C. S. Lewis and Friends: Faith and the Power of Imagination
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Overview
C. S. Lewis is one of the best loved and most engaging Christian writers of modern times, and he continues to be a powerful defender of the faith. In his imaginative fiction, his genius finds its fullest expression and makes its most lasting theological contribution. Lewis and his group of friends—famously known as the “Inklings”—employed powerfully creative imaginations to explore the profundities of Christian thought and their struggles with their faith. This book contains illuminating essays on C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Dorothy L. Sayers, Rose Macaulay and Austin Farrer.
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- Explores the fiction of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Austin Farrer, and others
- Examines how complex theological thought is expressed in fiction
- Illuminates the literary ruminations of some of the “Inklings” of Oxford
- Introduction: “Faith, Reason, and Imagination,” by David Hein and Edward Henderson
- “C. S. Lewis: Reason, Imagination, and Knowledge,” by Peter J. Schakel
- “Austin Farrer: The Sacramental Imagination,” by Edward Henderson
- “Dorothy L. Sayers: War and Redemption,” by Ann Loades
- “Charles Williams: Words, Images, and (the) Incarnation,” by Charles Hefling
- “Rose Macauley: A Voice from the Edge,” by David Hein
- “J. R. R. Tolkien: His Sorrowful Vision of Joy,” by Ralph C. Wood
Top Highlights
“imagination, not historical fact alone, is crucial to the development and discernment of revealed truth” (Page 6)
“do not use religious practices as a way to show off and gain the approval of people” (Page 6)
“‘Imagination, for Lewis, can be defined as the mental, but not intellectual, faculty that puts things into meaningful relationships to form unified wholes.’ Imagination accomplishes this feat ‘not through a logical or intellectual process but through association, intuition, or inspiration’.” (Page 5)
“Faith as a trusting hope in God’s future. Faith as the opposite not of doubt but of fear: faith courageously taking doubt within itself. Faith as the habitual orientation of a self whose character has been formed by images and stories and shaped by practices that sink these images deep within a person’s mind and heart and will. Faith, then, as a dynamic involvement of the whole self and not an affair of any one aspect of the self—cognitive, volitional or emotional—alone.” (Page 2)
“Most of all, Lewis understood this faculty to be concerned with the discernment of meaning. Reason finds factual truth, but imagination and metaphor are necessary in order to fully grasp the significance of truth.” (Page 4)
C. S. Lewis and Friends is particularly strong on the subjects of faith, reason, and their relation. What members of Lewis’s circle have to say on these topics is of contemporary relevance at every turn. . . . The authors of this book typically strike just the right balance between a survey of the figure at the heart of the particular chapter and a presentation of some specific examples of their theological interests. . . . The result is an ideal, more theological, book to put alongside Humphrey Carpenter’s group biography The Inklings.
—Church Times
- Title: C. S. Lewis and Friends: Faith and the Power of Imagination
- Editors: David Hein and Edward H. Henderson
- Publisher: SPCK
- Publication Date: 2011
- Pages: 176
David Hein is professor and chair of religion and philosophy at Hood College. He is also the author of Noble Powell and the Episcopal Establishment in the Twentieth Century.
Edward H. Henderson is professor of philosophy at Louisiana State University. He is the co-editor, with Brian Hebblethwaite, of Divine Action: Studies Inspired by the Philosophical Theology of Austin Farrar.
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