Lesser-Known Lewis: Christian Reflections on C. S. Lewis's Essays and Short Works

Exploring the second part of C. S. Lewis' 1947 essay "On Forgiveness." Here Lewis turns our attention to how we can accept forgiveness from God and how we can (and ought to) forgive others when they sin against us. As we wrestle with how this challenges and encourages us in our own lives, William provides some good perspective and advice from his experience in the world of counseling on how to go about the process of forgiveness. Since, as Lewis says, "to be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you." Our guest William O'Flaherty can be found — Online: ⁠EssentialCSLewis.com⁠ YouTube: ⁠Knowing and Understanding C.S. Lewis ⁠ Podcast: ⁠All About Jack⁠ or to go directly to his ⁠"Essay Chat" episodes⁠ Books: ⁠"C. S. Lewis Goes to Hell"⁠ and ⁠"The Misquotable C. S. Lewis"⁠ Twitter: ⁠@essentiallewis⁠ Facebook: ⁠Confirming C.S. Lewis Quotations Group⁠ Here are links, should you want to read ⁠⁠"On Forgiveness," ⁠⁠ or listen on YouTube: ⁠⁠"On Forgiveness."⁠⁠ The music for this episode is a song called "Collect for Lent," performed by David Stroeve, composed by Jordan Duncan and David Stroeve, from the Collect for the Second Sunday in Lent from the Episcopal Prayer Book. David Stroeve's album ⁠⁠The Cathedral Project,⁠⁠ is on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon, and Apple Music. See especially "The Jesus Prayer," and "God of Mercy" as excellent meditative worship songs for Lent. The lyrics for the song, "Collect for Lent" are: "Oh God, whose glory it is to have mercy, be gracious to all who've gone astray from Your ways, lead us again with penitent hearts, and steadfast faith to hold fast and embrace the unchangeable truth, Your Word: Jesus Christ, Your Son, who with You and the Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and forever. Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy." Find more Lesser-Known Lewis —  Online: ⁠⁠pintswithjack.com/lesser-known-lewis⁠⁠ Patreon: ⁠⁠patreon.com/lesserknownlewis⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠@lesserknownlewis⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠Lesser-Known Lewis Podcast⁠⁠ Email: lesserknownlewis@gmail.com Graphic Design by Angus Crawford.

Exploring C. S. Lewis' 1947 essay "On Forgiveness." You'll never guess what it's about ;) In this first part, Lewis leads us to reflect on how we approach God when we ask for forgiveness. He helps us see the important difference between forgiving and excusing and after reminding us that confession and repentance are important regular activities of the Christian life, he challenges us to consider whether our confession and repentance with God is true repentance asking for true forgiveness, or whether we are merely approaching God with excuses, and leave never truly having asked for forgiveness. Our guest William O'Flaherty can be found — Online: EssentialCSLewis.com YouTube: Knowing and Understanding C.S. Lewis Podcast: All About Jack or to go directly to his "Essay Chat" episodes Books: "C. S. Lewis Goes to Hell" and "The Misquotable C. S. Lewis" Twitter: @essentiallewis Facebook: Confirming C.S. Lewis Quotations Group Here are links, should you want to read ⁠"On Forgiveness," ⁠ or listen on YouTube: ⁠"On Forgiveness."⁠ The music for this episode is a song called "Collect for Lent," performed by David Stroeve, composed by Jordan Duncan and David Stroeve, from the Collect for the Second Sunday in Lent from the Episcopal Prayer Book. David Stroeve's album ⁠The Cathedral Project,⁠ is on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon, and Apple Music. See especially "The Jesus Prayer," and "God of Mercy" as excellent meditative worship songs for Lent. The lyrics for the song, "Collect for Lent" are: "Oh God, whose glory it is to have mercy, be gracious to all who've gone astray from Your ways, lead us again with penitent hearts, and steadfast faith to hold fast and embrace the unchangeable truth, Your Word: Jesus Christ, Your Son, who with You and the Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and forever. Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy." Find more Lesser-Known Lewis —  Online: ⁠pintswithjack.com/lesser-known-lewis⁠ Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/lesserknownlewis⁠ Instagram: ⁠@lesserknownlewis⁠ Facebook: ⁠Lesser-Known Lewis Podcast⁠ Email: lesserknownlewis@gmail.com Graphic Design by Angus Crawford.

