
The Modern Scholar
Literature of C. S. Lewis
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Narrated by:
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Timothy Shutt
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By:
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Timothy Shutt
A friend to J. R. R. Tolkien, Lewis spent much of his life at Oxford surrounded by academics who often held him in contempt for his Christian views (though few could fail to admire Lewis for his skills as a writer and his exhaustive knowledge of literature). In this course, we will look at Lewis's life and examine the influences that would help to shape Lewis both as a man and as a writer. We will take an in-depth look at Lewis's science-fiction trilogy, his Chronicles of Narnia, his apologetic and scholarly works, and his other writings.
In doing so, we will come to understand the major thematic elements that mark Lewis's work. More importantly, perhaps, we will come to a finer appreciation of a writer whose true testament may be that which he strove for in all his major works: the evocation of "joy".
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2004 Timothy Shutt (P)2004 Recorded Books, LLCListeners also enjoyed...

















Reviewing the smorgasbord of intellectual objections to Christian belief, Shutt gives primacy to the old Marxist canard that religion is a tool with which the powerful maintain their power. Unfortunately, he doesn’t close the loop: disapproval of Christianity is now used by the powerful for the very same ends. However, he’s right about all “intellectual” objections; they merely cover our unwillingness to conform to the moral demands of faith—especially those concerning human sexuality. It’s an instance of the same unnerving insight with which he credits Lewis’ apologetics.
But overall, this is (as it should be) an academic appreciation of Lewis’ literary output. Shutt is, after all, a professor, not a theologian. And it’s a tribute to Lewis’ popularity that Shutt assumes we’ve read the novels under discussion, sometimes even asking us, “What do you think?”. Still, I got less out of these talks than I expected. Most of the class time is spent on the Chronicles of Narnia; we learn something of their literary and intellectual background which may inspire me to try them again, but I fear it’s too late; man or boy, in spite of their universal appeal they’ve never appealed to me. In three lectures on The Space Trilogy, the first two volumes receive high marks while the third—my favorite—receives fainter praise. Most disappointingly, the single talk on Till We Have Faces didn’t really advanced my understanding of that novel to any great extent.
The single cursory lecture on Lewis’ apologetic books dwells largely on the Kantian underpinnings of his thinking rather than the works themselves. The final lecture on Lewis’ academic writings is, in it's way, touching; you can hear something very near reverence as Shutt describes them. There's interesting stuff throughout these lectures, but those moments of epiphany that are usually Professor Shutt’s stock in trade really aren’t here. Or, at least, not for me.
An Academic Appreciation
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I found these lectures to be consistently interesting and insightful, and they left me with new appreciation for C. S. Lewis. Shutt is knowledgeable, not only about Lewis's own writings, but about the literary background that Lewis himself loved and was influenced by. Shutt comes across as an appreciator of Lewis, but not an uncritical, gushing fanboy. He doesn't hesitate to talk about what he or others have found flawed or unsuccessful in Lewis's writings in addition to talking about the things Lewis did particularly well. And Shutt doesn't shy away from talking about Lewis's Christian faith and its influence on his writing, but in a way that neither Christian nor nonchristian listeners should find off-putting.
Worthwhile for anyone interested in Lewis
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