C. S. Lewis at Poets' Corner

by Michael Ward (Editor), Peter S. Williams (Editor), Vernon White (Foreword)

On the fiftieth anniversary of his death, C. S. Lewis was memorialized in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, taking his place beside the greatest names in English literature. Oxford and Cambridge Universities, where Lewis taught, also held commemorations. This volume gathers together addresses from those events. Rowan Williams and Alister McGrath assess Lewis's legacy in theology, Malcolm Guite addresses his integration of reason and imagination, William Lane Craig takes a philosophical perspective, while Lewis's successor as Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English, Helen Cooper, considers him as a critic. The collection also includes more personal and creative Walter Hooper, Lewis biographer, recalls their first meeting; there are poems, essays, a panel discussion, and even a report by the famous "Mystery Worshipper" from the Ship of Fools website, along with a moving reflection by royal wedding composer Paul Mealor about how he set one of Lewis's poems to music. Containing theology, literary criticism, poetry, memoir, and much else besides, this volume reflects the breadth of Lewis's interests and the astonishing variety of his own a diverse and colorful commemoration of an extraordinary man. "Formidably learned and capable of dazzling eloquence, C. S. Lewis was one of the towering intellects of the twentieth century. Interest in his work and achievements persists unabated. The lucid power and luminous imagination of the mind of Lewis, moreover, is most admirably illustrated in this fine collection of essays by a distinguished and distinctive group of scholars." --Douglas Hedley, Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge; author, The Iconic Imagination "This unique and essential volume provides a fitting tribute to C. S. Lewis on the fiftieth anniversary of his death, including the actual proceedings of the historic event at Westminster Abbey, as well as suitably wide-ranging engagements with his remarkable achievements as scholar, theologian, apologist, poet, and imaginative writer." --Robert MacSwain, Associate Professor of Theology, The University of the South; coeditor of The Cambridge Companion to C. S. Lewis Michael Ward is a Fellow of Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, and Professor of Apologetics at Houston Baptist University, Texas. He is author of Planet The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis (2008). Peter S. Williams is Assistant Professor in Communication and Worldviews at Gimlekollen College, NLA University, Norway. His books include C. S. Lewis vs. the New Atheists (2013) and A Faithful Guide to Philosophy (2013).

Genres: Grad School

272 pages, Hardcover

Published April 8, 2016

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Reviews

[Justin Wiggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read through this wonderful book called C.S. Lewis at Poets' Corner, edited by Michael Ward and Peter S. Williams, I felt like I was at the C.S. Lewis ceremony where they honored him in Poets’ Corner on November 22, 2013 in London, England. I don’t know how Jack Lewis would have felt about such a ceremony, but I am glad he was given such a high honor which he certainly deserved. I really enjoyed the personal recollections from people who knew Lewis, essays, conversations, and interviews about his theology, literary criticism, literary legacy, and cultural impact, and the descriptions of Westminster Abbey. I do hope to see this hallowed thin place someday where great writers like Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, Samuel Johnson, Charlotte, Anne, and Emily Bronte, and last but not least, my favorite writer, C. S. Lewis, have been honored.
My favorite piece from this wonderful book, was Walter Hooper’s essay about his memories of how he first came to read Lewis’s writings, became his friend, and his personal secretary. I appreciate the fact that Mr. Hooper is from my native state of North Carolina. The hard work that Hooper has put into honoring Lewis’s literary legacy is greatly appreciated by many. I still remember what it was like having dinner with him and some friends at The Plough in England. He was very charming, funny, a great conversationalist, and he signed his biography on Lewis for me that he co-authored with Roger Lancelyn Green. I found that book at St.Philip’s in Oxford, which brings back a good memory.
"The Screwtape Letters was one of the first theological works Lewis published. It appeared in weekly installments, at the same time the 'Mere Christianity' talks were being broadcast. Lewis had the publishers of the Letters and the BBC send the fees for both works to a list of widows and orphans he provided. Lewis had his old friend, Owen Barfield, a solicitor, set up a charitable trust-which they called 'The Agape'- into which two-thirds of Lewis's total income would go. All the gifts from the Agape were given anonymously.....When I realised the extent of his generosity-two thirds of his total income!-and knowing what a plain, almost threadbare, life Lewis lived, I was stunned that he was so extremely generous. 'Jack!' I said, 'Why give away so much?' The simplicity of his answer left me speechless. 'God was so good in having me,' he said 'that the least I could do was give away most of what I made in His name."- Walter Hooper.

