-altered heart, could not maintain the pace.  One morning, as he was preparing to leave for work, he passed out in the kitchen.  My Mom heard him drop to the floor, rushed in to assist him, and picked up the phone to call me.  Stirred from slumber, I looked at my phone and the alarm clock.

And then I panicked.

Her words were barely audible as she choked back tears to tell me that her worst nightmare was finding my Dad in the floor.  In that brief moment before Dad regained consciousness, she envisioned a life stretched out in bitter, stinging loneliness – of endless days in an empty house, of his workshirts hanging undisturbed in their closet, of his dusty motorcycle in the shed, of the irreparable damage to her broken heart that accompanies the loss of a soulmate.  But that was not the end of the story. Thankfully, Dad recovered quickly. He learned how to establish a new pace.  But anytime my phone rings in the middle of the night (which isn’t very often), my mind races and my adrenaline rushes.  Circumstances can change quickly.  The soft jingle of a cell phone can usher in drastic change.

 Lindy Boone Michaelis experienced that noctournal phone call in 2001.  While asleep in Spain, her son Ryan Corbin accidently stepped through a fiberglass skylight and plummeted three stories to a concrete floor.  Ryan was an energetic, aspiring playwright and actor in Hollywood.  He had recently finished a script which retells the story of Jesus in modern times.  He had a bright future ahead of him.

Ryan before his accident, courtesy of facebook.com

That afternoon changed everything. Ryan sustained major injuries (requiring 36 pints of blood when he arrived in the ER), including significant trauma to his brain.  Lindy was unaware that her beloved son was fighting for his life in a Los Angeles hospital.  When friends and family finally reached her, Lindy immediately scheduled flights back to the States to be at her son’s bedside.  She began the long odyssey back to Ryan’s side, rehearsing various scenarios in her head, worried that she would lose her firstborn.  She pleaded with God to spare Ryan and repeated this mantra which would give her strength through the proceeding years:

Ryan will live and not die and declare the glory of God

 Meanwhile, Lindy’s parents kept vigil on Ryan’s progress.  Readers may recognize her father as the pop singer turned evangelical artist Pat Boone.  Boone was well-known in the 50s and 60s for covering R & B hits and for later hosting The Pat Boone Chevy Hour with his family (including Lindy).

 Photo courtesy of ifco.org

In fact, the first portion of the book outlines Lindy’s childhood and religious rearing.  This is the backdrop for the hope she expresses after Ryan’s accident.  Even in the darkest valleys of Ryan’s recovery, Lindy clings to an indomitable faith in Christ.  The Boone family uses their fame as a platform, urging people to pray for Ryan.  The book actually begins with Lindy’s appearance on The Larry King Show, asking for worldwide support.  The Boones appear on the show several times (Pat Boone and Larry King are longtime friends), and every show yields thousands of letters originating from all over the globe:

“I was deeply touched by your will to survive.  Though you have not recovered fully physcially, what is important is YOU, who [are more than] his body…We have a song in our language which says, even if the gold has a defect, the glory of the gold is not dulled.  If a lion’s leg is injured, his bravery doesn’t diminish.”

Ryan made slow, but steady progress in his recovery.  Lindy admits that it seemed that Ryan would take “one step forward and two steps back”.  Lindy was transformed from the mother of a boisterous, ambitious twenty-four-year-old adult son, to his full-time caretaker.  She rejoiced when he would move his head, wiggle his toes, or prove that he can hear and understand his family.  The family incurred a steep financial obligation financing Ryan care, sparing no expense on new and innovative therapies that would increase Ryan’s chance of recovery. Ryan experienced a hyperbaric oxygen chamber as well as new medications to repair his body while minimizing the side effects of brain damage.

What I admire most about Lindy’s narrative is her honesty.  Despite her “fairy tale” upbringing with a famous family tucked away comfortably in Beverly Hills, Lindy’s journey is rife with struggle.  To begin, becoming a 24-hour caregiver is extremely difficult.  Lindy must always ensure that Ryan receives loving care from his nurses.  He is completely dependent upon her and her family. The role of caretaker also takes a toll of the personal life of a caretaker.  Lindy carefully yet comprehensively outlines the stress to her marraige and on her daughter and young son.  All of them had to endure Lindy’s absence for the years she remained by Ryan’s side throughout various hospitals and therapy clinics. She is also very candid about the support (or in some instances, the lack of support) she received from others.  For instance, Lindy tells of the aggrivation she felt when people appeared to become apathetic of Ryan’s suffering. She admits that she was unkind to Ryan’s former fiancee, who eventually broke off the relationship after the accident. These changes are very difficult to tolerate, but Lindy embraces them with the strength and assurance she receives from God.

