[PDF] Planet Narnia eBook

Author : Michael Ward
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 655 pages
File Size : 14,32 MB
Release : 2008-01-15
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0199740933

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For over half a century, scholars have laboured to show that C. S. Lewis's famed but apparently disorganised Chronicles of Narnia have an underlying symbolic coherence, pointing to such possible unifying themes as the seven sacraments, the seven deadly sins, and the seven books of Spenser's Faerie Queene. None of these explanations has won general acceptance and the structure of Narnia's symbolism has remained a mystery. Michael Ward has finally solved the enigma. In Planet Narnia he demonstrates that medieval cosmology, a subject which fascinated Lewis throughout his life, provides the imaginative key to the seven novels. Drawing on the whole range of Lewis's writings (including previously unpublished drafts of the Chronicles), Ward reveals how the Narnia stories were designed to express the characteristics of the seven medieval planets - - Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Luna, Mercury, Venus, and Saturn - - planets which Lewis described as "spiritual symbols of permanent value" and "especially worthwhile in our own generation". Using these seven symbols, Lewis secretly constructed the Chronicles so that in each book the plot-line, the ornamental details, and, most important, the portrayal of the Christ-figure of Aslan, all serve to communicate the governing planetary personality. The cosmological theme of each Chronicle is what Lewis called 'the kappa element in romance', the atmospheric essence of a story, everywhere present but nowhere explicit. The reader inhabits this atmosphere and thus imaginatively gains connaître knowledge of the spiritual character which the tale was created to embody. Planet Narnia is a ground-breaking study that will provoke a major revaluation not only of the Chronicles, but of Lewis's whole literary and theological outlook. Ward uncovers a much subtler writer and thinker than has previously been recognized, whose central interests were hiddenness, immanence, and knowledge by acquaintance.

Author : Rowan Williams
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 167 pages
File Size : 49,58 MB
Release : 2012
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 0199975736

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Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams offers fascinating insight into The Chronicles of Narnia, the popular series of novels by one of the most influential Christian authors of the modern era, C. S. Lewis. Lewis once referred to certain kinds of book as a "mouthwash for the imagination." This is what he attempted to provide in the Narnia stories, argues Williams: an unfamiliar world in which we could rinse out what is stale in our thinking about Christianity--"which is almost everything," says Williams--and rediscover what it might mean to meet the holy. Indeed, Lewis's great achievement in the Narnia books is just that-he enables readers to encounter the Christian story "as if for the first time." How does Lewis makes fresh and strange the familiar themes of Christian doctrine? Williams points out that, for one, Narnia itself is a strange place: a parallel universe, if you like. There is no "church" in Narnia, no religion even. The interaction between Aslan as a "divine" figure and the inhabitants of this world is something that is worked out in the routines of life itself. Moreover, we are made to see humanity in a fresh perspective, the pride or arrogance of the human spirit is chastened by the revelation that, in Narnia, you may be on precisely the same spiritual level as a badger or a mouse. It is through these imaginative dislocations that Lewis is able to communicate--to a world that thinks it knows what faith is--the character, the feel, of a real experience of surrender in the face of absolute incarnate love. This lucid, learned, humane, and beautifully written book opens a new window onto Lewis's beloved stories, revealing the moral wisdom and passionate faith beneath their perennial appeal.

Author : C. S. Lewis
Publisher : Harper Collins
Page : 540 pages
File Size : 31,91 MB
Release : 1998-09-18
Category : Juvenile Fiction
ISBN : 0060281375

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All seven Chronicles are bound together in this one magnificent volume with a personal introduction by Douglas Gresham, stepson of C. S. Lewis.

Author : Robert MacSwain
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : pages
File Size : 39,99 MB
Release : 2010-09-09
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1139828320

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A distinguished academic, influential Christian apologist, and best-selling author of children's literature, C. S. Lewis is a controversial and enigmatic figure who continues to fascinate, fifty years after his death. This Companion is a comprehensive single-volume study written by an international team of scholars to survey Lewis's career as a literary historian, popular theologian, and creative writer. Twenty-one expert voices from the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, Princeton University, and Wheaton College, among many other places of learning, analyze Lewis's work from theological, philosophical, and literary perspectives. Some chapters consider his professional contribution to fields such as critical theory and intellectual history, while others assess his views on issues including moral knowledge, gender, prayer, war, love, suffering, and Scripture. The final chapters investigate his work as a writer of fiction and poetry. Original in its approach and unique in its scope, this Companion shows that C. S. Lewis was much more than merely the man behind Narnia.

Author : C. S. Lewis
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 355 pages
File Size : 14,53 MB
Release : 2013-11-07
Category : Literary Collections
ISBN : 1107685389

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This volume includes over twenty of C. S. Lewis's most important literary essays, written between 1932 and 1962. The topics discussed range from Chaucer to Kipling, from 'The Literary Impact of the Authorized Version' to 'Psycho-Analysis and Literary Criticism,' from Shakespeare and Bunyan to Sir Walter Scott and William Morris. Common to each essay, however, is the lively wit, the distinctive forthrightness and the discreet erudition which characterizes Lewis's best critical writing.

