Dr. David Downing, former Co-Director of the Wade Center, hopped on a call to talk about “Letters on Living the Faith”, a new book from Harper Collins which brings together some Dr. Downing’s favourite extracts from C. S. Lewis’ letters concerning Christianity.
Show Notes
01. “Dr. David Downing”
02. “Book Origin”
- Dr. Downing uses Lewis’ volumes of letters to prop up his laptop for calls
- Lewis had amazing insights in his letters that should be shared
- The Reading Life: The Joy of Seeing New Worlds Through Others’ Eyes by CS Lewis
- CS Lewis on Writing (and Writers): A Miscellany of Advice and Opinions
C.S. Lewis said of Jane Austen, “Her books have only 2 faults and both are damnable. They are too few and too short.” -Letter to R. W. Chapman (Sept 6/49)
03. “Lewis’ Letters”
- 3,500 letters with many theological gems
- Letters to An American Lady – CS Lewis
- Lewis enjoyed the physical writing process and felt letter writing was part of his ministry
04. “Research”
- Many of Lewis’ own books are at the Marion E. Wade Center and have his personal indices
05. “Lewis on the Bible”
- Lewis was unusual in how he spoke about the Bible. He compared reading McDonald with Elizabeth feeling John jump in her womb at the presence of Jesus
- Lewis’ photographic memory helped him to remember Scripture and he was very knowledgable, even before he was Christian
06. “The Pilgrim’s Regress”
The glory has departed…
07. “Surprised By Joy”
- This will be upcoming on the podcast!
08. “Quotation selection”
- Dr. Downing made his selections based on what struck him and what was succint
09. “Faith and feelings”
- Lewis was very wary of feelings
- Wrote to his goddaughter Lucy Barfield on the occasion of her Confirmation and told her that it was alright if she didn’t have strong feelings that day
10. “The development of ideas”
11. “Lewis Lexicon”
- Dr. Downing would love a book on Lewis’ 50 most used words
More Information
- Find Dr. Downing’s new book: “Letters on Living the Faith”
Future Projects
-The Oracles of God: CS Lewis’ Creative Quoting of Scripture
-Collected essays on various Lewis works
