May 26: The Problem of Pain
It all begins with an idea.
On Sunday, May 26, we'll begin a discussion of The Problem of Pain. We will discuss the preface and Chapter 1: "Introductory." We will likely stay with this book for a few months. The Problem of Pain was published in 1940, after Out of the Silent Planet and before The Screwtape Letters (see https://joelheck.com/chronologically-lewis/ ).
Michael Ward explains the question addressed by The Problem of Pain and the book's main thesis in this 4-minute Hillsdale College video.
Arend Smilde provides his notes on quotations and allusions in The Problem of Pain on his Lewisiana.nl site.
The Problem of Pain has ten chapters:
Preface
Ch 1: Introductory
Ch 2: Divine Omnipotence
Ch 3: Divine Goodness
Ch 4: Human Wickedness
Ch 5: The Fall of Man
Ch 6: Human Pain
Ch 7: Human Pain, continued
Ch 8: Hell
Ch 9: Animal Pain
Ch 10: Heaven
Appendix
Central Texas C. S. Lewis is a reading group that meets in Austin, Texas.
For meeting details, please send a request through our Contact Form. Thank you.
April 13 Understanding C. S. Lewis | April 28 Regular Meeting
It all begins with an idea.
April 13, 2024: Our public Silver Anniversary event for the Austin community will be held at Redeemer Church, Austin, on Saturday, April 13. More information here.
April 28, 2024: Our regular meeting will be a discussion of the events and ideas from the April 13 gathering. Concepts we may discuss include Psalm 19, Longing, Natural Law, Objective Value, Communication, Prayer, Beauty, Art.
Central Texas C. S. Lewis is a reading group that meets in Austin, Texas.
For meeting details, please send a request through our Contact Form. Thank you.
March 2024: Our 25 Years with C. S. Lewis
It all begins with an idea.
In March 2024, we'll discuss Lewis quotes, books, and memories from our 25 years together as a reading group. Whether you have been with us since the founding in 1999 or you joined us this week, you are invited to share with us something about your life with C. S. Lewis. Our public Silver Anniversary event for the Austin community will be held at Redeemer Church, Austin, on Saturday, April 13.
So in March, we’ll discuss topics such as:
a short reading from a Lewis work
a Lewis book particularly meaningful to you
a question that Lewis is helping you with
memories from our time reading Lewis together
Central Texas C. S. Lewis is a reading group that meets in Austin, Texas.
To request meeting details, please use our Contact Form. Thank you.
Feb 2024: Is Progress Possible?
It all begins with an idea.
In February 2024, we will discuss Lewis’s essay “Is Progress Possible?” from the book God in the Dock. The essay originally appeared in The Observer (20 July 1958).
Here is an excerpt from the first paragraph:
“I care far more how humanity lives than how long. Progress, for me, means increasing goodness and happiness of individual lives. For the species, as for each man, mere longevity seems to me a contemptible ideal.”
Central Texas C. S. Lewis is a reading group that meets in Austin, Texas.
To request meeting details, please use our Contact Form. Thank you.
Jan 2024: Meditation in a Toolshed
It all begins with an idea.
In January 2024, we will discuss “Meditation in a Toolshed” by C. S. Lewis. The image above is a screenshot from the YouTube channel Knowing and Understanding C. S. Lewis which offers a Read Along of “Meditation in a Toolshed,” which means that you can listen to the text being read as you yourself are reading it on the screen. We thank William OFlaherty for the video.
“Meditation in a Toolshed” is available in print as one of the essays in the book God in the Dock.
An audio-only version is available on YouTube on the C. S. Lewis essays channel. Even if you don’t press play, you can view a lovely, imaginative graphic of Lewis with his pipe smoke : )
Peter Kreeft calls “Meditation in a Toolshed” the underlying epistemology of all of Lewis’s writing (“The Achievement of C. S. Lewis,” 1998).
Central Texas C. S. Lewis is a reading group that meets in Austin, Texas.
To request meeting details, please use our Contact Form. Thank you.
Dec 2023: No meeting
It all begins with an idea.
Our reading group doesn’t meet in December. Our next meeting will be in January 2024.
Meanwhile, for Advent the C. S. Lewis Institute is offering a digital Advent Calendar. Here’s a description from the C. S. Lewis Institute website:
We invite you to join us this Advent season as we draw upon the music and biblical lyrics of Handel’s Messiah to help us prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Each daily devotion will include a biblical text drawn directly from Messiah, a meditation written by one of our gifted CSLI authors, classical artwork for reflection, and music of Messiah performed by The Falls Church Anglican Choir under the musical direction of Simon Dixon, all of which can be experienced on our Website. You can also subscribe for daily devotionals with the music delivered to your inbox.
Central Texas C. S. Lewis is a reading group that meets in Austin, Texas.
To request meeting details, please use our Contact Form. Thank you.
Nov 2023: Letters to Malcolm: 17-22
It all begins with an idea.
In November 2023, we continue our discussion of Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer. Our focus will be Letters 17-22. Here’s a excerpt from Letter 17, paragraph 13:
We—or at least I—shall not be able to adore God on the highest occasions if we have learned no habit of doing so on the lowest. At best our faith and reason will tell us that He is adorable, but we shall not have found Him so, not have “tasted and seen.” Any patch of sunlight in a wood will show you something about the sun which you could never get from reading books on astronomy. These pure and spontaneous pleasures are “patches of Godlight” in the woods of our experience.
Arend Smilde's Lewisiana site has helpful notes for quotations and allusions in Letters to Malcolm.
Central Texas C. S. Lewis is a reading group that meets in Austin, Texas.
To request meeting details, please use our Contact Form. Thank you.
Oct 2023: Letters to Malcolm: 11-16
It all begins with an idea.
In October 2023, we continue our discussion of Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer. Our focus will be Letters 11-16.
Arend Smilde's Lewisiana site has helpful notes for quotations and allusions in Letters to Malcolm.
Central Texas C. S. Lewis is a reading group that meets in Austin, Texas.
To request meeting details, please use our Contact Form. Thank you.
Sept 2023: Letters to Malcolm: 6-10
It all begins with an idea.
In September 2023, we continue our discussion of Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer. Our focus will be Letters 6-10. Here are passages we might discuss:
Letter 6: “This department of life, labelled “sacred,” can become an end in itself'; an idol that hides both God and my neighbours” (p30).
Letter 7: Petitionary prayer is “recommended to us both by precept and example. Our Lord in Gethsemane made a petitionary prayer (and did not get what he asked for)” (p35).
Arend Smilde's Lewisiana site has helpful notes for quotations and allusions in Letters to Malcolm.
Central Texas C. S. Lewis is a reading group that meets in Austin, Texas.
To request meeting details, please use our Contact Form. Thank you.
Aug 2023: Letters to Malcolm: 1-5
It all begins with an idea.
In August 2023 we will discuss Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer. We will focus on the first five letters. Here's a description from The C. S. Lewis Readers' Encyclopedia, entry by Peter Schakel:
This is the last book Lewis wrote; written in April and May of 1963, it was published in 1964, several months after his death. He began a book on prayer in 1952 and worked at it in 1953, but he gave it up early in 1954. A decade later he thought of constructing the book as a series of letters to an imaginary correspondent. Once he found the right form, the book came easily and successfully—indeed many readers regard it as the best of his theological works.
The C. S. Lewis Foundation has a study guide to Letters to Malcolm.
Arend Smilde's Lewisiana site has notes for quotations and allusions in Letters to Malcolm.
Central Texas C. S. Lewis is a reading group that meets in Austin, Texas.
To request meeting details, please use our Contact Form. Thank you.