Did Christ commit suicide? That’s obviously a bizarre (and heretical) interpretation of the crucifixion of Jesus. But the idea is not too crazy to be taken seriously by a federal court seeking to overturn Washington State’s law banning assisted suicide. Did the Christian martyrs also commit suicide? After all, wrote the august Ninth Circuit Court majority in a recent opinion, Read More ›
He retired from the Seattle City Council three years ago and sold the family’s pharmacy on Capitol Hill soon afterwards, but he has not retired from his work with streetcars. At least one early morning a week, you will find George Benson, 78, down on the waterfront picking up trash along the tracks or over at the car barn shining Read More ›
Like many children, C. S. Lewis suffered from nightmares; his were often about giant insects. Like many creative writers, Lewis continued to have an active dream life and took an interest in it. He likened the pruning and polishing of creative ideas from his unconscious to waking evaluation of dreams. Some elements from his dreams found their way into his Read More ›
In addition to referring to Dante occasionally in his scholarly books, Lewis published three essays specifically about Dante: “Dante’s Similes,” “Imagery in the Last Eleven Cantos of Dante’s Comedy,” and “Dante’s Statius” (available in Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature). Readers unacquainted with The Divine Comedy can’t realize how much it influenced Lewis. Those well acquainted with it are apt Read More ›
The following little-known descriptions of Christianity are from the writings of C. S. Lewis and Karl Marx: 1. Union with Christ imparts an inner elevation, comfort in affliction, tranquil reliance, and a heart which opens itself to everything noble and great not for the sake of ambition or desire for fame, but for the sake of Christ. Union with Christ Read More ›
Kathryn Lindskoog and Gracia Fay Ellwood Earlier versions of this essay were published in The Christian Century and The Taste of the Pineapple. THE HUMAN RACE is haunted by the idea of doing what is right. In the first five chapters of Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis discusses the fact that people are always referring to some standard of behavior that Read More ›
“What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects — with their Christianity latent.” “Christian Apologetics” in God in the Dock 1. Spirits in Bondage (London: Heinemann, 1919; San Diego: Harcourt,1984). A collection of early poems published under the pseudonym Clive Hamilton. 2. Dymer (London: Dent, 1926; New York: Dutton, Read More ›
Walter Hooper’s C.S. Lewis: Companion and Guide $40 This 940-page volume from Harper-San Francisco is the first by Hooper that does not lead off with his fictitious secretaryship and/or deep friendship with Lewis. Instead, the book flaps identify Hooper as an eminent Lewis scholar, a trustee of his estate, and editor of Letters of C. S. Lewis (the collection originally Read More ›
Americans either tend to hate to love it, or to love to hate it. But neither attitude toward the United Nations is appropriate to the situation today. Neither is the old, idealistic view on the far left that the UN eventually should develop into some kind of world government, nor the recent far right delusion that the UN is trying Read More ›
WILL THE INTERNET COLLAPSE? NO WAY! What is all this commotion in Massachusetts? The very source of the Arpanet at Bolt, Beranek & Newman — the cradle of the Internet — Massachusetts is falling to the forces of Auntie Spiker and Aunt Sponge. These are the mingy ladies in the Roald Dahl story who rejoiced in James’s Giant Peach as Read More ›