Secondly, brain injury can significantly alter an individual’s personality.  Lindy admits that after the accident, Ryan, who was known as a passive, loving person, became distrustful of adult males, aggressively lashing out and using profanity.  In fact, Lindy had to become comfortable with Ryan’s colorful language, peppered with expletives due to his lasting trauma. She equates this to someone who suffers from Tourettes Syndrome.  Lindy unfailingly continues to love her son through these changes.

Throughout her trials, Lindy remains sure of one thing: Ryan will live and not die and declare the glory of God. His story has already touched many lives around the world.  Now, with this publication, she shares the full story of the turmoil and the triumph of her son’s accident and recovery.  Lindy and her father have established a non-profit organization, Ryan’s Reach, which assists with the financial costs associated with treating patients with traumatic brain injury.  Today, Ryan lives with his parents in California and uses his story to “reach” new generations and inspire hope and faith. His story, like Lindy’s, continues.  They serve to remind me of a God who still performs miracles and transforms our life stories with every page.  I recommend this book to enrich your understanding of human perseverance, strengthen your faith, and to appreciate the daily miracle of life.

Photo courtesy of facebook.com

Many thanks to Tyndale publishers and the Tyndale Blog Network for providing an advance copy of the book.  I was not asked to write a positive review in exchange for this work.

“Who said I disliked women?  I never liked or disliked any generalisation.”

Letter to Margaret Fuller, April 8, 1948

Last March, I stood before a committee of academics, my husband, and a few strangers and defended my dissertation on C.S. Lewis as Transformational Leader.  As I discussed how Lewis’s beliefs inspired his leadership, a member of the faculty who was there to ensure “protocol was followed” listened intently while scribbling furiously on a notepad.  This individual had never read my manuscript, nor was he informed about leadership principles.  He was a member of the science faculty with no prior knowledge of my research. During my presentation, I explained how Lewis concurred with John Milton’s Hierarchical Conception, that God created a necessary hierarchy to establish order.  I utilized this quote from his essay “Membership” (located in The Weight of Glory):

I do not believe that God created an egalitarian world.  I believe the authority of parent over child, husband over wife, learned over simple to have been as much of a part of the original plan as the authority of man over beast.  

After my presentation, I answered all questions from my committee and felt a surge of relief.  I was ready to indulge in a congratulatory burrito. And then, the quiet, contemplative scientist spoke.  What followed was a 15-minute diatribe on how Lewis condoned domestic violence because he was a spokesman for “Western Christian tradition” which encouraged misogyny and the oppression of women.  Furthermore, he refuted my claim that Lewis served as a leader (although he was uninformed of leader scholarship).  In retrospect, he reminded me of many passages from That Hideous Strength.  My committee and I both rose to the challenge and finally, the man relented after several minutes (that’s why they call it a “defense” right?).  I emerged victorious, but slightly wounded.  How could anyone portray Lewis that way?  It was evident that the man had never read Lewis, based upon his assessment and assumptions.  How could anyone deduce that Lewis hated all women from two measly sentences? It had never surfaced during months of research and composition. In fact, the new chair of Women’s Studies was a critical member of my committee.

If he had asked for the rest of the quote, he would have found that his absurd assumption that Lewis “condoned domestic violence” was flawed logic.  Just because one suggests order, does not mean he/she supports tyranny (or a corruption of order).  Lewis continues:

I believe that if we had not fallen, Filmer would be right, and patriarchical monarchy would be the sole lawful government.  But since we have learned sin, we have found, as Lord Acton says, that “all power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The only remedy has been to take away the powers and substitute a legal fiction of equality.  The authority of father and husband has been rightly abolished on the legal plane, not because this authority is in itself bad (on the contrary, it is, I hold, divine in origin), but because fathers and husbands are bad.  Theocracy has been rightly abolished not because it is bad that learned priests should govern ignorant laymen, but because priests are wicked men like the rest of us. Even the authority of man over beast has had to be interfered with because it is constantly abused.

Long after that afternoon had passed, I searched for more information on Lewis’s view of women.  What I found was, for the most part, harsh criticism from many females in the academic community.  This partially orginates from Lewis’s strong opposition to feminism (which will be explored later).  The more I searched, the more I discovered that some women harbored resentments toward Lewis and his “misogynistic tendancies”.  As a female Lewis scholar, I wish to explore Lewis comprehensively and illustrate that Lewis did not “hate women”.  On the contrary, Lewis perceives women as multi-faceted beings.  He presents very different, yet realistic (if somewhat exaggerated) portrayals of women in his various works of fiction. For example, many readers are livid that Susan does not cross into Aslan’s Country in The Last Battle because she is preoccupied with “nylons and lipstick and invitations”.  However, these same individuals fail to mention that Lucy, the youngest female, is the most faithful of the Narnian monarchs; she is the one who first believed in Narnia and whose faith help lead the others through the wardrobe (and the painting in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader).  Her indomitable faith in Aslan helps lead them through the forest (as she insists on following Aslan) in Prince Caspian. Here, we see an exclusivist technique of critiquing Lewis, a “picking and choosing” of specific passages while blatantly ignoring others.  What I hope to illuminate is that Lewis’s female characters represent a wide spectrum of women, just as his male characters represent a wide spectrum of males.