Exploring the second part of the 1948 article by C. S. Lewis, "The Trouble with 'X'" where Lewis explores the all too relatable problem of what to do when we encounter people whose "fatal flaw" shipwreck all our best plans. Here he turns the whole complaint on its head and with a few parables Lewis helps us see that God sees one more person with fatal flaws that we don't see, the only person we are able to change, the only person we are responsible to change — ourselves. Lewis helps us take seriously "the log in our own eye," that we may be blind to things in us that, if left unchecked, may lead to hell, and consider what we ought to do about it. There's no time like the present to put ourselves into God's hands and allow him to do his gracious work of salvation. Our guest on for this essay is Rev. Dr. Joel Scandrett.  To read this essay an version can be found online here: "The Trouble with 'X'," or audio version can be listened to on YouTube, "The Trouble with 'X'." Should you want to read ahead for the upcoming Lent essay: "On Forgiveness,"  or listen on YouTube: "On Forgiveness." The music for this episode is a song called "Collect for Lent," performed by David Stroeve, composed by Jordan Duncan and David Stroeve, from the Collect for the Second Sunday in Lent from the Episcopal Prayer Book. David Stroeve's album The Cathedral Project, is on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon, and Apple Music. See especially "The Jesus Prayer," and "God of Mercy" as excellent meditative worship songs for Lent. The lyrics for the song, "Collect for Lent" are: "Oh God, whose glory it is to have mercy, be gracious to all who've gone astray from Your ways, lead us again with penitent hearts, and steadfast faith to hold fast and embrace the unchangeable truth, Your Word: Jesus Christ, Your Son, who with You and the Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and forever. Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy." Find more Lesser-Known Lewis —  Online: pintswithjack.com/lesser-known-lewis Patreon: patreon.com/lesserknownlewis Instagram: @lesserknownlewis Facebook: Lesser-Known Lewis Podcast Email: lesserknownlewis@gmail.com Graphic Design by Angus Crawford.

Exploring the 1948 article by C. S. Lewis, "The Trouble with 'X'" where he tells explores the all too relatable problem of what to do when we encounter people whose "fatal flaw" shipwreck all our best plans. The first thing to do, is realize that we now know a little of how God feels, for God sees all his plans spoiled too, by all these same people with their fatal flaws. Only, he sees even more fatal flaws than we could ever see. How frustrating it is that God, in his wisdom, has "made it a rule for himself that he won't alter people's character by force." Nevertheless, this means that we have to come to grips with the fact that no matter how well the rest of our lives go — even if we won the lottery — we would still have to face the hurdles of all the people around us, shipwrecking our plans. How will we deal with that? How does God deal with it?  Lent is a good time to think about such things, and face such issues head-on.  Our guest for this essay is Rev. Dr. Joel Scandrett.  To read this essay an version can be found online here: "The Trouble with 'X'," or audio version can be listened to on YouTube, "The Trouble with 'X'."  Should you want to read ahead for the upcoming Lent essay: "On Forgiveness,"  or listen on YouTube: "On Forgiveness." The music for this episode is a song called "Collect for Lent," performed by David Stroeve, composed by Jordan Duncan and David Stroeve, from the Collect for the Second Sunday in Lent from the Episcopal Prayer Book. David Stroeve's album The Cathedral Project, is on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon, and Apple Music. See especially "The Jesus Prayer," and "God of Mercy" as excellent meditative worship songs for Lent. The lyrics for the song, "Collect for Lent" are: "Oh God, whose glory it is to have mercy, be gracious to all who've gone astray from Your ways, lead us again with penitent hearts, and steadfast faith to hold fast and embrace the unchangeable truth, Your Word: Jesus Christ, Your Son, who with You and the Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and forever. Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy." Find more Lesser-Known Lewis —   Online: pintswithjack.com/lesser-known-lewis Patreon: patreon.com/lesserknownlewis Instagram: @lesserknownlewis Facebook: Lesser-Known Lewis Podcast Email: lesserknownlewis@gmail.com Graphic Design by Angus Crawford.

