The Life and Writings of C. S. Lewis takes you through the unique and diverse legacy of one of Western literature's most beloved authors. These insightful lectures are delivered by award-winning Professor Louis Markos. Under his expert guidance, explore the wealth of moral lessons and spiritual allegories behind virtually the entire Lewis canon. You'll also get a complete picture of Lewis as a renowned medieval scholar, a literary critic, a philosopher and theologian, and an inspirational advisor and role model.
The Life and Writings of C. S. Lewis
Expand your knowledge of C. S. Lewis beyond his famous Chronicles of Narnia series and explore his life and his other fascinating works.
Rated 3 out of
5
by
Voiceguy2 from
Content Is OK -- Delivery Is Terrible
I have been interested in C.S. Lewis and hoped this course would give me a head start on his numerous writings. Unfortunately, the lecturer's delivery makes learning nearly impossible. Most of the time, the lecturer declaims and expostulates, as though he was a football coach addressing the team before a game, and I have to turn the volume down. But then, whenever he reaches a point he considers particularly important, he drops his voice to a whisper, and his important point is inaudible. This is stupid. The guy should be using his "inside voice" for this kind of course, having a conversation with the listener, who is in an intimate setting. Instead, he makes learning too difficult. Don't recommend this one, really, unless you are unusually patient.
Date published: 2024-06-04
Rated 5 out of
5
by
waits333 from
Moving
I enjoyed this much more than I expected. The speaker is a little frenetic, but by the end it seemed more like honest passion. It was very thought-provoking. I'll listen to this again.
Date published: 2024-04-22
Rated 5 out of
5
by
textexas from
Exceeded Expectations
Loved the course. It, peaked my interest to dig a little deeper
Date published: 2023-05-22
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Keller from
good overview of C.S. Lewis
great content. Lecturer truly passionate about materials. Only wish is that he spoke a tad slower so I could capture more thoughts.
Date published: 2023-04-18
Rated 2 out of
5
by
Ukko from
Unrestrained adulation
I got this course because I had next to no knowledge of C.S. Lewis and his works. The course was described as a “spiritual autobiography and other creative works.” However professor Markos’ ebullient presentation and unrestrained adulation among other things caused me to to lose confidence in him as an objective scholar. I will, however, try in the future to work my way through these obsequious lectures once more because C. S. Lewis is such an important part of our intellectual history.
But aside from the fulsome praise of Lewis there are other problems I had with these lectures. I agree with one reviewer that it is a glaring error to misunderstand the origin of the “Chinese” term Tao—a mistake one would not expect regarding a term important to C. S. Lewis. However, there are more such mistakes. For example, Markos demonstrates a confusion about 20th century history. He describes how “[The Soviets were willing to] kill off the gulags.” However, he apparently confuses the word Gulag with the word Kulak. Gulag is the term for the Soviet prison system. The Kulaks, on the other hand, were a group of peasant farmers who were exterminated and imprisoned in those gulags by the Soviets—mostly because they resisted collectivization. I was also surprised in one of the early lectures by Markos’ gratuitous and condescending reference to the Biblical criticism scholars and historians commonly known as the “Jesus seminar.” In a later lecture Markos explains that Lewis disagreed with such scholarship. However, I’m skeptical that Lewis would have been so cavalierly dismissive. It seemed like a needless ideological shot to me as was his gratuitous political claim that communism is worse than fascism. Such outbursts make me wonder at times whether I was learning about Lewis or listening to a sermon from Markos. I have mixed thoughts about the course. I’ve purchased several dozen courses from The Great Courses. I rank this at the very bottom.
Date published: 2023-03-31
Rated 2 out of
5
by
Kernel from
Hardly Objective
Style of this GCs presentation is outdated and inconsistent with materials presented decades since this offering. Should be removed or marked a Christian Literary Review.
Date published: 2022-11-29
Rated 4 out of
5
by
24ONR from
Good Overview
Prof. Markos is certainly very enthusiastic about his subject; his love for Lewis’s writings certainly manifests itself with some thoughtful commentary on Lewis’s writings. The great weakness of this course is that Markos seems to believe that his job is to supplement Lewis’s Christian apologetics with apologetics - or even evangelization - of his own. For example, when describing a certain point, Markos cites a biblical citation – not because Lewis made a literary allusion to it, but because Markos believes it would fill out the Christian perspective. While I am not unsympathetic to Markos’s worldview, I think he ought to have maintained more scholarly objectivity. All the same, it is an enjoyable lecture series.