Over the next twelve weeks, I will examine Lewis’s encounters and literary portrayals of women.  The first six weeks will explore biographical aspects of Lewis, from his mother (whom he lost at a young age) and his female correspondents, to his budding friendships with Ruth Pitter and Joy Davidman.  The latter, of course, would become his wife in 1956.   The second six weeks will discuss Lewis’s literary treatment of women, along with some commentary on the roles of women.  Every weekend, I will post a new installment of the series.

Week One –  The Sinking of Atlantis: Flora Lewis

Week Two – Light in the Darkness: Miss C., the Matron

Week Three – Furlough and Fascination: Mrs. Moore

Week Four  – Ladies and the Letters: Lewis and His Female Correspondents

Week Five  –   Iron Sharpens Iron: Elizabeth Anscombe

Week Six –  Hunting the Unicorn: Lewis and Ruth Pitter

Week Seven – “My Mistress”: Joy Davidman

————————————————————————————————

Week Eight- Lewis and Women: Portrayals in The Pilgrim’s Regress

Week Nine- Lewis and Women: Portrayals in The Chronicles of Narnia

Week Ten- Lewis and Women: Portrayals in The Science Fiction (or Ransom) Trilogy

Week Eleven- Lewis and Women: Portrayals in Til We Have Faces

Week Twelve- Commentary in various works of nonfiction

Conclusion and Discussion

I promise that it will be an enlightening (and perhaps for some, redeeming) account of the beloved Lewis.  Will you join me?  Please spread the word!

“I know that spiritual formation is of God, but I also know – mainly because I learned it from books – that there are other kinds of formation, too, everyday gifts, and that God uses the things of this earth to teach us and shape us, and to help us find truth”.

–          Booked, Karen Swallow Prior

Photos courtesty of Amazon.com

As a kid, there was just something about books that fascinated me. I was an only child, so I found companionship in protagonists hidden among the pages of books.  Often, it was the smart, savvy Nancy Drew or the stimulating company of Archie and his friends. On occasion, I was the protagonist.  One of my favorite series was Choose Your Own Adventure, in which glorious success or utter failure depended upon the direction I, the eight-year-old explorer/spelunker/diver, would choose.  I must admit that I would often “preview” each decision to see how I would end up.  If my first inclination would lead to certain peril, I would quickly choose the other path which prolonged the adventure.

No wonder, then, that I chose books as a profession.  Long before I declared an English major in college, I had experienced the contours of life through the lens of talented wordsmiths. I had traveled to far lands, feasted my eyes upon rare jewels, unraveled various mysteries – all while sitting quietly on my bed.  Reading, for me, has always been a reciprocal activity; I invest my time and in return, receive knowledge, wisdom, or entertainment.  Throughout my life, my greatest teachers have been authors. Books have formed and shaped me intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally.

And so it is for Karen Swallow Prior.  An English professor and contributor for Christianity Today, The Atlantic, and most recently RELEVANT, Prior’s new book focuses on how literature guided her spiritual journey. Her impressive list of influential works ranges from Charlotte’s Web to the great staples of the literary canon such as Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Tess of the D’Ubervilles, and Madame Bovary (among others).

She, like C.S. Lewis, was never denied certain types of literature and so she read voraciously as a child. Books were not an escape from life, rather they inform and enhance our interactions in reality.  They help us to uncover arrangements of glorious design, patterns that we were perhaps blind to if we had not been “awakened” by reading great works of literature. Dr. Prior retells her early love of horses (especially one named “Sonny”) and how Charlotte’s Web encouraged her appreciation and love for animals. As she matured, she understood, with the assistance of Gerard Manley Hopkins, that complete self-confidence derives not from our ability to blend, but in celebrating the unique qualities God has given every individual.

