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 […]
Having abused and misconstrued the word “gender,” we moderns have succeeded in obscuring its meaning entirely. Gender can apply to a quality that we are born with, or more recently, an attribute we can choose — a recent report gives us seventy-one gender options and counting.[1] Gender and sex are often used interchangeably, blurring the […]
Preliminary: Why A Voyage to Arcturus? The limits of the literary genre Science Fiction (‘sci-fi’) have stretched ever since, according to C.S. Lewis, its works rose sharply in production in the 1930s and 40s.[1] An example is that even stories such as Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy — which are more like fantasy — are acceptably labeled […]
With the onset of Spring, it dawned on me that not only did Lewis have a fair amount to say about new life and Spring, he also had quite a bit to say about all the seasons at one point or another. Using some of Lewis’s own words, usually poetic enough on their own unmetered […]
Long before history began recording them, man has communicated through stories. Stories of wonder. Stories of courage. Stories of power. Stories of gods. In today’s age, stories are released from every corner of the globe through YouTube, self-publishing sites, mobile apps, or personal blogs. The world is flooded with stories in whatever genre or format […]
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 […]
