Dreamflower's Mathom-house

Tomorrow I am going on a little "field trip" with some of the other members of our church. They are taking the church van into Tulsa to look at some of the United Methodist ministries there. And then tomorrow evening is my second class on Tolkien and Lewis.

Tomorrow we are going to look into the theme of "Creation" and the similarities and differences in the worlds that the two of them created, and how important the idea of being a "sub-creator" was to both of them.

Last week's class went pretty well--it was basically an introduction to the two writers, and mainly made use of biographical material from Wikipedia, so I didn't really try to share it here--the only part that was important to me was my personal testimony as to how important both men were to my own faith and life, something most of you know already, as well.

However--if anyone's interested, then I may post the outline and material for the other classes. The themes I'm covering are Creation, Love, Providence and Grace.

At any rate, I won't be home much tomorrow, so I'll have a lot of catching up to do with my flist on Thursday!

Tonight marks the first night of the class on Tolkien and Lewis that I am teaching at my church. When I checked yesterday, I had three people signed up, and one who said she "might", so I've made four handout copies.

I'm not posting tonight's outline, as it is mostly consisting of easily found biographical material, found at Wikipedia, and in Tolkien's Letters, and Lewis' autobiography. But I will put up next weeks' lesson ahead of time here, so I can get some input and suggestions.

Wish me luck!

And speaking of luck--please send some good vibes and prayers our way--we have some potential good news, and I don't want to jinx it by going into detail, but please cross your fingers for us.

I've been working on an outline for a class on Christian themes in the works of JRRT and CSL. I will be teaching it at my church for 5 weeks starting in September, and it will mostly be to people who have only a passing acquaintance with their work--possibly never having read LotR or the Narnia books, but only having seen the movies. I am hoping that my little class may spark some interest in both writers by some of the people who attend it.

I have decided to emphasize their fictional work, using their non-fictional work only as a reference to illuminate their fiction. So far my outline is a bit top-heavy on the Tolkien part. I'd like to also include some ideas from some of Lewis' other fiction. But I am trying to think of how to fit these themes into Till We Have Faces and The Screwtape Letters. I am including some things from the Narnia books and the Space Trilogy and The Great Divorce

I have a number of books about both Tolkien and Lewis, as well as access to some from a good library, and will be preparing a bibliography. I'd welcome suggestions for resource books--if you suggest something I'm already considering that's not a problem, as it will indicate to me that I'm on the right track, but I'd love to find some other books as well, while I have time to track them down. (I do have biographies of both men, as well as access to an excellent book about their friendship with one another.) The class starts Sept. 10.

Each major heading indicates that week's topic.

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