To transform

Julia ♦ August 3, 2024 ♦ 8 Comments

The garden at The Kilns, where lovely weather and lawn chairs awaited us.

“He had a way of using all that he read and experienced to transform the way that he lived. There was no such thing as purely academic knowledge for him…” — John Bremer

As it happens, I’m taking a break from working hard on a “purely academic” paper on C. S. Lewis that’s due in a couple of days, but I remembered it was time to post. So it seemed appropriate to share one of the photos I took on our visit to his Oxford home, The Kilns, where one of our class sessions was held.

Lewis lived most of his life in this modest but lovely little home, sharing it first with his adopted family (and for a time, some British children evacuated from London during World War II, who were said to have inspired his Narnia books), then with his brother and later, his wife Joy. The house is now maintained by the C. S. Lewis Foundation, and scholars-in-residence make it their home for months or even years at a time.

My ten days in Oxford were a rare privilege that now feels more like a dream than reality. As time goes by I’ll tell you more about it, but for now, suffice it to say that if one must write an academic paper, which is definitely my least favorite kind of writing, there is no more appealing topic. Despite his fame and popularity, Lewis predicted shortly before he died that he would be forgotten by five years after his death. But he remains as influential as ever, and he is one of a very few authors of his generation whose works have never gone out of print. Apparently, in transforming his own life, he was able to help others transform theirs as well. Isn’t that an encouraging thought?

This post was first published seven years ago. As I sit here scheduling it to re-appear, I’m just across town from The Kilns, during an even longer stay at Oxford for this, my fourth summer session of classes here. I’ve used the words “I never dreamed…” often at this blog, usually in a somber or negative sense. But here is one instance of being able to say it in a thankful way. Perhaps some part of me knew seven years ago that I would be returning in years to come. I know I hoped so at the time, but hopes don’t always work out the way we want them to. Yet here I am (although, by the time you read this, I’ll likely be home again, or almost so). If I return again next summer– a BIG if, from where we are now– I hope it will include a graduation ceremony at the Sheldonian.

The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.