Author : Douglas Wilson
Publisher : Canon Press & Book Service
Page : 176 pages
File Size : 34,2 MB
Release : 2010-11-23
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1591280796

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One rainy day, years ago, a little girl named Lucy discovered that the back of a wardrobe isn't always just the back of a wardrobe. Sometimes, it's a door into another world.In Lucy's case, that other world was called Narnia, and though she was among the first to enter it, she was by no means the last. Millions of children (young and old) have followed her there and met its strange but wonderful inhabitants--Mr. Tumnus, Reepicheep, and Puddleglum, among others. But the lessons of Narnia don't just belong to the world of fiction and fantasy. We may never meet fawns, talking mice, or marshwiggles in our ordinary lives, but the lessons they teach in The Chronicles of Narnia are the very lessons we need to fight the battles we face in our everyday lives. Douglas Wilson begins this series of meditations on C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia with the observation, "This is not intended to be an introduction to Narnia at all, but is rather more like a conversation between good friends about some other good friends, talking about what a good time we all had and why." Wilson highlights the practical themes of mature, Christian living that emerge from these classic tales--nobility, confession, complete grace--a joyful contrast to the thinness of modern life. A must for any Narnia fan, young or old.

Author : C. S. Lewis
Publisher :
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 25,44 MB
Release : 2022-11-09
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9789356612563

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The Space Trilogy is a fantastic work of fantasy that demonstrates C.S.Lewis's incredible imagination. This new one-volume version commemorates the 75th anniversary of Out of the Silent Planet's first publication with an exclusive Foreword by J.R.R. Tolkien, who inspired the main character of Ransom.

Author : Christiana Hale
Publisher : Roman Roads Press
Page : pages
File Size : 30,1 MB
Release : 2020-12-25
Category :
ISBN : 9781944482565

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C. S. Lewis' Ransom Trilogy, better known as "the Space Trilogy", is a much-neglected and yet critically important part of Lewis' works. It has captivated and bewildered readers since its publication, and though hundreds of books about Lewis have been written, few seek to navigate the maze that is Lewis's "space-travel story." These books are a distillation in novel form of one of Lewis' favorite subjects, a subject whose melody is woven into almost everything that Lewis ever wrote: the medieval model of the cosmos.Deeper Heaven is a guide and companion through the magical web of medieval cosmology, ancient myth, and critique of modern philosophies that makes up the oft-maligned "Space Trilogy." A student and teacher of literature and history herself, Christiana Hale will walk you through the Trilogy one step at a time, with eyes fixed where Lewis himself fixed his: on Deep Heaven and beyond. In the process, many questions will be answered: What does Christ have to do with Jupiter? Why does Lewis care so much about the medieval conception of the heavens? Why should we? And, perhaps the most puzzling question of all: why is Merlin in That Hideous Strength?

Author : Michael Ward
Publisher :
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 23,14 MB
Release : 2021
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781943243778

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After Humanity is a guide to one of C.S. Lewis's most widely admired but least accessible works, The Abolition of Man, which originated as a series of lectures on ethics that he delivered during the Second World War. These lectures tackle the thorny question of whether moral value is objective or not. When we say something is right or wrong, are we recognizing a reality outside ourselves, or merely reporting a subjective sentiment? Lewis addresses the matter from a purely philosophical standpoint, leaving theological matters to one side. He makes a powerful case against subjectivism, issuing an intellectual warning that, in our "post-truth" twenty-first century, has even more relevance than when he originally presented it. Lewis characterized The Abolition of Man as "almost my favourite among my books," and his biographer Walter Hooper has called it "an all but indispensable introduction to the entire corpus of Lewisiana." In After Humanity, Michael Ward sheds much-needed light on this important but difficult work, explaining both its general academic context and the particular circumstances in Lewis's life that helped give rise to it, including his front-line service in the trenches of the First World War. After Humanity contains a detailed commentary clarifying the many allusions and quotations scattered throughout Lewis's argument. It shows how this resolutely philosophical thesis fits in with his other, more explicitly Christian works. It also includes a full-color photo gallery, displaying images of people, places, and documents that relate to The Abolition of Man, among them Lewis's original "blurb" for the book, which has never before been published.

Author : Joe Rigney
Publisher :
Page : 184 pages
File Size : 10,40 MB
Release : 2013-09-13
Category : Children's stories, English
ISBN : 9780615872049

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Careful readers of the Chronicles of Narnia know that there is more to the stories than meets the eye. There are layers of meaning in these fairy tales, spiritual gold beneath these Narnian hills. Those who delight in Lewis's magical world love to journey further up and further in, returning to Narnia again and again so that the same old stories can awaken our minds afresh to the wonder and glory all around us. But just how are these stories meant to change us? When we tumble back out of the wardrobe, in what ways should we be different? Drawing upon Lewis's other writings and the Chronicles themselves, Joe Rigney shows the intricate and sometimes subtle ways that Lewis intended his beloved fairy stories to shape our hearts and minds. In doing so, he commends Lewis's Chronicles as a fruitful part of Christian discipleship, so that in reading the Narnian stories, breathing Narnian air, and seeking to live like Narnians, we are wonderfully transformed into the image of Jesus Christ-the Great Lion and High King Above All Kings.