And then came along Mrs. Lovejoy.  Mrs. Lovejoy was Prior’s eighth grade English teacher.  As Prior mentions, Mrs. Lovejoy resembled a character from popular novels (even her name sounds rather Dickensian).  Prior writes, “She was as then and tall as a birch tree, and just as silver and smooth.  She was older than dirt, too.  Peering down from the top of her spectacles at all of us in the throes of awkward adolescence, she commanded both fear and respect.  Mrs. Lovejoy was passionate about not just what she taught but also about those whom she taught” (chapter 4).  Although Mrs. Lovejoy taught from an abridged, illustrated version of Great Expectations, Prior was still swept away by the imagery, the emotion it inspired.  It was an invitation to delve deeper; Prior likens it to “a child’s first communion: a step taken in immature faith toward a fuller, richer experience to come” (chapter 4).  As she develops, the literature continues to reflect aspects of her journey.  For example, middle school (which was absolutely horrible for most people, including me) is typically characterized by fierce competition, bullying, and an overwhelming need to “fit in”.  Prior states that she endured the same struggle of being incorporated or excommunicated from particular social groups as an eighth grader.  She found solace and relevance in the story of Jane Eyre, a feisty orphan who would not be defined by her circumstances. Prior also illuminates an interesting point about adolescence as illustrated in Jane Eyre.  Jane desires the affections of Rochester. After securing his attention, she finds herself enamoured, in a very unhealthy way, with him:

My future husband was becoming to me my whole world; and more than the world; almost my hope of heaven.  He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between me and the broad sun.  I could not, in those days, see God for His creature: of whom I had made an idol.

As a high school teacher, I see this every day.  Even Shakespeare warned that such passionate, impulsive emotions would not end well.  Yet, I continue to see students who engage in this type of “worship”.  However, I can’t blame them.  Like all young girls, I felt that the presence of a boyfriend would validate me.  It would prove that I am desirable and attractive.  Although I didn’t date until later in high school, I possessed such a propensity (like Jane) to deify males I was interested in.  Prior, in fact, tells of this very propensity with her boyfriend Randy.  As she progresses to college, Prior sees the chasm that is swiftly widening between them.  She admits with the clarity of hindsight that Randy was “possessive” but ironically, he becomes unfaithful. Prior details the night that she caught him canoodling with the assistant manager of the steakhouse where he worked.   Now, she was free and ready to tackle the upcoming challenge: college.  Prior uses Death of a Salesman to parallel the next step in the journey – defining herself. She eventually meets her husband, a guitar player in a band and marries after a year of dating (considering that I married a drummer after a year of dating, I highly recommend musicians!).  Prior uses Madame Bovary to illustrate how infatuation is often confused with love.  Unlike Emma Bovary, Prior understood that neither spouse is perfect, therefore we should not be disappointed when they fall short of our lofty expectations and preconceived notions of “romance”.  On the contrary, we should extend the forgiveness and grace that is illustrated by our Heavenly Father to our Earthly partner.  At the end of her work, Prior shows us that the story is not yet finished. Books give us the opportunity to transcend ourselves, to encounter Truth, and tolerate our daily struggles.  They lead us to a higher understanding of God and demonstrate how He will meet us where we are, in the valley of our unending sorrow or the trenches of nagging spiritual doubt.  He will meet us…”In the books”.

Equally enjoyable to Prior’s personal journey is the inclusion of her astute and comprehensive examination of the literature that shaped her.  Her character analyses of Pip, Mr. Wemmick, and Joe is one of the best evaluations I have read.  Her chapter on “Sex, Symbol, and Satire: Gulliver’s Travels” is the finest exegesis on Swift that I encountered in many years.  Not only does Prior thoroughly understand the text, she applies the lessons seamlessly to her life.  For those who think literary criticism is boring and indigestible, Prior will quickly change your mind. Her story, weaved beautifully within the fictional stories of others, presents an enjoyable portrait of a fascinating woman, while providing keen insight into the classics that we know and love.

I highly encourage you to purchase this book.  As I read, I found a multitude of parallels between her story and my own.  Perhaps that is because every great storyteller knows the common aspects of humankind – love, joy, pain, confusion, struggle – and wraps these Truths around a compelling narrative.  In this way, we see ourselves in others and recognize that all of us are on a similar journey.

To purchase Booked on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Booked-Literature-Karen-Swallow-Prior/dp/0692014543/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367008964&sr=8-1&keywords=booked

For the Kindle version:  http://www.amazon.com/Booked-Literature-Soul-Me-ebook/dp/B009XTYJLK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367009003&sr=8-1&keywords=booked+kindle

1943 Edition of Christian Behavior

C.S. Lewis shared many great thoughts over his years. Some of them were collected and presented in a slim volume of seventy pages published on April 19, 1943. Thus, today marks the 70th anniversary of Christian Behaviour. It is more famously known, however, as being  part of Mere Christianity that came out nine years later. From whichever source you’ve read the material, they are, no doubt, among the finest discussions of traditional Christian moral teachings. First given as a series of eight talks over the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) from September 20th to November 8th in 1942, they were the third set of talks Lewis had given up to that point. Yet, Christian Behaviour is actually the second book of three released before the four broadcasts were combined in Mere Christianity.

