The Thomistic Institute The Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis – Prof. Lee Oser
Feb 26, 2026
Lee Oser, professor of literature and religion and novelist known for work on Tolkien and Lewis, explores the Inklings as a countercultural circle. He traces Tolkien and Lewis’s formation, wartime grief, medieval and Arthurian influences, club practices, Barfield’s ideas on myth and language, and how their Christian imagination resisted modern secular trends.
50:27
Addison's Walk As The Turning Point
- Oser highlights Lewis's conversion moment on Addison's Walk as a decisive intellectual and imaginative turning point toward Christianity as the true myth.
- The stroll with Tolkien and Hugo Dyson in September 1931 integrated Barfield and Chesterton's ideas into Lewis's belief.
Inklings As Countercultural Christian Circle
- The Inklings formed a countercultural, Christian literary circle resisting modernist stylistic experiments and secularism.
- Their emphasis on doctrine, medieval learning, and a masculine warrior ethos set them apart from contemporary literary trends.
Barfield's Mythic Language Shaped Tolkien
- Owen Barfield influenced Tolkien's view of language as mythic, where words once united literal and metaphorical meaning.
- Carpenter summarizes Barfield: early language lacked the literal/metaphor split, informing Tolkien's sub-creation and mythic practice.
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Intro
00:00 • 25sec
Tolkien and Lewis: Lives of Suffering and Formation
00:25 • 4min
Arthurian and Romantic Influences
04:33 • 25sec
Tolkien's Early Years and Family
04:58 • 2min
C.S. Lewis's Childhood and Education
06:51 • 4min
Schooling, Languages, and Early Creativity
10:35 • 3min
War Service and Its Impact
14:00 • 4min
Academic Careers and Return to Oxford
17:40 • 3min
Meeting and Conversion: The Spark of Friendship
20:46 • 2min
Clubbable Men and the Formation of the Inklings
22:26 • 4min
Inklings Meetings, Members, and Practices
26:33 • 2min
Extracurricular Connections and Wider Influence
28:47 • 1min
Countercultural Christian Resistance
30:10 • 57sec
Barfield's Influence on Myth and Language
31:08 • 2min
Lewis's Literary Range and Satire
33:00 • 2min
Medieval Scholarship and Medievalism
34:56 • 2min
Boethius, Music, and Creation Myths
36:54 • 2min
Magic, Morality, and Modernity
38:46 • 3min
Character Types, Pity, and Providence
41:20 • 2min
Mutual Support, Recognition, and Literary Judgment
43:22 • 3min
Inklings vs Modernism: Telling Better Tales
46:19 • 2min
The Christian Imagination Explained
47:49 • 2min
Outro
49:56 • 31sec
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George Orwell
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The Hobbit
or There and Back Again
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G.K. Chesterton
G. K.
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string
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The book is a personal and philosophical journey where Chesterton explains how he came to embrace traditional Christianity after exploring various heresies and philosophies.
He compares Christianity with other worldviews, highlighting its unique ability to balance paradoxes and provide a coherent explanation of human nature and the world.
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Christopher Marlowe
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Prof. Lee Oser portrays the Inklings—and especially J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis—as a countercultural circle of Christian writers and scholars whose friendship, medieval learning, and shared experience of war grounded a robust Christian imagination that resisted modern secularism by telling better, theologically rich stories.
This lecture was given on October 28th, 2025, at United States Military Academy.
For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.
About the Speakers:
Lee Oser's scholarly focus is Religion and Literature. His books include Christian Humanism in Shakespeare: A Study in Religion and Literature and The Return of Christian Humanism: Chesterton, Eliot, Tolkien and the Romance of History. Also, he is a noted novelist who specializes in satire. He currently teaches at College of the Holy Cross.
Keywords: Boethius, Christian Imagination, CS Lewis And Conversion, Inklings Literary Club, JRR Tolkien, Medieval Conception Of The Cosmos, Myth vs. True Myth, Owen Barfield And Language, War And Friendship