S6E50 – Season Finale – Season 6

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The guys wrap up Season 6…

S6E50: “Season Finale” (Download)

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For information about our schedule for Season 5, please see the our season roadmap, containing a list of all the episodes we plan to record together, as well as “After Hours” interviews with special guests.

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Show Notes

Introduction

Drop-In

Quote-of-the-week

“And how could we endure to live and let time pass if we were always crying for one day or one year to come back”

C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet (Chapter 12)

Chit-Chat

A pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered.

C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet (Chapter 12)

Toast

  • David was drinking Newcastle
  • Andrew was drinking Caol Ila 12 from his Owen Barfield decanter
  • Matt talked about a Laphroaig cocktail he had in Ireland, but today he was drinking Macallan 12 and Spindrift
  • The guys toasted Patreon supporter, Robert G Smith

Discussion

01. “Thoughts on Season 6”

For Andrew, highlights included becoming an Episcopal priest, going to the Mere Anglicanism conference, and interviewing Rev. Rowan Williams. He mentioned the joy of re-reading books, alluding to some of Lewis’ many statements on the subject:

“I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.”

C.S. Lewis, Letter to Arthur Greeves (February 1932)

As usual, Matt loved the spiritual lessons from the season: (1) wisdom of how to die, (2) wonder and awe again, and (3) Finding beauty in right living with creation. He particularly loved the After Hours episodes with Diana Glyer, Christiana Hale, and Joe Rigney, as well as his Half Pint with Andrew’s wife. The Slack community continues to be wonderful. He chatted about working with David on the C.S. Lewis Book Club episode.

David noted the arrival of baby Lucy Bates this season and said he was glad they tackled one of Lewis’ lesser-known books. He highlighted the cross-over with The Lamp-post Listener and The C.S. Lewis Book Club, as well as Half Pint video interviews with Justin Brierley and the chap who made his Narnia chess. He loved the fact that a listener, Matthew Boland, sent us bitter to drink! He spoke about the listener surveys and the positive reception of our new series, Jack’s Bookshelf. He explained that why there wasn’t a MacDonald Month this season, but announced that they had commissioned an audio book of The Golden Key, read by audiobook narrator, Abigail Reno. It’s available free-of-charge to all Patreon supporters and will be appearing on your Patreon feed later today.

02. “C.S. Lewis Reading Day”

In 2003 by The Tolkien Society launched Tolkien Reading Day to promote the works of J.R.R. Tolkien… we will be helping to launch C.S. Lewis Reading Day this year with over thirty other content creators and organisations on November 29th, Lewis’ birthday. We’ll be posting quotation graphics on social media, recording special episodes (with some crossover episodes), as well as hosting a YouTube livestream Q&A panel!

03. “The shape of next season”

The outline of Season 7 is available here, but we discussed the books we’ll be discussing next season:

  1. Letters to an American Lady
  2. The Latin Letters of C.S. Lewis
  3. C. S. Lewis’ Letters to Children

Andrew also mentioned that in April there will be a C.S. Lewis conference in Florida at his church and that in the following season we’ll be returning to the Ransom Trilogy and read Perelandra.

04. “Patreon Shake-up”

Patreon supporters in the top-tier will have already received an email from me about receiving your free candle from Inkling Candles. 

Next season there will be more events and free gifts for Patreon supporters – Gold and Platinum supporters will have received another gift before the start of next season and there are exclusive lectures being recorded for all Patreon supporters.

Each month next season we will be picking a name at random from our email list and sending out a free Lewis-related book.

Lastly, we’re going to be switching to subscription billing which means that when new supporters sign-up on Patreon, you’re charged immediately and then monthly on that same date. Patreon has been bugging David about this for a while and says that this is how patrons expect it to work anyway.

05. “Reviews”

The gang read podcast reviews:

  • ForeverPatriot
  • Pete Smillie
  • Joseph Weigel (“Jack Untamed”)
  • dick_hanny
  • dylthomas123 (“Real Men of Genius”)
  • Israel_hlc
  • Missrachissos
  • 310Jem
  • Lenny Hanson (Andrew’s Ebay)
  • Jonah
  • IamTheBruteSquad
  • Gabriel

06. “Short Messages”

Andrew, David, and Matt tried to get through a mountain of mail:

  • Michael Doss
  • Mary Margaret
  • Debbie Pulliam
  • Don Sutter
  • Elizabeth Kelsey
  • Matthew Bur
  • Rebecca (MereVariation.com)
  • Emmie (Dr. Carolyn Weber and Surprised By Oxford)
  • Judith (Dr. Pepper and Notre Dame)
  • Mike Gilmore (Cathedral Cove, New Zealand)
  • Joel Hawbaker
  • Scott Kjos
  • Sam
  • Jesse Estes (Ransom poetry).
  • Pastor Jeff Patterson
  • Tuesday_howe (CSL Institute Fellows Program)
  • Cole Parker (Try Dewars)
  • Charlie Reader Kennicott
  • Edgar Toscano
  • Austin (iRacing)
  • Jordan from The Lesser-Known Lewis podcast:

You are certainly the best Old Solar scholar among my readers so far. MAL- is really equivalent to the definite article in some of the definite article’s users. ELDIL means a lord or ruler, Maleldil ‘The Lord’: i.e. it is, strictly speaking, the Old Solar not for DEUS but for DOMINUS.

C.S. Lewis, Letter to Victor M. Hamm

In our Retrospective episode, we chatted about who we might cast in an Out of the Silent Planet movie. Brian Shepherd, Paul Alderman, and Katie Mawhorter all jumped in with their ideas:

Paul Alderman blames us for turning him onto The Prancing Pony Podcast and he also sent us a message to say that he thought Ransom’s mindfulness and way of dealing with stress and fear  (“to stand still mentally”) reminded him of the Litany Against Fear:

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain”

Frank Hurbert, Dune

07. “Longer Messages”

Matt read the following message:

Hello Andrew, David, and Matt, Let’s get this out in front of the trio: Matt – you are my favorite, as I have a daughter who is a Notre Dame alum and another who is in her 2nd year at ND. I have my wife to thank for finding your podcast. She was in a group at church and one of the books they read was “Reflections on the Psalms”. One of the members mentioned a CS Lewis podcast. After too many miles of Country Western music, during a drive last spring from NE Indiana to North Carolina, she suggested we listen to a podcast she had heard of. We listened to several of the podcasts on the remainder of the drive down. We had rented a cottage near the town of Black Mountain, which happens to be pretty darn close to Montreat, which we had heard about in one of the episodes….so we spent some time there……Fast forward to now…..I have listened to all of the podcasts (drive time commutes made enjoyable) in the ten months since that trip. I have also read several Lewis books… England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland are on my wife and my travel wish list. The discussions on the podcast of Oxford have reinforced that vision. Just last week, our youngest daughter, a 2nd year Architecture student, was awarded a summer scholarship to study Classical Architecture at Cambridge University… So it looks like its time to go to England. Matt, or David, or Andrew: If you were going to England in early August for 7 to 10 days…what would your Lewis bucket list look like?

Tim

Andrew says you should stop by The Pickerel Inn on your way to Magadalene College, Cambridge. Matt suggested stopping by Turf Tavern and then going to Magadlen College, Oxford and also go to Addison’s Walk. David suggested going to a concert in one of the churches. We all suggested catching the Number 9 bus to visit Lewis’ home, church, and grave.

David read the following:

Dear David, I have been enjoying my way through your podcasts (in publication order, of course, so forgive me if my comments may have been overcome by events in later episodes). I have already given your splendid venture a five star rating, but I have been considering downgrading my assessment to four stars due to two shortfalls that have become more and more irritating as I go through the episodes. Fortunately, decisive action on your part can forestall this event. The two shortfalls are the lack of the “Cheers” clink of glasses and the failure to schedule a repeat appearance of your most delightful guest to date. In regard to the first shortfall, the clink of glasses after your “Cheers” toast during the first season bespoke comradeship and conviviality. The lack of that “cheer”ful clink since then has been disturbing and disheartening. This is especially true since the fix is so easy. You continually add in the sound of a extremely clunky door at both the beginning and the end of your podcast, but the addition of a simple “clink” of glasses has been, to date, beyond your prowess. This is particularly vexing since you are now farming out the editing and could simply order your minion to make it so. Please take corrective action on this problem as soon as possible. The second shortfall is also, I believe, completely in your power to address. I am talking about your failure to schedule a repeat appearance of your most delightful guest to date – Marie. I see on your website that you have an “in” with her and am hopeful you can make a return appearance happen – if so, I would be willing to listen to that episode, out of publication order, just for the pleasure of her insights and comments. Hoping for your speedy action, Greg C.