Confused? Don’t be, because just as Lewis himself wasn’t good at math, it seems his publishers were equally challenged. Actually, that’s probably not fair to say, but they did get themselves into complicated situation when they published the first book. It was called Broadcast Talks in the U.K. and The Case for Christianity when published in the U.S. (which is a topic for another day). Let’s be clear they are the same books and both of them contain the first two series of radio addresses Lewis made. In that first book the different series are designated as “Part I” and “Part II” respectively.  When they were republished in 1952 the “Part” was changed to “Book.”

Less confusing, but still interesting, is the fact that there are actually twelve chapters to Christian Behavior. Glance back up at the start of this article and you will see there were only eight talks. This is easily explained. Lewis simply found he had more to say on the topic of morals. Also explainable without difficulty (but maybe slightly less fascinating to some) is the fact that even if Lewis hadn’t added more chapters to the book, those who read the existing content would have found more material than what was given on the radio. That’s because unlike the first two sets of talks that were fifteen minutes long, this third series was only ten minutes in length. Trouble was, no one had told Lewis about this change until after he had written his scripts for the radio. Can you imagine having to cut one-third of your content down when you only had a quarter hour in the first place? Fortunately for us, Lewis added the material back for the published version.

1st U.K. Edition

Well enough “history,” let’s consider why the content is so great. As noted, it deals with Christian morality; not exactly a topic if you are looking to write a bestseller. But that was part of why Lewis was so great, he didn’t write to make a bestseller. He wrote the best that he could on a topic he believed in and left the results in the hands of the Lord. In the opening chapter Lewis deals with “The Three Parts of Morality” and explains why rules are important; they “are directions for running the human machine” and are “there to prevent a breakdown, or a strain, or a friction, in the running of that machine.” He distinguishes the reason moral “ideas” are not the same as “rules.” Then he has you imagine “a fleet of ships sailing in formation” and makes clear the only way that voyage can be a success and how this example relates to morality.

The topic of the second chapter is plain from the title: “The ‘Cardinal Virtues’.” Here Lewis elaborates on prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude. When he was discussing them back in the 1940′s he was aware that his audience (much like today) misunderstand the meanings of those words, so he was careful to define and explain them. The third chapter, “Social Morality” explains that Christians don’t have a “detailed political programme for applying” something like the Golden Rule. Nor do we find “lessons in cookery” in the Bible that commands us to “feed the hungry.” In the next chapter Lewis compares “Morality and Psychoanalysis” and underscores the fact that psychoanalysis does not help make individuals choose wisely.

Picture from 1943′s Christian Behaviour

The fourth and fifth chapters proves that Lewis had decided to not follow the popular advice of “how to win friends and influence enemies” because they were about “Sexual Morality” and “Christian Marriage.” He turns a corner, however, and gives a more digestible chapter next on “Forgiveness.” Among his points is the truth that you are not excusing others when you forgive them. He also gives helpful advice by suggesting you tackle forgiveness like math: don’t attempt calculus until you have mastered addition.

In “The Great Sin,” Lewis notes that the center of Christian morals does not lie with sexual morality, but with pride. He warns: “Pride leads to every other vice.” He then ends with chapters on the “Theological” virtues: Faith, Hope and Love, but not in that order. He had so much to say about “Faith” that this is actually the title of the final two chapters!

There is, of course, much more that I could say about the content of this great book. However, instead of doing that, how about you leave a comment below and tell me what you enjoyed the most about this landmark publication.

If you search the term “C.S. Lewis” in Amazon, you will yield 32,557 results.  This includes Lewis’s long list of literary works (academic, apologetic, and fictional works) as well as scholarship written about Lewis and his writings.

So the question is:  why do we need another biography on Lewis, when the field is already saturated??

Alister McGrath confidently addresses this question in the introduction to his book C.S.Lewis – A Life.  McGrath grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, just as Lewis did. He is also a trained theologian, who currently serves as chair of theology, ministry, and education at the University of London. Who better to launch a holistic exploration of Lewis than someone who hails from his native Ireland and possesses a comprehensive knowledge of theology?  McGrath’s extensive bibliography includes works such as Mere Apologetics, Theology: The Basics, Christian Theology: An Introduction (which I own), “I Believe”: Exploring the Apostles’ Creed, Christianity’s Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution, “The Dawkins Delusion?: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine, and Why God Won’t Go Away: Is the New Atheism Running on Empty? Perhaps there are many Lewis biographies out there, but McGrath’s voice shares a fresh perspective on Lewis.