[Craig Barner · Rating 3 out of 5]

C.S. Lewis at Poets' Corner is a penetrating, if occasionally exhaustive, collection of essays and other works about the great writer on the 50th anniversary of his death in 2013, when Lewis was memorialized. A stone was unveiled for him at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. The essays by a diverse group of writers, academics and religious people delve into every facet of Lewis -- why he wrote in as many disparate genres as he did, what his religious, literary and philosophical concerns were and what type of a man he was.

Some of the pieces are inspired, like those of Alister McGrath and Malcolm Guite, the former an academic and author and the other a religious man as well as an author. The McGrath piece relates the rigor of Lewis's logic, while Guite's piece underlines a different side of Lewis. For him, logic and reason were not enough to grasp the essential verities of life, but he wasn't one to abandon common sense either. Lewis's brilliance was to take a two-prong approach to the deepest questions of faith a man has: He used story to try to explain God and some of His mysteries. If God is good, for instance, why does he allow so much suffering? This method led Lewis to abandon his atheism and through a series of steps embrace Christian faith, a conviction of the life beyond that of the rational senses.

Lewis was the most catholic of writers. A lover of books, he was supremely intellectual, yet Lewis was convinced that the search for knowledge had its limits and could be damaging. Lewis was cosmopolitan yet loved the common folk. He was gentle and loving, but Lewis was fearsome and unrelenting in debate and even in everyday conversation. C.S. Lewis at Poets' Corner underlines all these shades of his life and work. And the work accentuates why Lewis remains a fascinating figure more than a half century after his death.

Not all the contributions felt substantive. It includes the actual notes of the service that memorialized Lewis at Poets' Corner. It would have been moving to attend that service, but the outline of the services comes across as superfluous in this. Most of the essays are lucid, but a couple are a bit dull and insipid, such as the one comparing Christianity with Platonism. That idea sounds fascinating, but not in this treatment.

I appreciate this work for another reason: It is not politicized. In the U.S., Christianity is increasingly intermingling with politics. And these politics are often directly opposed to all that Jesus (and C.S. Lewis) taught. In a previous work, I encountered a hint of religious partisanship in a one contributor here -- McGrath. This isn't the case for him or any of the other contributors to C.S. Lewis at Poets' Corner. It even included a report by the famous "Mystery Worshipper" from the Ship of Fools website. It was piece with an ironic, snarky tone that would appeal to hip young urbanites, quite a contrast with the earnestness of most followers of C.S. Lewis.

C.S. Lewis at Poets' Corner reminds readers it's possible to be Christian while remaining thoughtful. C.S. Lewis was certainly that, a man for the ages.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorites: telling the truth through rational argument (McGrath), telling the truth through imaginative fiction (Guite), it makes no difference (Prickett), remembering CS Lewis (Hooper)

Great mixture of scholarship about and tributes to CSL

[wyclif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good collection of essays from a wide range of literary, historical, and theological perspectives, given on the 50th anniversary of CSL's death. I skimmed around a lot; I think most readers will give more attention to the Williams and McGrath essays.

[Lucy Pevensie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorites: telling the truth through rational argument (McGrath), telling the truth through imaginative fiction (Guite), it makes no difference (Prickett), remembering CS Lewis (Hooper)

Great mixture of scholarship about and tributes to CSL