The film release of C.S. Lewis’ timeless classic, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, delighted his many fans, and introduced a new generation to one of the greatest stories ever written. Lewis’ fiction is rich with religious symbolism, and his theological and spiritual writings are masterpieces of Christian literature. Nashotah House Seminary has developed a course that introduces students to the genius behind this, and many other works entitled, “C.S. Lewis Visits Nashotah,” beginning in January 2007.

The purpose of this course is to examine the life of C.S. Lewis as interpreted through a variety of his most influential writings. The course will examine Lewis’ personal, intellectual, and theological context with special emphasis given to Lewis’s particularly Anglican expression of the Christian faith. The course considers how Lewis’s cultural influence continues to serve as a model for contemporary Christian apologetics.

The course will begin on Tuesday January 30, 2007, and will be held Tuesday evenings from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM at Nashotah House. Each evening will consist of a presentation from either a faculty member of Nashotah House or one of several guest lecturers from the Milwaukee and Chicago areas.

Students may audit the course or take it for credit. Those taking it for credit will prepare and discuss seminar-style papers the two weeks after the lectures. Thus, the make-up of students will vary. Some will be our own students taking it as an elective, but many may be attending from the community who are seeking some formal adult education.

Each lecture is 2.5 hours with a 20-30 minute break in the middle. Hence, each evening will essentially entail two one-hour lectures on the topic.

Click here for a registration form you can print and mail. (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

If you have questions about Nashotah House's course, C.S. Lewis Visits Nashotah, please contact Dr. Carol Klukas, Director of Admissions, (262) 646-6547.

A helpful guide to many of Lewis' non-fiction books (published by HarperCollins) is available here.

The following is a schedule of topics with a tentative list of assigned and recommended texts. Additional readings will be added prior to the start of the semester, so if you are interested in taking the course, please check this list again periodically.
Date  - Topic Instructor
     
1/30/07 The Life and Times of C.S. Lewis Dean Robert Munday, Nashotah House
 
     
2/6/07 Lewis, the Intellectual—Lewis, the Anglican Fr. Arnold Klukas, Nashotah House
 
  1. C. S. Lewis’ autobiography, Surprised by Joy and an article (Copies will be provided.) by Wayne Martindale, “C.S. Lewis, Reluctant Churchman,” in Touchstone 10.4 (1997), pp. 14-16.
     
2/13/07 The Legacy of the Socratic Club Dr. Angus Menuge, Concordia University Wisconsin
  Required reading:
  1. Ed. Walter Hooper, God in The Dock (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1970), Especially: Part I, ch. 15, “The Founding of the Oxford Socratic Club,” ch. 16, “Religion Without Dogma?” and ch. 21, “Is Theism Important?”.

Recommended:

  1. Walter Hooper, “Oxford’s Bonny Fighter,” in ed. James Como, C. S. Lewis at the Breakfast Table and Other Reminiscences (New York: Macmillan, 1979).
  2. Christopher W. Mitchell, “University Battles: C. S. Lewis and the Oxford Socratic Club” in ed. Angus Menuge, C. S. Lewis: Lightbearer in the Shadowlands (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1997).
  3. Victor Reppert, C. S. Lewis’s Dangerous Idea: In Defense of the Argument from Reason (Downers’ Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003).
     
2/20/07 The Theology of C. S. Lewis Fr. Thomas Holtzen, Nashotah House
  Required reading:
  1. Lewis, Mere Christianity
  2. Lewis, God in the Dock
     
2/27/07 Lewis on Christianity and other Worldviews Dr. David Werther, University of Wisconsin-Madison
 
     
3/6/07 Lewis on God's Freedom and Jesus' Divinity Dr. David Werther, University of Wisconsin-Madison
 
     
3/13/07 Lewis and the Bible Dr. Timothy Johnson, Nashotah House
 
     
3/20/07 Lewis on Suffering and Evil Dr. Jerry Root, Wheaton College
  Required reading:
  1. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
  2. A Grief Observed
  3. Root’s Chapter in Menuge’s Book “CSL Lightbearer in the Shadowlands,” Eerdmans, 1997.
     
3/27/07 C. S. Lewis and The Chronicles of Narnia Dr. Leland Ryken, Wheaton College
  Required reading:
  1. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

Optional reading:

  1. Lewis, Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
  2. “On Three Ways of Writing for Children,” available in Of Other Worlds and On Stories and Other Essays On Literature
     
4/3/07 Lewis' Fiction (Outside of Narnia) Dr. Angus Menuge, Concordia University Wisconsin
  Required reading:
  1. Lewis, The Great Divorce.
  2. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet.
  3. Lewis, Perelandra.
  4. Lewis, That Hideous Strength.
  5. Lewis, Till We Have Faces.

Recommended reading:

  1. Lionel Adey, C. S. Lewis: Writer, Dreamer and Mentor (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998).
  2. David C. Downing, Planets in Peril: A Critical Study of C. S. Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy (Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1992).
  3. Doris T. Myers, C. S. Lewis in Context (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1994).
     
4/17/07 Lewis in Public and Private Prayer Fr. Arnold Klukas, Nashotah House
 
  1. C. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm (1964) (preferably the Harcourt edition of 1991).
     
4/24/07 The Meaning of Lewis for the Church Today Fr. Douglas McGlynn, Nashotah House
 
     
5/1/07 Seminar Papers (for those taking the course for credit) Dr. Timothy Johnson (and others), Nashotah House
 
     
5/8/07 Seminar Papers (for those taking the course for credit) Dr. Timothy Johnson (and others), Nashotah House
 
     

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