CCC Gainesville | Blog
This summer, we are reading book two of the seven-part series, The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a wonderful read. Come join the discussion June 30th at 9am! If you haven’t started the book, you still have two weeks to join in on the church-wide summer “one read“, and it’s super cheap on Amazon ($0.01 used).
I could list several reasons why you should consider reading this book, and why we should value any book discussion, but I will propose one simple argument: Stories are indispensable to our understanding of creation, and we can grow as readers (and as story tellers) when we work together within a story’s context. So how could this high fantasy work help us grow as adults? Consider Lewis’ preface to Lucy:
I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say, but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather.
Reading literature takes time and a certain amount of attention that’s easily lost in our society’s pace. When we enter into a narrative, we are compelled to value the details – to retain small bits of information that convey larger themes and bear significance when threaded through the greater story. When I read, it’s generally shorter articles or essays based loosely around current events. Taking a step out of what’s current and diving into a timeless classic like this one can renew our ability to think creatively. Whether you read for pleasure, to satisfy a summer reading list, or not at all, take some time in the next two weeks to give The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe a chance! There’s no reason to rush to finish before the 30th, but let the upcoming group discussion be a catalyst that pushes you into this story.
The thought of reading fantasy literature together might stretch you. I’ve thought to myself, aren’t these books for children? J.R.R. Tolkien, contemporary of C.S. Lewis and author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, among others, helped frame for me an appreciation of high fantasy in his essay On Fairy Stories:
It is true that in recent times fairy-stories have usually been written or “adapted” for children.
But so may music be, or verse, or novels, or history, or scientific manuals. It is a dangerous
process, even when it is necessary. It is indeed only saved from disaster by the fact that the arts
and sciences are not as a whole relegated to the nursery; the nursery and schoolroom are merely
given such tastes and glimpses of the adult thing as seem fit for them in adult opinion (often
much mistaken). Any one of these things would, if left altogether in the nursery, become gravely
impaired. So would a beautiful table, a good picture, or a useful machine (such as a microscope),
be defaced or broken, if it were left long unregarded in a schoolroom. Fairy-stories banished in
this way, cut off from a full adult art, would in the end be ruined; indeed in so far as they have
been so banished, they have been ruined.The value of fairy-stories is thus not, in my opinion, to be found by considering children in
particular. Collections of fairy-stories are, in fact, by nature attics and lumber-rooms, only by
temporary and local custom play-rooms. Their contents are disordered, and often battered, a
jumble of different dates, purposes, and tastes; but among them may occasionally be found a
thing of permanent virtue: an old work of art, not too much damaged, that only stupidity would
ever have stuffed away.
Shall we read it, then? Starting Sunday, June 16th, we’ve got two weeks to get started. I think you’ll find it a quick and enjoyable read. When we come together on Sunday, June 30th, at 9am (before corporate worship), Todd Best will lead us to explore the text through discussion. The adult education team will also have some news for us about what expect in the fall!
Spread the word!
