Fifty years ago, famed author and theologian C.S. Lewis passed away, leaving behind numerous books, poems and essays that are still widespread and renowned. In his honor, the Center for Faith and Learning created 11 club convos for students, each on a different book that Lewis authored or an idea that he theologically addressed.
“Students are still interested in Lewis, so we thought, let’s get some events to help us commemorate Lewis’ life,” said Professor Gary Selby who organized the Lewis Club Convos. “Lewis is the most important Christian thinker in the 20th century. He’s deeply influential, and his arguments still work. Any question relating to the Christian faith, Lewis probably talked about it.”
According to Selby, the club convos offered a variety of topics to accommodate more than 150 students. The Center for Faith and Learning even donated the necessary reading materials. “I very much looked forward to our weekly club convo meetings,” said Professor Robert Lloyd, who led a group on the analysis of Lewis’ book, “The Abolition of Man.”
“There was a genuine desire by all the students to learn from Lewis and grapple with his arguments,” Lloyd said. “There were disagreements at times among participants, which pushed us into deeper discussions. It was an intellectually growing experience for me, too— I am a professor of international relations and not a trained philosopher. Most of all, I really appreciated the Club Convo students and their commitment to work together in honesty, curiosity and mutual encouragement to understand the ideas presented by Lewis.”
Group discussions were what freshman Rachel Reyes said she enjoyed the most about her club convo on “The Great Divorce.”
“I had previously read ‘The Great Divorce,’ and that’s why I enjoyed the Club Convo,” Reyes said. “I thought I understood the book beforehand, but in the group I learned a lot more. [Lewis] offers simplistic views on the topic of Christianity that are still applicable and things that we struggle with today. He offers a scholarly perspective, but in layman’s terms. He makes it simple and easy to understand.”
Though most of the clubs have finished, the interest in Lewis continues. This summer, a group of students will stay in the Pepperdine London house to study works by Lewis before attending the C.S. Lewis Summer Institute at Oxford and Cambridge University.
“We’ve had an overwhelming positive response, so we’re going to try and take as many [students] as the house will hold,” said Selby, who will be a faculty member accompanying the students. “I think that’s 47. Most of the students who are going have read Narnia, and maybe a couple have read ‘The Screwtape Letters.’ We’ll be reading things that most of them have never read. Part of what I would love for them to get is a deeper acquaintance with Lewis’ thought. I also want them to drink up being in Oxford and Cambridge because that will be a once in a lifetime experience.”
The C.S. Lewis Summer Institute is a conference that hosts different speakers and artistic events, all centered around Lewis’ work, Selby said. While students hear from philosophers around the world, they’re also knocking out four units of English 308 or Religion 301.
“I’m obsessed with C.S. Lewis,” said freshman Elizabeth Castleberry, who will be attending the summer program. “So it’s a great opportunity to learn from some really smart people at Oxford and Cambridge.”
Due to the success of the Club Convos, Selby hints that Pepperdine might continue the C.S. Lewis-themed groups, though nothing is set in stone.
“When you launch something like that, you just don’t know if there will be a great turnout,” Selby said. “But [responses] have been great. Part of what Lewis does is help us understand that our deepest longings are the clues to the purpose for which we are made. He explains that in some ways pleasures we experience are pointers to the nature of God and give us possibilities for imagining what God must be like. What a helpful way of understanding the Christian nature!”
Selby shared that a few years before Lewis’ death, he told his lawyer, “Five years after I’m gone, they won’t even remember me.” Yet nearly 60 years later, Lewis’ books still sell by the thousands per year — the Narnia series has sold over 100 million copies. The works of Lewis even made their way into Pepperdine, influencing the lives of students and faculty as they ask the same questions he answered over half a century ago.
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As published in the Nov. 14 issue of the Pepperdine Graphic.