Date published: 2022-11-02
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Dennis G from
Awesome Enthusiasm
I was infected with the presenters Joy. Smiling just thinking about it:)
Date published: 2022-06-25
Overview
About
Dr. Louis Markos is Professor in English at Houston Baptist University, where he also holds the Robert H. Ray Chair in Humanities. He earned his B.A. in English and History from Colgate University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Michigan. Professor Markos specializes in British romantic poetry, literary theory, and the classics and teaches courses in all three of these areas, as well as in Victorian poetry and prose, 17th-century poetry and prose, mythology, epic, and film. He received the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from the University of Michigan and was named the Opal Goolsby Teacher of the Year at Houston Baptist. Dr. Markos has published several articles and is the author of How C. S. Lewis Can Train Us to Wrestle With The Modern and Postmodern World.
01: The Legacy of C. S. Lewis
Why has Lewis had such a profound impact on 20th-century readers? What is distinctive about his method of speaking for Christian beliefs? What shaped his thought and works?
32 min
02: Argument by Desire—"Surprised by Joy" and "The Pilgrim's Regress"
Lewis's "real" biography is the story of his spiritual pilgrimage. Why did he see his movement toward Christianity in terms of joy and desire? How did this influence his apologetics?
30 min
03: Ethics and the Tao—"Mere Christianity" and "The Abolition of Man"
In an age of relativism and skepticism, Lewis not only defended the idea that ethics are objective, but also suggested that morality at its highest points beyond itself to the divine.
30 min
04: Nature and Supernature—"Miracles" and "The Problem of Pain"
Lewis's book on miracles and his book on pain may seem unrelated, but in fact they have a close and vital connection. To grasp just what that is, you'll want to witness this lecture.
30 min
05: Heaven and Hell—"The Screwtape Letters" and "The Great Divorce"
Lewis used his imagination to explore not merely the theology but also the psychology of sin: the process by which sinners, through persistent selfishness, finally efface not only their God-given potential but their very humanity. Heaven, by contrast, is the fulfillment of our humanity.
30 min
06: Lewis the Scholar—Apologist for the Past
In addition to being a popular writer, Lewis is a major figure in the academic study of literature. In his scholarly work, Lewis sought to challenge common modern prejudices and to bring to light the views held by people in past ages.
30 min
07: Paradise Regained—The Space Trilogy, I
Lewis not only argued for the beauty and truth of older ideas, but sought to manifest that beauty and truth in his fiction. In "Out of the Silent Planet" and "Perelandra," he beckons you on a journey through a living universe to two still-Edenic planets, raising searching questions about modern man's urge for immortality.
30 min
08: Temptation, Struggle, and Choice—The Space Trilogy, II
Watch a master intellect and storyteller at work as Lewis re-enacts the drama of temptation and choice, first on the unfallen world of Perelandra and then in a corner of our own fallen Earth.
30 min
09: Smuggled Theology—The Chronicles of Narnia, I
Lewis is perhaps best known and loved for his seven "Chronicles of Narnia," fantasy tales for children of all ages that conjure a world of magic and wonder. Here you consider the first two Chronicles: "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" and "Prince Caspian."
30 min
10: Journeys of Faith—The Chronicles of Narnia, II
Here the middle three "Chronicles of Narnia"—"The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," "The Silver Chair," and "The Horse and His Boy"—are illuminated more deeply through reflections on key passages that reveal Lewis's beliefs and concerns.
30 min
11: The Beginning and the End—The Chronicles of Narnia, III
The final two Chronicles, "The Magician's Nephew" and "The Last Battle," relate the creation and destruction of Narnia. What separates the good from the evil characters in Lewis's vision?
30 min
12: Suffering unto Wisdom—"Till We Have Faces" and "A Grief Observed"
Lewis's last novel, "Till We Have Faces," beautifully reworks the classical myth of Cupid and Psyche. The heroine is patterned on Joy Gresham Lewis. His later memoir, "A Grief Observed," is an equally mature and profound study of the despair he felt over her death, and his own long and painful road back to faith.
31 min