For one, the exploration of 1890s Ireland is an important and necessary aspect in understanding the political and social turmoil which dominated Northern Ireland during Lewis’s development. McGrath devotes his first chapter to explaining this climate in great detail.  McGrath explains how Charles Stewart Parnell led a movement to restore “Home Rule” – a sweeping revolution which aimed to eliminate any trace of English influence (and Protestantism) and return to Irish nationalism, including a restoration of the Catholic faith.  Furthermore, McGrath illustrates how the rift between Catholics and Protestants left deep scars on citizens of Belfast, including the Lewis family.  This is especially true as Lewis’s maternal grandfather was an Anglican minister.  Lewis’s father Albert was a court solicitor in Belfast, giving both Lewis sons an intimate knowledge of Irish politics (Albert insisted that his sons endure these conversations so they could be well-educated; unfortunately for him, his sons absolutely detested political discussion).  Anyone who has read Boxen, Lewis’s youthful writings from his childhood about an imaginary Animal-Land, can detect the residue of these arguments. Lewis would later weave these political reflections into some of his writings – read “Meditations on the Third Commandment”, “Willing Slaves of the Welfare State”, and That Hideous Strength among others.  This section provides the reader with great context for Lewis and gains greater validity, in my mind, because it is written by an author who, like Lewis, came of age in the same country (and to an extent, the same turmoil) as he.

Another aspect of the biography that I enjoyed is McGrath’s refusal to create hagiography.  Lewis was the first to admit his own shortcomings, and McGrath also illuminates these issues without “bashing” Lewis. As Lewis scholar Bruce Edwards points out in his four-volume collection C.S. Lewis: Life, Works, and Legacy, there is often a tendency to elevate Lewis to a saint who sipped lemonade or to foolishly cast him down as an amateur theologian who tricked the world with his brand of lukewarm doctrine titled Mere Christianity.  McGrath’s biography lands somewhere comfortably in the middle.  He maintains a cautious objectivity throughout the work.  As an admirer of Lewis (and someone who has thoroughly read his works, not just the popular ones), I appreciate this objectivity.  He mentions Lewis’s longstanding friendship and correspondence with admitted homosexual Arthur Greeves.  He admits that Lewis desired a strong “drink” after his wife died.  C.S. Lewis was a human, fraught with spiritual complexity as we all are.  McGrath presents him as such, much to my relief.

The final aspect I enjoyed was McGrath’s shrewd examination of Lewis’s relationship with women.  As a female Lewis scholar, I have endured much grief from others over the fact that Lewis supported the “men’s club” of the Inklings and prevented Susan from passing out of the Shadowlands in Narnia. After reading this biography, I have taken a greater interest in Lewis’s involvement with women.  I will be addressing this topic specifically in an upcoming blog series later this year on Crystalhurd.com.  For now, I want to focus my critique on three areas that McGrath addresses:

**McGrath discusses, at great length, the relationship between a young Lewis and Mrs. Moore.  McGrath argues that Lewis obviously admired Mrs. Moore enough to choose spending his WWI furlough with her instead of his father.  Although Lewis had a fractured relationship with his father, McGrath argues that Lewis’s attraction to Mrs. Moore was stronger. He even pulls “hints” out of various letters which reference a visitor, which he implies was Mrs. Moore. Nonetheless, Lewis took on the chore of supporting the Moores after his return from the war (or more precisely, Albert mainly supported the Moores, although he was unaware of the relationship for some time).  I find it difficult to believe that a 20-year-old would take on the burden of a family simply because he made a verbal contract with a friend.  Although Lewis possessed a strong sense of duty, I entertain the notion that he perhaps had an attraction to Mrs. Moore.  Note that I am not asserting that he carried on a relationship (sexual or otherwise) with her, but rather that he was drawn to her in some fashion.  Did he view her as a “surrogate mother”?  Perhaps (but not in some strange Oedipal way).  Lewis never addressed her as Mrs. Moore, but as “Minto”.  However, in letters written shortly before her death, Lewis refers to her as his “mother”.  Nonetheless, she plays in integral part in Lewis’s story, and McGrath gives her due attention. Some biographies dismiss this association almost completely, while others assume there was a passionate love affair between them. While we may never know for sure, it is dangerous to speculate without evidence.  McGrath, however, constructs a careful argument using Lewis’s letters and diary. He does not demand the reader accept one side of the argument, but scrupulously presents the evidence for our consideration.

**McGrath also discusses the role of talented philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe in shaping Lewis’s later literature. Anscombe was present at the Oxford Socratic Club and argued with Lewis about the philosophical aspects of Lewis’s book Miracles, specifically the claim that naturalism is self-refuting.  Many writers claim that Lewis “lost” this argument and that Lewis was so humiliated that he abandoned his theological writings for children’s literature. This notion is completely absurd. It is apparent that Lewis was not threatened by intellectual women.  In fact, he kept a healthy correspondence with many women over the decades. McGrath highlights the fact that Anscombe’s words assisted Lewis in improving his perspective.  Therefore, her input helped him clarify his argument.  This is no philosophical wrestling match; it is more an instance of “iron sharpening iron”. Lewis deeply appreciated Anscombe’s comments.  After this, Lewis revised chapter 3 of Miracles.   Some scholars wish to paint Lewis as resentful of a “smart woman”, but McGrath’s close examination reveals that Lewis found Anscombe a worthy and respected intellectual.