Greg C

Andrew read the following:

Dear David, Matt, and Andrew, Hello, gentlemen! I hope that this message finds you well. I have never emailed, messaged, or interacted with “Pints with Jack” in this way before, the reason for which will be explained momentarily. My name is Erin, and I have been subscribed to—or at least listening to— the podcast for a little over two years now. That being said, I have only been listening regularly and trying to catch up for about the past six months. For some context as to how far behind I am on the show…

  • I am don’t even know who Andrew is behind; 
  • I am David and Marie have just started dating behind; 
  • I am Matt has just moved from New York behind; 
  • I am at the end of season two behind; 
  • I am COVID has not yet happened in the world behind; 
  • I am “Lover” was Taylor Swift’s most recent album behind.

So, this will likely be a long message, but I hope that it will be an interesting or entertaining one at least. One might ask why I am only messaging the podcast now. In season two, David mentions that Matt’s hair is blond, and I immediately had to look up the youtube channel to see what each of you looked like. I was then, for lack of a better word, shooketh by what each of you looked like. In my mind for the past two years, David has looked like Tom Felton (current, not Harry Potter era), and Matt has looked like Jake Johnson from season one of “New Girl.” So, in other words, if you ever need to garner some views for the YouTube channel, just tell listeners of the podcast what you really look like. I might now have to listen simultaneously to the new season while catching up with the old seasons on double speed.

To move past the entertaining part to the slightly more substantial part, I want to thank you all for doing this podcast for these last few years. I was first introduced to the podcast by a coach and spiritual mentor that I had in high school, and it has since been vital to my relationship with Christ and Christianity, both emotionally and academically. “Pints with Jack” was also my first introduction to C.S. Lewis, and I would like to thank you all for that as well. Among other things, the podcast has taught me the importance of prayer and of surrounding oneself with a community of believers, and it has allowed me to more deeply enjoy, analyze, and understand Christian literature. Through listening to you all drink on air, I have also developed a better understanding of Christians and alcohol. Growing up in a Southern Baptist church, the two options relating to alcohol that I had previously been exposed to were that you either did not drink alcohol ever or that you were an alcoholic. Thank you for being an example of a healthy relationship with alcohol.

I feel that it is important to mention that I also now quote C.S. Lewis or reference “a C.S. Lewis podcast that I listen to” far too often. Thanks in part to “Pints with Jack,” I was able to meet my good friend Michelle. We are both a part of a Christian fellowship group at our university, and when we discovered that we had both just started reading C.S. Lewis, we had our own “What! You too?” moment and immediately became friends. Thank you again for all that you do. Further up, and further in. Cheers, Erin McVeigh

Erin McVeigh

Andre quoted Chesterton:

…we should thank God for beer and Burgundy by not drinking too much of them

G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (Chapter 4)

Matt closed by reading the following:

May God bless you richly as I have been blessed by your podcast.

I am an American who has been living in York, England for the past 20 years and married to an English woman. I enjoy the cultural interplay on your show.

I am writing to respond to your question of the week: “tell us about a moment where you went from ignorance to empathy.” Here goes:

I have a son called Caleb who is eleven years old but, due to his downs syndrome, is much younger in many ways. When he was 9 I became very frustrated/angry because in one particular regards he had done something disgusting which most children grow out of about the age of 3 or 4. In my frustration I cried out to God and said something like, “What is the point of Caleb?! Why did You make him?!”

I’m afraid that, growing up, I put a lot of importance on intellectual pursuit. But for the grace of God, I would be displaying the sort of snobbishness that Weston displayed toward Ransom.

So I had this outburst towards the Lord and I felt Him say to me, “So what if I made him useless in order to display My overflowing generosity. And, anyway, what use are you to me? You are also constantly in need of My grace.” He reminded me of the story of Mephibosheth, in 1 Samuel. I was, at that moment, overwhelmed with the goodness of God.

Since that time I have been much better able to overlook Caleb’s immaturity and enjoy life with him, knowing that the joy of life and ignorance of the things that complicate it is one of the purposes for which God made him and gave him to me.

Timothy

Concluding Thoughts

Don’t forget to celebrate Sidecar Day on September 28th and get ready for C.S. Lewis Reading Day!

Wrap-Up

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Posted in Andrew, Audio Discussion, David, Matt, Podcast Episode, Season 6 and tagged .

David

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After working as a Software Engineer in England for several years, David moved to the United States in 2008, where he settled in San Diego. Then, in 2020 he married his wife, Marie, and moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin. Together they have a son, Alexander, who is adamant that Narnia should be read publication order.