Exploring the second part of C. S. Lewis' 1946 sermon, "Miserable Offenders," where he defends the language of the Anglican prayer book, referring to ourselves as "miserable offenders," because those fatal flaws we see so clearly other people are present also in us. Lewis gives us some great pastoral wisdom for dealing with getting these logs out of our own eyes. Lent is precisely the time for such a task. You can read "Miserable Offenders" here. To read next the essays for the weeks ahead you can find them here: "The Trouble with 'X'," and "On Forgiveness," or audio versions can be listened to on YouTube, here: "The Trouble with 'X'," and "On Forgiveness." The music for this episode is a song called "Collect for Lent," performed by David Stroeve, composed by Jordan Duncan and David Stroeve, from the Collect for the Second Sunday in Lent from the Episcopal Prayer Book. David Stroeve's album The Cathedral Project, is on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon, and Apple Music. See especially "The Jesus Prayer," and "God of Mercy" as excellent meditative worship songs for Lent. The lyrics for the song, "Collect for Lent" are: "Oh God, whose glory it is to have mercy, be gracious to all who've gone astray from Your ways, lead us again with penitent hearts, and steadfast faith to hold fast and embrace the unchangeable truth, Your Word: Jesus Christ, Your Son, who with You and the Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and forever. Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy." Find more Lesser-Known Lewis —   Online: pintswithjack.com/lesser-known-lewis Patreon: patreon.com/lesserknownlewis  Instagram: @lesserknownlewis Facebook: Lesser-Known Lewis Podcast Email: lesserknownlewis@gmail.com Graphic design by Angus Crawford.

Exploring C. S. Lewis' 1946 sermon, "Miserable Offenders," where he defends the language of the Anglican prayer book, referring to ourselves as "miserable offenders," asking for God to give us "contrite hearts," and confessing that the burden of our sins is "intolerable." Lewis is adamant that this has nothing to do with how we feel, but is a statement of fact and one we, as Christians, must come to grips with if we are to be honest and to be saints. His message is challenging but leads us straight into the loving arms of Jesus during the season of Lent.  You can read "Miserable Offenders" here. To read ahead, links are here: "The Trouble with 'X'," and "On Forgiveness," or audio versions can be listened to on YouTube, here: "The Trouble with 'X'," and "On Forgiveness." The music for this episode is a song called "Collect for Lent," performed by David Stroeve, composed by Jordan Duncan and David Stroeve, from the Collect for the Second Sunday in Lent from the Episcopal Prayer Book. David Stroeve's album The Cathedral Project, is on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon, and Apple Music. See especially "The Jesus Prayer," and "God of Mercy" as excellent meditative worship songs for Lent. The lyrics for the song, "Collect for Lent" are: "Oh God, whose glory it is to have mercy, be gracious to all who've gone astray from Your ways, lead us again with penitent hearts, and steadfast faith to hold fast and embrace the unchangeable truth, Your Word: Jesus Christ, Your Son, who with You and the Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and forever. Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy." Links to resources Jordan mentioned for understanding the secular age we live in:  The Eudo Podcast.  James K.A. Smith Andrew Root Carl Truman Charles Taylor Find more Lesser-Known Lewis —  Online: pintswithjack.com/lesser-known-lewis Patreon: patreon.com/lesserknownlewis Instagram: @lesserknownlewis Facebook: Lesser-Known Lewis Podcast Email: lesserknownlewis@gmail.com Graphic design by Angus Crawford.