**A final relationship which McGrath explores is Lewis’s marriage to Joy Davidman.  McGrath discusses the assertion made by Douglas Gresham that his mother “seduced” Lewis. Recent findings at the Wade Center, which McGrath alludes to in his work, support this statement.  McGrath writes,

 These newly acquired papers include forty-five sonnets, written by Davidman for Lewis over the period 1951-1954.  As Don King has noted, these sonnets deal with Davidman’s intentions of returning to England after her initial meeting with Lewis and forging a closer relationship with him.  Twenty-eight of these sonnets set out in great detail how Davidman attempted to forge that relationship.  Lewis is represented as a glacial figure, an iceberg that Davidman intends to melt through a heady mixture of intellectual sophistication and physical allure.

McGrath makes a point that Joy was rather pushy about some issues, including her insistence that she (as his wife after a civil ceremony) and her boys occupy the Kilns.  In fact, McGrath highlights an “unpleasant” confrontation between Maureen Moore Blake and Joy, during which the latter claimed that her boys should inherit the property, while Maureen rightly stated that the home would pass to her.  Joy certainly admired Lewis for his integration of mind and faith, and as we all know, Lewis would eventually develop mutual feelings for her.   If he felt “coerced” to marry her initially, he was certainly more than willing to marry her in a religious ceremony at her hospital bedside on March 21^st, 1957.  Call it “seduction”, but their relationship produced real, abiding love.  Reading A Grief Observed shows the depths of Lewis’s devotion to Joy.

Overall, I found McGrath’s biography enjoyable.  He strives to remain objective, while painting a comprehensive portrait of a complex man.  I urge you to read this biography to broaden your understanding and appreciation of Lewis.

Many thanks to Tyndale publishers and the Tyndale Blog Network for providing an advance copy of the book.  I was not asked to write a positive review in exchange for this work.

Hello readers!

Sorry I have not posted much in the last few weeks.  Many thanks to my friend William O’Flaherty for stepping in and guest posting last week!

Over the last few weeks, I have had several people ask me to do another humorous blog.  I did one several weeks ago about my comical aspirations to be a hip-hop dancer. I typically do more academic, artistic, or life application posts here, but I would love to do another humorous post.

SO, in honor of my fabulous friend Kelly Belmonte’s new book of poetry Three Ways of Searching (out May 24 from Finishing Line Press), I am asking at least TEN readers to purchase Kelly’s book.  If I can get at least 10 readers to pre-order her book, I will do a humorous post on my MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT.  It’s from my senior year in high school, and for those who know me, you know to expect something crazy!

That rules out some of my other embarrassing moments.  Such as:

*Forgetting the words to a song I sang in high school and making up the lyrics (It was from Phantom of the Opera, so use your imagination)

*Getting a foot cramp on stage at the Rhythm and Roots Festival and trying not to wince while singing.

*Being continually electricuted by an ungrounded microphone during another performance…and trying not to wince while singing.

*Performing a solo worship song (you know, the quiet, reverent type) in the campground at the Bristol NASCAR racetrack and watching an old man walk by wearing nothing but a loose, loose towel…and trying not to wince while singing.

*The time when I was six and thought butter was ice cream (yeah, that one was pretty bad)

*The time I clumsily and unnecessarily fell while trying to dodge a foul ball as a first base coach.

Interested in helping out?  Here’s what you need to do:

1) Visit https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product_info.php?products_id=1640 and place a pre-order

2) Once you complete checkout, forward your confirmation email to info@crystalhurd.com

That’s it!  If I can get TEN people to help promote Kelly’s new book of poetry, I will let you have a hardy laugh at my expense.  Seriously, it’s that crazy!

Thanks all!!

Photo Courtesy of Lancia Smith

http://www.lanciaesmith.com/

Last Friday, Crystal was featured on the latest installment of Fridays with Friends, a series on All Nine Muses.  Crystal talks about what inspires her, her favorite artists, and where to catch up on all the latest!

http://allninemuses.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/fridays-with-friends-dr-hurd-disturbs-the-universe/

AND DON’T FORGET…Kelly Belmonte’s new book of poetry Three Ways of Searching is now available for pre-order through Finishing Line Press.  Here is a link for purchase:

https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product_info.php?products_id=1640

Lancia Smith recently conducted a fantastic interview with Kelly about the book.  Visit here for the interview:  http://www.lanciaesmith.com/2013/02/kelly-belmonte-and-three-ways-of-searching/

I am excited to announce my first guest post!  This comes courtesy of the talented William O’Flaherty (the voice and webmaster of EssentialCSLewis.com).  Today marks the 70th anniversary for the American launch of The Screwtape Letters. To celebrate this event, William reflects on Screwtape and its powerful impact.  William O’Flaherty is the creator of EssentialCSLewis.com, an online resource devoted to providing useful information on the life and writings of C.S. Lewis for both the casual and serious reader. He has also contributed articles to NarniaFans.com and Harperone’s official C.S. Lewis blog at CSLewis.com. Having worked professionally as an announcer in Christian radio, he holds a M.A. in Agency Counseling and presently works as a Family Therapist.

