What can we still learn from C.S. Lewis? Find out in these 12 insightful lectures that cover the author's spiritual autobiography, novels, and his scholarly writings that reflect on pain and grief, love and friendship, prophecy and miracles, and education and mythology. This is your chance to explore a canon of literary work that speaks volumes about the imaginative, emotional, and spiritual power of literature. As you delve into the depths of enduring works such as the Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity, and Till We Have Faces, you'll consider a range of questions central to truly understanding why C.S. Lewis has had such a profound impact on 20th-century readers. From the magisterial Oxford History of English Literature to children's fantasy series, how did Lewis write with such brilliance and coherence in so many distinct fields? What were the people, events, and influences that shaped his thought, his character, and the spiritual drama at his life's core? What do Lewis's fictional and factual autobiographies reveal about his conversion and his efforts to explain and defend Christianity? How do his writings help readers come to grips with perennial spiritual questions involving miracles, suffering, sin, and salvation? Join Professor Markos for an eye-opening examination of why Lewis - the Oxbridge don and self-described, “very ordinary layman of the Church of England,” touches millions of readers so deeply and is considered the most widely read Christian spokesman of our time.
The Life and Writings of C. S. Lewis
Expand your knowledge of C. S. Lewis beyond his famous Chronicles of Narnia series and explore his life and his other fascinating works.
01: The Legacy of C. S. Lewis
Why has Lewis had such a profound impact on 20th-century readers? What is distinctive about his method of speaking for Christian beliefs? What shaped his thought and works?
02: Argument by Desire— “Surprised by Joy” and “The Pilgrim's Regress”
Lewis's “real” biography is the story of his spiritual pilgrimage. Why did he see his movement toward Christianity in terms of joy and desire? How did this influence his apologetics?
03: Ethics and the Tao— “Mere Christianity” and “The Abolition of Man”
In an age of relativism and skepticism, Lewis not only defended the idea that ethics are objective, but also suggested that morality at its highest points beyond itself to the divine.
04: Nature and Supernature— “Miracles” and “The Problem of Pain”
Lewis's book on miracles and his book on pain may seem unrelated, but in fact they have a close and vital connection. To grasp just what that is, you'll want to witness this lecture.
05: Heaven and Hell— “The Screwtape Letters” and “The Great Divorce”
Lewis used his imagination to explore not merely the theology but also the psychology of sin: the process by which sinners, through persistent selfishness, finally efface not only their God-given potential but their very humanity. Heaven, by contrast, is the fulfillment of our humanity.
06: Lewis the Scholar—Apologist for the Past
In addition to being a popular writer, Lewis is a major figure in the academic study of literature. In his scholarly work, Lewis sought to challenge common modern prejudices and to bring to light the views held by people in past ages.
07: Paradise Regained—The Space Trilogy, I
Lewis not only argued for the beauty and truth of older ideas, but sought to manifest that beauty and truth in his fiction. In “Out of the Silent Planet” and “Perelandra,” he beckons you on a journey through a living universe to two still-Edenic planets, raising searching questions about modern man's urge for immortality.
08: Temptation, Struggle, and Choice—The Space Trilogy, II
Watch a master intellect and storyteller at work as Lewis re-enacts the drama of temptation and choice, first on the unfallen world of Perelandra and then in a corner of our own fallen Earth.
09: Smuggled Theology—The Chronicles of Narnia, I
Lewis is perhaps best known and loved for his seven “Chronicles of Narnia,” fantasy tales for children of all ages that conjure a world of magic and wonder. Here you consider the first two Chronicles: “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” and “Prince Caspian.”
10: Journeys of Faith—The Chronicles of Narnia, II
Here the middle three “Chronicles of Narnia” — “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” “The Silver Chair,” and “The Horse and His Boy” —are illuminated more deeply through reflections on key passages that reveal Lewis's beliefs and concerns.
11: The Beginning and the End—The Chronicles of Narnia, III
The final two Chronicles, “The Magician's Nephew” and “The Last Battle,” relate the creation and destruction of Narnia. What separates the good from the evil characters in Lewis's vision?
12: Suffering unto Wisdom— “Till We Have Faces” and “A Grief Observed”
Lewis's last novel, “Till We Have Faces,” beautifully reworks the classical myth of Cupid and Psyche. The heroine is patterned on Joy Gresham Lewis. His later memoir, “A Grief Observed,” is an equally mature and profound study of the despair he felt over her death, and his own long and painful road back to faith.
Overview Course No. 297
About
Dr. Louis Markos is Professor in English at Houston Baptist University, where he also holds the Robert H. Ray Chair in Humanities. He earned his B.A. in English and History from Colgate University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Michigan. Professor Markos specializes in British romantic poetry, literary theory, and the classics and teaches courses in all three of these areas, as well as in Victorian poetry and prose, 17th-century poetry and prose, mythology, epic, and film. He received the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from the University of Michigan and was named the Opal Goolsby Teacher of the Year at Houston Baptist. Dr. Markos has published several articles and is the author of How C. S. Lewis Can Train Us to Wrestle With The Modern and Postmodern World.
