An Unexpected Journal will have a table at the “Lewis Talk and Panel” hosted by Houston Baptist University’s School of Christian Thought. Come and hear from some of the top scholars in the field of Lewis studies, including contributors to the AUJ’s Planet Narnia issue. Event Description: Dr. Michael Ward, HBU professor of Apologetics and an […]
This essay has three goals: to convince the reader that we inhabitants of late modernity suffer from a condition of disenchantment; to persuade the reader that a certain sort of ‘enchantment’ gives rise to a better kind of ‘being-in-the-world’; and to demonstrate the ways in which the arts draw the imagination into a commonly imagined […]
In Jesus’s final words to his followers, he commanded them to “make disciples of all nations.”[1] This imperative extends to all his followers until his return. Throughout the centuries, we can see those who witnessed through a variety of styles: Paul used logic and persuasion, Peter used fiery conviction, and Dorcas showed the love of […]
“We must extend the word Reason to include what our ancestors called Practical Reason and confess that judgements such as society ought to be preserved . . . are not mere sentiments but are rationality itself. . .” C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man Imagine strolling downtown and asking passersby, “How would you define […]
The “Nova Effect” of the Planet Narnia Thesis[1] With mainstream media attention, a BBC documentary, star-studded podcasts and interviews, and a constellation of books and resources, is there a literary phenomenon quite like Michael Ward’s ideas about the medieval genesis of Narnia? Speaking as a C.S. Lewis scholar, I would go so far as […]
“You can’t get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” C. S. Lewis to Walter Hooper—reported in Hooper’s preface to the Lewis collection Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories (NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1966), v. Such a tapestry his mind could weave; He gave us Puddleglum […]
We continue our look at Hamilton from the perspective of Oxford Professors C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. Part one showed how issues of group and individual significance, courage and cowardice, and race, gender, and family are prominent in Hamilton, and that Lewis and Tolkien both had some significant things to say about […]
Hey yo, I’m just like my country I’m young scrappy and hungry And I’m not throwing away my shot.[1] By means of all created things, without exception, the divine assails us, penetrates us, and molds us. We imagined it as distant and inaccessible, whereas in act we live steeped in its burning layers.”[2] ~ […]
Courage comes in many forms. There is the courage of the moment when an individual rises to a challenge. There is the courage that is found in a group, a banding together and facing the odds. However, there is another sort of courage that begins in defeated circumstances with a person whom one would never […]
I have been here before. This grief that crushes my soul like a black hole. I dream that I’m clawing at slippery, black walls as I slide farther down…to what? No bottom, because the grief is in layers, just like the layers of dark events of the past few months. Everything that has been impending […]
