Monthly Archives: January 2014

A Coffee House Digression

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

Sometimes Starbucks is the best place to do my marking. Other times, it is the worst portable desk I can find. A couple of years ago, coming here meant constant interruption by friends and colleagues, but now it isn’t so … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged 1990s, characters, coffee, Starbucks, writing | 8 Comments

A Disappointed Review of the DVD Series “Saving Jesus Redux”

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

I have written hundreds of reviews, and most of them have been positive. I am quite hard on academic authors, but still work hard to accentuate the positive. When I was a music reviewer, there were a few albums I … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged antisemitism, Brian McLaren, conservative Christianity, curriculum, Hans Kung, Helen Prejean, liberal Christianity, Marcus Borg, progressive theology, Saving Jesus Redux, Teaching, theology | 35 Comments

“Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What’s to be Said” by C.S. Lewis

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

Perhaps no one would be more surprised than C.S. Lewis himself at the success of his classic children’s stories, The Chronicles of Narnia. Hundreds of millions of copies of the Narnian tales have been sold, and they are read and … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Writing, Fictional Worlds | Tagged books, C.S. Lewis, children's stories, fairy tales, fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien, lion the witch and the wardrobe, literature, Lord of the Rings, myth, mythmaking, mythopoiea, Narnia, Neil Gaiman, The Chronicles of Narnia, writing | 26 Comments

Impossible Beauty: Screwtape’s Cover Girl Message for the World

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

I’m sure these people exist somewhere in the world. But I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have body image issues. Certainly I don’t know any women who don’t admit to feeling inferior in the shadow of Cover Girl images. Men … Continue reading →

Posted in Memorable Quotes | Tagged advertising, Axe Body Spray, Beauty, C.S. Lewis, Cover Girl, Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, Glamour Girl, impossible beauty, media, Rihanna, Screwtape, sexual taste, Taylor Swift, The Screwtape Letters, Upworthy | 14 Comments

How C.S. Lewis Conceived of “The Screwtape Letters”

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

In my chronological reading of C.S. Lewis’ works, I have finally come to the letters where he describes how he thought of The Screwtape Letters. This letter to his brother has caused a lot of confusion over the years, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, Lewis Biography, Original Research | Tagged Alister McGrath, books, C.S. Lewis, fantasy, Hitler, Kathryn Lindskoog, literature, Screwtape, the devil, The Guardian, The Screwtape Letters, Walter Hooper, writing, WWII | 47 Comments

“From Middle Earth to the Garden of Eden” An Inklings Class (by Distance)

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

I am excited to announce that I have a class on culture and ideas beginning tonight called, “From Middle Earth to the Garden of Eden: Thoughts on Faith and Culture from C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.” Most of you don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in News & Links | Tagged Alister McGrath, C.S. Lewis, culture, fantasy, Frederick Buechner, George MacDonald, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, literature, Madeleine L'Engle, Middle Earth, myth, Narnia, The Hobbit, theology | 17 Comments

Great Links: Joel Heck’s C.S. Lewis Site and Calendar

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

As part of my Great Links occasional feature, Joel Heck’s website is certainly worth highlighting. Dr. Heck is a theology and Bible professor at the Concordia University of Texas and a long time reader of C.S. Lewis. I have reviewed … Continue reading →

Posted in News & Links | Tagged C.S. Lewis, calendar, chronology, Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Great Links, joel heck, Walter Hooper, Warren Lewis | 15 Comments

Art as a Battle, and a Dozen Other Things

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

It is a new image for me, the idea of art as a battle. Writing is not that for me. It is hard, to be sure. Some of my most difficult moments are in the sculpting of images into words. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged art, imagination, Lily Briscoe, literature, To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf, writing, WWI | 12 Comments

A Small Circle of Blog Friends

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

As we slide into this New Year, I thought I would share some of the other bloggers and websites I’m networked with. Thanks to WordPress stats, I can track these things pretty easily. Here is my small circle of blog … Continue reading →

Posted in Guest Blogs, News & Links | Tagged blogger, Blogging, books, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, children's literature, fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien, literature, Lord of the Rings, Middle Earth, Tolkien | 16 Comments

2013 in Review (Some Weird Stats from the WordPress People)

Posted on January 3, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 49,000 times in 2013. If it were a … Continue reading →