A Don and Two Devils Hit the Big Time
by William O’Flaherty
(EssentialCSLewis.com)

Seventy years ago this month an Oxford Don went from being a relatively unknown author in the United States to what we would call “going viral” today. Although The Screwtape Letters had been released a year before in the U.K. and did very well there (see my blog, “International Screwtape Month?”), it wasn’t published until February 16, 1943 in the U.S. Now, fifty years after his death (he died in November, 1963 on the same day JFK was killed) his star shines even brighter. The Screwtape Letters features the correspondence of a senior demon (Screwtape) written to his nephew (Wormwood) who is just starting his first assignment as a tempter. Each of the 31 letters can be read in about five minutes and provides what is sometimes humorous advice from the devil. It’s like getting a glimpse at your worse enemy’s plans to ruin your life. Imagine being in a battle and discovering letters from the opposing side with details about how it plans to destroy you.

If you lived in England in the early 1940’s you would have had the opportunity to get the inside information even earlier. The letters were first released weekly in The Guardian starting in May, 1941. Interestingly the satirical material caught some readers off guard. One person canceled their subscription because of not agreeing with the advice given by Screwtape. This individual missed the reverse viewpoint that Lewis presented. Thus, “the enemy” was God and “Our Father Below” was Satan.

If you are not familiar with the book you might fear Lewis has an unhealthy interest in devils. Lewis is aware of this tendency, but he also points out the other extreme is possible. In the short preface Lewis says:

“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”

As noted already the book is rather short, however if you want to enjoy the content in other ways besides the traditional format you have many options. First is a graphic novel of the book that was published by Marvel Comics in the 1990’s (but it is out of print). There have been several audio book versions released, including one by John Cleese. Less than ten years ago an audio drama adaptation was made by Focus on the Family Radio Theatre. It features the vice of Andy Serkis who is famous for his role as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings movies. There is even a live stage adaptation of The Screwtape Letters. The production is led by Max McLean and is currently on a national tour.

Providing a complete summary of The Screwtape Letters would be a difficult task in this short essay. That said, I do want to share some of my most enjoyed quotes from the book. Before doing this, however, I want to stress the importance of reading (or re-reading) the book itself. Some of the best material is either too lengthy to quote, or the ideas are revisited across several letters. Someday I’ll finish an index I once started looking at the topic addressed and where you find them throughout the book.

SELECTED QUOTES

“It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.” (Letter 4)

“The great thing is to direct the malice to his immediate neighbours whom he meets every day and to thrust his benevolence out to the remote circumference, to people he does not know.” (Letter 6)

“Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.” (Letter 8)

“He may say on his arrival down here, ‘I now see that I spent most of my life in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked.'” (Letters 12)

“The man who truly and disinterestedly enjoys any one thing in the world, for its own sake, and without caring two pence what other people say about it, is by that very fact fore-armed against some of our subtlest modes of attack. You should always try to make the patient abandon the people or food or books he really likes in favour of the ‘best’ people, the ‘right’ food, the ‘important’ books.”  (Letter 13)

“In the long run either Our Father or the Enemy will say ‘Mine’ of each thing that exists, and specially of each man.” (Letter 21)

William O’Flaherty started creating a variety of resources on C.S. Lewis just a few years ago and long ago brought them together in one place at EssentialCSLewis.com. For more details about The Screwtape Letters visit his blog that contains a special podcast of a talk he did on an introduction to the book. Also, last year he released a “new” address by Screwtape himself at a special Demon-Chapel. 

“Like” EssentialCSLewis.com on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/EssentialCSLewis?fref=ts

Get the latest from EssentialCSLewis by following on Twitter: @CSLewisFacts

Image courtesy of Jef Murray 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today, Crystal’s talk on Lewis as Transformational Leader (given at Taylor University last summer) is the featured talk on the All About Jack podcast. Go check it out!!

http://essentialcslewis.com/  (Bottom Left Corner)

http://lewisminute.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/aaj-podcast-c-s-lewis-as-transformational-leader-dr-crystal-hurd/

Please make sure to bookmark the informative www.essentialCSLewis.com.  Enjoy many facets of William’s site, including Jack in Retrospect (important events in the life of C.S. Lewis this week), Quote of the Day, the C.S. Lewis Quiz, C.S. Lewis Facts, and C.S. Lewis Minute.  Also, share the love and “like” EssentialCSLewis on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/#!/EssentialCSLewis