I sat down with Christine Norvell to talk about C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces and her Reading Companion.
S3E11: “After Hours” with Christine Norvell (Download)
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Time Stamps
00:50 – Christine’s Bio
01:51 – Drink-of-the-week
02:14 – Quote-of-the-week
03:03 – What is Classical Education?
04:21 – On what subjects do you speak?
05:03 – What is your history with C.S. Lewis?
06:27 – What are your favourites of his works?
08:27 – What is your history with TWHF?
13:16 – What motivated you to write a Reading Companion?
18:29 – Do you think it’s better for people to read the original myth beforehand?
21:10 – What is motivating you to produce a second edition?
24:30 – Do you have anything to share about the chapters we’ve read thus far?
28:56 – How do your students react to the paganism in the book?
33:57 – What’s the main piece of advice you’d give to newcomers to the book?
35:22 – Please tell us about your article Antigone and Me
38:19 – Please tell us about your article How Greek Philosophy Saw God Through a Reflection
43:51 – Please tell us about your article Remembering Our Reading
48:05 – Where can people find out more about you?
YouTube Version
After Show Skype Session
Since Matt and I didn’t talk this week, I recorded a a short screencast introducing our new Slack Channel which is available to Silver tier supporters on Patreon.
Show Notes
• I read Christine’s bio:
Christine Norvell (NOR-vul) is a classical Christian educator, a voracious reader, a wife, and mother of three boys. She graduated from Oral Roberts University with a degree in English Education, and from Faulkner University with a Masters in Humanities. She taught high school literature at a classical Christian school for eleven years and is the author of Till We Have Faces: A Reading Companion (2017).
Bio for Christine Norvelle
Whether she’s addressing her students, other educators, parents, or book lovers, Christine loves to equip and inspire. She believes that from ancient history to contemporary literature, the humanities reveal universal truths about faith, relationships, and the human experience. She’s passionate about examining these connections and discovering the God-given gifts that come to life through story—both in fiction and real life.
Christine is a Senior Contributor for The Imaginative Conservative and also regularly writes for websites like The Classical Thistle, Intellectual Takeout, Story Warren, Voegelin View, and Poiema Institute.
• For the drink-of-the-week, I was drinking Trader Joe’s Mint Watermelon Black Tea. Christine was drinking French Roast Coffee.
• Since Christine is well-read in Classical literature and will be helping us unpack Till We Have Faces, I thought the following extract was an appropriate:
It may some day happen that a traveller from the Greeklands will again lodge in this palace and read the book. Then he will talk of it among the Greeks, where there is great freedom of speech even about the gods themselves. Perhaps their wise men will know whether my complaint is right or whether the god could have defended himself if he had made an answer.
C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces (Chapter 1)
• We discussed Classical Education and Christine’s role as a speaker.
• We discussed Classical Education and Christine’s role as a speaker.
• Christine told us about her introduction to Lewis and her favourite books (Mere Christianity, Till We Have Faces, On Three Ways Of Writing For Children and Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What’s to be Said).
• I asked Christine about her history with Till We Have Faces and the reactions of her students to the book.
• We then discussed Christine’s book, Till We Have Faces: A Reading Companion. I asked her about her motivation in writing the book, its organization and its future edition.
She spoke about meeting C.S. Lewis scholar, Dr. Jerry Root.
• We discussed whether or not it’s best to know the original myth before reading Till We Have Faces.
• I then asked Christine if there was anything she wanted to talk about concerning the first thirteen chapters of Till We Have Faces, the point we’ve reached thus far in the podcast.
Christine spoke about Orual’s failure to tell the whole truth.
• I asked how her students respond to the Paganism in the book.
• I asked Christine what general advice she’d have to people when reading Till We Have Faces for the first time. She encouraged listeners to learn from others and read the book slowly.
• Towards the end of our time together, we discussed some of the articles which Christine has written: Antigone and Me, Discerning God: How Greek Philosophy Saw God Through a Reflection, and Remembering Our Reading.
