Lewis in the classroom

[friendofaslan]

I would be interested in how teachers bring Lewis into the classroom, especially college courses. I teach in a community college, and as part of my job, I go into area high schools and teach seniors college English. I use Lewis' poem "As the Ruin Falls" in Composition II where we write about literature. The students love this poem (esp. the teens) and the back story. They often pick it to analyze in-depth. We also do a film analysis in Comp II, so I have LWW on the approved list.

In Western World Literature, we compare Screwtape Letters with Dante's Inferno; the students find similarities or contrasts. It is usually the best thing we do all semester and often shows as their favorite activity on evaluations. I also use Lewis in the second course in World Literature which covers Modernism. Even though he wrote about the same types of things as Eliot and other Modernists like chaos and struggle, he had hope, and there is a quenching of the thirst not present in most Modernists who are always parched in the dry Wasteland with no water.

How do other teachers bring Lewis into the classroom?

[A#minor]

Wow. It sounds like you have a really good, in-depth curriculum including Lewis. I haven't really had the opportunity to include Lewis in any of the classes I've taught beyond reading LWW to elementary kids.

Sorry that I can't give you any fresh ideas, but you've given me some.
Could you go into more detail about your comparison of Screwtape and Dante's Inferno? I'd be interested in that just on my own.
Thanks.

I like your description of the difference between Lewis and other Modern writers. He had hope. So true.

[David]

I've taught Out of the Silent Planet in sci-fi courses. I follow this up with his essay "Religion and Rocketry," which explores the theological impliations of life on other planets. People are surprised to see such high-quality science fiction by a Christian author. Have also taught Till We Have Faces and Lewis's poetry in other classes. In the Spring, I'm doing a class on memoir and will include Surprised By Joy in that one.

[Roonwit]

[King Edmund]

[Áthas]

Sadly, Lewis never appeared in the classrooms during my 13 years of school (yes, we have/used to have 13 years if we went to German grammar schools). I wonder if he does now since the Narnia-movie could be seen everywhere last winter. I'm finding it fascinating to read how C. S. Lewis can be included in teaching at schools!

[friendofaslan]

How lovely to see several new responses since this discussion was opened! Thanks everyone for taking the time to write. Hope others will continue this thread.

A#minor asked more specifics on the Screwtape Letters and Inferno connection. I hadn't thought of using this comparison until I attended a C. S. Lewis Conference at Belmont College in Nashville last fall. I was so charged up with Lewis after that weekend that I came home determined to work him into classes, even if he wasn't included in the anthologies (he should be!).

Lewis read Dante's Inferno (in the original Italian) while in his teens. He read the Purgatory section while in the hospital after receiving wounds in WWI. Scholar Katherine Lindskoog noted, "There are traces of The Divine Comedy throughout his writings [. . .]."

In my World Literature I college class, we read parts of Dante's Inferno where he takes the reader on a journey through the circles of hell which include all the Deadly Sins like lust, gluttony, violence, etc.... The deeper you go, the worse the sin--and the worse the punishment. Dante hopes to keep the reader out of hell by showing him or her what it might be like to be separated from the warmth and love of God. I have my students select a circle of hell, and in groups, they do a PowerPoint presentation taking us on a guided tour of their level. They show relevant lines from Dante, who is in this circle, what is the punishment, why it is appropriate, and who they would include in this level since Dante's time (he put known persons of his day into the circles, so the students have a bit of fun with this part). The students have come in deathly make-up for the Wood of the Suicides, included skits, food, CGI created scenes, composed songs, and more to go along with their circles. It is my favorite part of the school year.

Then, I do a PowerPoint on Lewis' Screwtape Letters which shows how the devil tries to keep humans out of heaven (which in reverse psychology shows us how to keep out of hell--just like Dante). I include parts of the preface where Lewis tells why he did this and its toll on him. We look at excerpts from letters which relate to the same sins that got people into Dante's Inferno. Like in Letter 4, Screwtape talks about how humans forget "their bodies do affect their souls." Letter 9 includes the following: "An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula." and "[getting] a man's soul and [giving] him nothing in return [...]." We look at the Power of Nothing in Letter 10 and the "gluttony of Delight" in Letter 17. Sadly, the souls in Dante's Inferno have nothing to show for their brief moments of earlthy abandon to their desires. We examine Letter 21 and the references to "chastity" and who really owns the body. I give the students a copy of the PowerPoint and ask them to compare the two works. It went so well last semester as a first attempt, I am making it a permanent part of the course!

Yes, the recent movie and continuation of the series will keep Lewis' name fresh on their minds and certainly add to the course. What a great time to be a literature teacher!

[A#minor]

Thankyou, friendofAslan! That is a great lesson plan. Sounds like the students get really involved and creative. I wish my literature classes had been that creative.
Hmmmm.... I think I'll have to look into Dante again now.
God Bless,
A#minor

[King Edmund]

My Aunt said she did and she went to the same school only 20 years apart. She even had to do an essay on him which she remembers very well.

