Monthly Archives: November 2012

Why I’m Not Writing a C.S. Lewis Birthday Post

He’s dead. Well, that’s the main reason I’m not writing a special happy birthday post for C.S. Lewis. True, if he were alive, we would be celebrating his eleventy-fourth birthday, which would be exceptional indeed. But he isn’t alive. He … Continue reading

Posted in Lewis Biography, News & Links | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

Peter Kreeft on Hell (Hell Series Part 2)

Peter Kreeft is a Catholic philosopher, C.S. Lewis scholar, and a contributor to the genre of Screwtape-style letters. This piece is an excerpt from his Fundamentals of Faith, and is available here. The hell with hell! says the modern mind. … Continue reading

Posted in Memorable Quotes | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Wormwood Reborn? A Screwtapian Look at The Gates by John Connolly (Hell Series Part 1)

One of the great perks as a university teacher is that I am constantly in conversation with students about good books. While this occasionally gets me into conversations about Twilight (which I read with great effort) and Hunger Games (which … Continue reading

Posted in Reflections, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

The Difference Between Pressure & Discipline: Reflection upon my 100th Post

Reaching the somewhat artificial but still satisfying pinnacle of 100 Posts on A Pilgrim in Narnia has set me into a reflective mood. I began this project just over a year ago as a way to draw together my thoughts … Continue reading

Posted in Reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

My NaNoWriMo Project: The Curse of Téarian, chapter 1

I am now midway through the month of November. While some are growing moustaches or preparing for exams, I am trying to write a novel in these slim 30 days. I posted my pre-writing process when I began, and thought … Continue reading

Posted in Creative Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Marching as to War: C.S. Lewis on His Way to the Front Line

As I began to read C.S. Lewis’ wartime letters in 1917-1918 (The Collected Letters, vol. 1), I was struck by the casual tone of his experience. On Remembrance Day in Canada, we consider the weight of the soldiers’ sacrifices for … Continue reading

Posted in Lewis Biography, Memorable Quotes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Giving Voice to the Story: On Reading the Hobbit Aloud to my Son

This blog is part of The Hobbit Read-Along at The Warden’s Walk. I’ve been assigned Chapter 14: Fire and Water. Feel free to comment on any of the great blogs in the series. When I jumped into the Hobbit Read-Along, … Continue reading

Posted in Guest Blogs, Reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

The Most Important Part: A Plea to American Christians on Election Day

Americans will go to the polls today and will elect “the leader of the free world”—the promotion the President of the United States gets in Hollywood films. As a denizen of this same free world, I am surprisingly unable to … Continue reading

Posted in Reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Prewriting for NaNoWriMo

I think for most of us the appearance of books in a bookstore is a completely magical process. We know that somewhere—perhaps in a building behind the store, or on a fantasy island with high speed wireless internet—authors are suffering … Continue reading

Posted in Thoughtful Essays | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments