Hello fellow Narnia Fans!
Paul Martin asked me to share a bit of information that you might be interested in – we at the C.S. Lewis Foundation are in the process of founding C.S. Lewis College. If your interest in Lewis and his writings goes beyond the films, you know that C.S. Lewis wrote about and was a model of three main topics – “mere” Christianity, creativity, and scholarship. Another way to say this is that he embodied and promoted the integration of the life of the mind, the life of the imagination, and the life of the spirit.
It is those three elements that we at the C.S. Lewis Foundation cultivate in all of our programs, events, and even the new C.S. Lewis College.
The C.S. Lewis Foundation is celebrating its 25th anniversary and we are actively continuing our tradition of delivering superlative events and programs that stimulate thought, increase aesthetic appreciation, and deepen Christian roots.
As part of our mission, we envision C.S. Lewis College as a Mere Christian Great Books College with a school of the visual and performing arts.
- Mere Christian – reflecting Lewis’s focus on common areas of belief rather than what divides us, the school will be inclusive of Christians of the main historic traditions, including Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox. Faculty and students will represent these traditions and non-Christian students are welcome to attend.
- Great Books – the curriculum will be both modern (the majority of classes are discussion based rather than lectures) and hark back to historic tradition (the main texts are the great works of human history). Students attending C.S. Lewis College will study directly the works of literature, music, science, art, and mathematics that have had the most influence on western culture and thought. Faculty led discussion of these Great Books will encourage critical thinking, speaking, writing, understanding, and leadership.
- Visual and Performing Arts – as part of the curriculum as well as extracurricular activities, students will be encouraged to both enjoy the arts and to practice the arts (music, painting, literature, dance, film, etc.). A future school of the Visual and Performing Arts will be later added to the College to give students even further training in particular fields.
We have written the curriculum and course outlines, created the by-laws and other legal documents, and have actively engaged in fundraising to launch the College. In 2009, the Green family of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. purchased an historic campus in Northfield, Massachusetts, as the future location of C.S. Lewis College, if we reached certain fundraising goals by end of year 2011.
As we did not wholly reach our December 31st fundraising goal, the Green family has been looking for other potential organizations to receive the gift of the campus. Recently, there have been several news stories about this fact. While the articles as a whole have been fair and truthful, there have been several misleading headlines attached to them saying that our plans for the College are “dead” or have “flopped.”
This is far from the truth. Our plans for the College will go forward whether we are on the Northfield campus or locate the College elsewhere. To correct the misperceptions, we released the following statement last week: “The Reports of the College’s Death Were Greatly Exaggerated”
Right now, our primary focus continues to be fundraising for the college. We are specifically seeking both ‘lead’ donors – with the ability to give gifts of $1 million or more to champion the cause – and donors who believe in our vision to found a College in C.S. Lewis’s name which will produce great thinkers and future leaders.
We also know that if the many millions of people, like yourself, who love C.S. Lewis and what he stood for, gave even $25 each, we would be able to start the College very soon.
We sincerely hope you will be a part of these plans as you share in our vision for the future. If you would like more information about C.S. Lewis College or would like to make a contribution, please go to www.cslewiscollege.org.
Further up and further in!
Steven Elmore
Director of Communications
C.S. Lewis Foundation
While I wish that I could donate money to this, but sadly I cannot. I am very intrested in this, and would love to attend C. S. Lewis College, I hope that you are successful in your attempts to build the school!
i really, really, wanted to join this college, but im not sure that my parents can pay for the semesters. And i’m not sure if i can have enough money for efforting life there at london.
i hope you can have a success college! 🙂
Where will this college be located?
Massachusetts – See the website: http://www.cslewiscollege.org
This is a great vision and mission to support! I pray and trust that CS Lewis college not
Only opens soon but that it is prospered and becomes the biggest influence in the United States as we are desperately needing leaders with integrity, wisdom, and boldness! Each one of us can give $25!!
I love love love narnia. I have for a long time and i would really love to attend this school. It would be a dreams come true!!!! i <3 NARNIA AND ALWAYS WILL.!