David J. Theroux, the Founder and President of the C. S. Lewis Society of California has e-mailed us with the latest updates on many upcoming events that you’re all invited to attend! I hope that some of you have the chance to visit these events and join Lewis Societies, or even have the opportunity to start one in your own area if one does not exist. Sorry that it’s one day late. I’ve been busy. Here’s the update:
Please note the following in this issue of the C.S. Lewis Society Update (6/11/07):
1. James Cameron’s “The Lost Tomb of Christ” Implodes
2. The Atheist Delusion
3. Next meeting of the C.S. Lewis Society’s Bay Area Book Club
4. Other Upcoming Events
1. James Cameron’s “The Lost Tomb of Christ” Implodes:
On March 4th for the Easter season, the Discovery Channel showed the documentary, “The Lost Tomb of Christ,” by Oscar-winning director James Cameron and Emmy-winning Canadian film maker Simcha Jacobovici. However, one month after the film’s screening the key “scholars” who were interviewed for the program have all backtracked on their claims. When originally released, top archaeologists and New Testament scholars discredited the program as contrary to all scientific evidence and logic, including the fact that the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus has never been refuted.
“Jesus tomb film scholars backtrack,” by Etgar Lefkovits (Jerusalem Post)
Perhaps, Cameron’s next documentary will be “Jesus is actually buried in Los Angeles”
2. The Atheist Delusion:
Within the past year, numerous best-selling books by atheists Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens have ruthlessly attacked theism and Christianity. The timing of many of these books in part has resulted from a deep frustration by many disillusioned supporters of the U.S. war in Iraq who are seeking religious scapegoats, but the books also vividly illustrate the reality and profound weaknesses of the widespread materialist world view in much of academia and mainstream culture. Meanwhile, other key books by Francis Collins, Owen Gingerich, Rodney Stark, N.T. Wright, and Douglas Wilson champion Christianity.
As a result, here are recent debates with some of these authors:
“God vs. Science: Francis Collins vs. Richard Dawkins” (Time)
“The God Debate: Rick Warren vs. Sam Harris” (Newsweek)
“Is Christianity Good for the World? Christopher Hitchens vs. Douglas Wilson” (Christianity Today)
Here also are key critical reviews of some of these books:
“Darwin, Mind and Meaning: Review of Daniel Dennett’s Darwin’s Dangerous Idea,” by Alvin Plantinga
“The Dawkins Confusion: Naturalism ad absurdum: Review of Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion,” by Alvin Plantinga (Books and Culture)
“Lonely Atheists of the Global Village,” by Michael Novak
And, here is a recent study that uses the work of C.S. Lewis:
“Mere Economic Science: C. S. Lewis and the Poverty of Naturalism,” by David Theroux
Finally, here is a parody of an audio interview which uses many of Dawkins’s actual arguments:
3. Next meeting of the C.S. Lewis Society’s Bay Area Book Club:
Book for Discussion:
PERELANDRA, by C.S. Lewis (from his acclaimed Space Trilogy)
“Mr. Lewis has a genius for making his fantasies livable.”
–NEW YORK TIMES
“Lewis, perhaps more than any other twentieth-century writer, forced those who listened to him and read his works to come to terms with their own philosophical presuppositions.”
–LOS ANGELES TIMES
“If wit and wisdom, style and scholarship are requisites to passage through the pearly gates, Mr. Lewis will be among the angels.”
–NEW YORKER
“Writing of the highest order. PERELANDRA is, from all standpoints, far superior to other tales of interplanetary adventures.”
–COMMONWEAL
Meeting moderator/leader: Tom Price
Wednesday, May 30th, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, June 13th, 7:30 p.m.
The second in C.S. Lewis’s acclaimed Space Trilogy, which includes Out of the Silent Planet and That Hideous Strength, PERELANDRA continues the adventures of the extraordinary Dr. Elwin Ransom as he journeys to a new world, Perelandra, and meets a human native, a glamorously beautiful woman who is the equivalent of Eve. The book is a a truly magical tale, completely unique in the science fiction genre. Pitted against the greatest of human weaknesses, temptation, Ransom must battle for good on Perelandra when it is invaded by pure evil. Will Perelandra succumb or will it throw off the yoke of corruption and achieve a spiritual perfection as yet unknown to man? The outcome of Dr. Ransom’s mighty struggle will alone determine its fate.
The meeting will be held at:
11990 Skyline Boulevard, Oakland, CA 94619
510-482-2906 phone
wine, soft drinks and other refreshments served
Here also are articles that discuss PERELANDRA:
“PERELANDRA, by C.S. Lewis,” reviewed by Peter Schakel, The Literary Encyclopedia
“C. S. Lewis: Science and Scientism,” by Henry F. Schaefer III
PERELANDRA is available in paperback and on CD.
Here also is the schedule of future Lewis Society book club meetings:
http://www.lewissociety.org/bookclub.php
Here also is information on C.S. Lewis:
http://www.lewissociety.org/aboutlewis.php
We hope that you and/or others you know will be joining with us! (Please feel free to forward this update to others.)
4. Other Upcoming Events:
http://www.lewissociety.org/events.php
Dorothy L. Sayers Society Annual Convention
Sponsored by the Marion E. Wade Center
Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL
June 13-17, 2007
http://www.wheaton.edu/wadecenter/news/news.html
The 26th Annual Chesterton Conference: “The Man Who Was Today”
Sponsored by the American Chesterton Society
University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN
June 14-16, 2007
http://www.chesterton.org/rediscover/conference.html
“Opposition Is True Friendship: Love, Friendship and Philosophy in C.S. Lewis’s World”
Sponsored by the Southern California C.S. Lewis Society
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Monrovia, CA
June 16, 2007
C.S. Lewis Summer Conference: “Finding the Way: C.S. Lewis as Pilgrim Guide in an Age of Pluralism”
Sponsored by the C.S. Lewis Foundation
San Diego, CA
June 28-July 1, 2007
http://www.cslewis.org/programs/sumconference/2007/index.html
The 38th Annual Mythopoeic Conference (Mythcon XXXVIII), “Becoming Adept: The Journey to Mastery”
Sponsored by the Mythopoeic Society
University of California, Berkeley, CA
August 3-6, 2007
http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon38.html
“The Crisis of the University: Freedom, Tolerance and the Pursuit of Truth”
Sponsored by the C.S. Lewis Foundation
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
October 5-6, 2007
http://www.cslewis.org/programs/ff/2007/index.html
“C.S. Lewis: Man and His Work: A 21st Century Legacy”
Sponsored by L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture
Southeastern College at Wake Forest, Wake Forest, NC
October 26-27, 2007
http://www.sebts.edu/CSLewis/