[Dr. U]

I teach a section of an interdisciplinary university course called 'Science, Technology and Values'. In the beginning of the course, I emphasize the importance of worldviews - of one's core beliefs - and the importance of discerning by asking or by careful listening what someone's foundational beliefs are. All of this is leading up to the crucial point that no scientist operates completely objectively, there always must be some assumptions that are based on faith that they are operating by, and influence the research questions they ask, the types of conclusions they draw and the applications they make of any new knowledge gained. (The second half of the course is built around a case study of the invention of the concept of race, and how science was used to first support race and racism, and later to help destroy the concepts. I myself am a geneticist.)

As part of this first part of the course, we read a couple sci fi novels. Their job is to submit an essay on each addressing some aspect of worldview revealed about the author, or in the fictional characters or the book plot. I really like using 'Out of the Silent Planet' as one of these. (1) CSL is such a good writer - I've re-read this novel now a # of times b/c of my class, and I see much better now how very, very skilled Lewis was at telling the story and revealing the nature of each of his characters and of the nature of the universe revealed through Malacandra. (2) The essence of the novel is precisely a conflict of worldviews. (3) Obviously, CSL wrote from a strong theistic/Christian worldview.

I try to pair it with a novel written from a different worldview, and that is readable within a limited time frame. (The latter knocks out weighty novels like 'Dune'.) This semester I am going to try 'Lathe of Heaven' by Ursula Le Guin, b/c she is a writer of equal skill to CSL and is writing from a very different worldview, sort of an ecclectic Buddhism. It's going to be interesting to see what they write in their essays! In previous classes, I've also used 'A Case of Conscience' by James Blish (interesting novel that parallels OOSP in some ways, but written by an agnostic; JB was unfortunately not as skilled a writer as CSL in this novel) or 'Ishmael' by Daniel Quinn (a New Age retelling of the book of Genesis, by a telepathic gorilla - I got tired of the book after a semester or two, it's basically Quinn using a gorilla hand puppet to give lengthy monologues about his theory of history).

The response of my students to 'OOSP' has generally been very positive, most really like the novel, and most have not read it previously.

[loeee]

Dr. U, I wish I could take your course! It sounds wonderful. (Too bad I am in California and decades out of school.)

[rusmeister]

The elephant in the room -
Lewis in public schools (Narnia for 4th-8th gr), or selections from his other works for high schoolers?
All of my experience (certified public school teacher, 4 yrs in public, 7 in private) tells me that Narnia would be possible, as long as you completely avoided the allegory - that would be almost certain death for the teacher, and that anything from his other works (not counting "Spirits in Bondage", as that is a collection of his poetry from his atheist days) would be impossible without excising the Christian message. (What was that about telling the story of Babe Ruth and hiding the fact that he was a baseball player...?)

The hypocrisy of "multiculturalism" that invites detailed exploration of the teachings of Islam, Buddhism and what-have-you while purposefully excluding all but absolute minimum information on Christianity works to eliminate the Christian Faith in the same way that they have slowly made smoking nearly impossible in public in the US. Officially allow it, but...not really.

G.K. Chesterton:
• "These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own." - ILN 8-11-28

PS: I was agnostic during my public school teaching period, and it was the intensity of the effort to squash Christianity in this hidden fashion (through district and state policies, as well as the state teacher prep program) that helped drive me back to Christianity.

[Áthas]

Dr. U, I also wish I could take your course, it sounds really great. Since there has been a course on "The Lord of The Rings" at the university I study at, I'm hoping there might be a course on some of the books by C. S. Lewis as well one day... he certainly isn't unknown there.
I'm hoping to teach English literature at university one day and if I really manage to do that, I'll certainly do a course on the Space Trilogy or CON.

[friendofaslan]

Thanks for keeping this topic going everyone. Dr. U., your class sounds absolutely fascinating! Lewis is like a magnet drawing students in whether to the nobility of Narnia or the subtlety of Screwtape.

Rusmeister, I realize I am blessed as I present possible approaches to essays and can suggest religious symbolism or biblical parallels. In fact, our college Norton World Literature anthology contains excerpts from the Bible --as "literature," of course, like the story of the Prodigal Son, the Sermon on the Mount, Job, Joseph, etc. . . . We study the Flood account and the story of Joseph. As we read the brief section on Christianity and the life of Christ as well as the Hebrew culture, I have in times past used the chapter from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe about Aslan's sacrifice on the Stone Table to show a modern parallel to the resurrection "story." I love teaching literature because it opens so many doors for discussing topics like faith, love, sacrifice, hope, etc . . . within the acceptable framework of literary analysis.

LWW is often taught in American elementary grade levels, but thanks to the films, many of us can now tap into the popularity of Narnia as a way to introduce more of Lewis' works in a range of grade levels. This summer, I taught writing to young inner city high schoolers of different ethnic backgrounds in a special program to boost their chances of graduating and going on to college. Narnia was as popular to them as Kanye West. Some had even progressed to reading his other works. I have a friend who is a high school teacher, and she has a huge Narnia calendar in her classroom and uses the film in class near the end of the term as a "reward" for students. She says they can't wait to turn the calendar to see what character they will see each day for a month.

We are sneaking "past watchful dragons."

[Áthas]