Exploring C. S. Lewis' 1948 article "Some Thoughts" where he explores the Christian paradox — that Christianity is both a world-affirming and world-denying religion. In this episode, we focus on the world-denying aspects of the faith. We see that because Christianity has both sides of the paradox, things like fasting or celibacy should be practiced differently in Christianity than in every other religion and ideology. NOTE: Our first part of this essay is found a few episodes earlier S2E12 Christmas 2 — "Some Thoughts" (Part 1) For a visual on the absurd rabbit trail Jordan and Sean start off the show with, as well as devotional connection Jordan draws between Zombies and C. S. Lewis, see this link to a video Jordan made after he had some thoughts of his own. If you want to read or listen to C.S. Lewis' "Some Thoughts" you can find links to it in print, online, and in audio format at pintswithjack.com/essays Find more Lesser-Known Lewis — Online: pintswithjack.com/lesser-known-lewis Patreon: patreon.com/lesserknownlewis Instagram: @lesserknownlewis Facebook: Lesser-Known Lewis Podcast Email: lesserknownlewis@gmail.com Music by Jessica Syratt (Twitter: @jesssyratt). Graphic by Angus Crawford.

Exploring C. S. Lewis' essay "The Psalms" which was a precursor to his 1958 book Reflections on the Psalms. In the second part of the essay, Lewis explains how Christians need a paradigm shift to see the Psalms of judgment differently. They are more like scripts that help us approach God as the woman in the parable of the Unjust Judge (Luke 18) who knows she is in the right, if only she could get her case heard. Sean and Jordan wrestle with how uncomfortable it makes us as Christians to come to God in prayer, claiming to be standing in righteousness — ironic, right? Well, helpfully, Lewis suggests the Psalms might lead us to the Righteousness that belongs to Another. If you want to read or listen to C. S. Lewis' "The Psalms" you can find links to it in many formats at pintswithjack.com/essays Find more Lesser-Known Lewis —  Online: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠pintswithjack.com/lesser-known-lewis⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/lesserknownlewis⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@lesserknownlewis⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lesser-Known Lewis Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email: lesserknownlewis@gmail.com Graphic Design by Angus Crawford. Music by Jessica Syratt (Twitter: @jesssyratt).

Exploring C. S. Lewis' essay "The Psalms" which was a precursor to his 1958 book Reflections on the Psalms. In the first part of the essay, Lewis defends why modern Christians ought to pray the Psalms even though they are old and alien to us. While they are at times cruel and vindictive, and at others, appear self-righteous, they are what they claim to be — God's revelation. He guesses that they are useful to us as a way of dealing with our emotions, and provide self-reflection. Ultimately, because Jesus prayed them and the Church has benefited from following his example in doing so for thousands of years.  Links to things mentioned in today's show: The Mere C. S. Lewis Podcast episode on "Reflections on the Psalms" The Wade Center Podcast episode on "Reflection on the Psalms"  The work by Athanasius that Jordan was referring to is called "The Letter to Marcellinus." If you want to read or listen to C. S. Lewis' "The Psalms" you can find links to it in many formats at pintswithjack.com/essays Find more Lesser-Known Lewis —  Online: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠pintswithjack.com/lesser-known-lewis⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/lesserknownlewis⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@lesserknownlewis⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lesser-Known Lewis Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email: lesserknownlewis@gmail.com Graphic Design by Angus Crawford. Music by Jessica Syratt (Twitter: @jesssyratt).

This week during Ordinary Time, we are privileged to hear a conversation with one of C. S. Lewis' Neighbours from the 1940's and 50's — Terry Legg, who grew up in Oxford, just around the corner from Lewis as a young man. In this episode, Terry retells some of Lewis' biography, focusing on his affections, friends, and his love, Joy.   Alister McGrath's "C. S. Lewis Podcast" link to the first biography episode. "Undeceptions Podcast" C.S. Lewis Biography episode link. Find more Lesser-Known Lewis —  Online: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠pintswithjack.com/lesser-known-lewis⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/lesserknownlewis⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@lesserknownlewis⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lesser-Known Lewis Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email: lesserknownlewis@gmail.com Graphic Design by Angus Crawford. Music: The Flax / Whisky on the Rocks / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com