IQ 5: Syllabi Repository, Dinner with Lewis, LoTR & Dune
Inklings Quarterly
November 14, 2024
A New Resource: The Inklings Project Syllabi Repository
Thanks to the generosity of Inklings Project Fellows and friends who have shared their course syllabi, we are excited to present the Inklings Project Syllabi Repository. Accessible via the button below, the Syllabi Repository is a powerful resource that contains syllabi organized both by Inklings author treated and by class type (e.g., English, study abroad, writing seminar).
Before exploring this new resource, we recommend watching the two-minute tutorial video below. As always, please feel free to send us any questions or suggestions regarding this new resource.
Thank you again to the faculty who contributed their syllabi, allowing us to make this incredible resource available. If you are interested in contributing a syllabus, please contact Liz Zenger at liz@inklingsproject.org.
From a Fellow
Dr. Carolyn Weber, AY24-25 Inklings Project Fellow
Eat, Drink, Think and Be Merry!
A Preceptorial on C. S. Lewis and Spiritual Formation at New College Franklin
“Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.” C. S. Lewis borrows the last line of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 94 for his essay warning of the trappings of spiritual pride lurking within those who seek to “better” themselves through “culture.” “The highest things have the most precarious foothold in our nature,” Lewis writes, calling for the need to “leave us some region where the spontaneous, the unmarketable, the utterly private, can still exist.” In the course I offered on C. S. Lewis and Spiritual Formation this term, we looked to Lewis’s essays as a means of cultivating our own inner pearl, the gift of the Kingdom within – that part of our souls that is spontaneous, unmarketable and utterly private. And thanks to Lewis, we considered how to do this by not playing the hypocrite but by paying attention. Culture cannot save us; only Christ can.
C.S. Lewis’ shorter essays, many based on sermons he gave in college chapel, are often overlooked in popular reading lists or educational curricula. At New College Franklin this fall term, however, we studied a number of these essays in depth as stepping stones along a path of spiritual formation.
Reading primarily from two collections published by HarperCollins, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses, and The World’s Last Night and Other Essays, we considered how Lewis studies remain more relevant than ever today. Probably one of the greatest obstacles to faith is that people do not see it as relevant to the actual goings-on of their everyday lives. Through these essays, however – ranging from prayer to power, from the ecstatic possibility of life in other galaxies to something as common as a slip of the tongue – Lewis takes quotidian concerns, observations, and ponderings, and uses them to illuminate the divine at work in every aspect of our lives.
In other words, he points us towards the relevance of reverence – whether it be in the way we observe a sunbeam streaming into a dark toolshed, or the weight of glory we bear for our brothers and sisters. We are beloved by God, and noteworthy, he claims, and yet this brings with it such utter humility that we cannot look directly into the source of such steadfast and unfathomable love.
At New College Franklin, we pursue a Christian liberal arts education with the aim of understanding beauty, goodness and truth, whilst walking in fellowship by doing “life together”, as Bonhoeffer imagined it. Tolkien bemoaned the lack of merriment as a lack of humanity, and never has our world been more in need of it. Our class rose to the occasion to remedy this need. We met on Tuesday evenings around a full hot meal (with dessert!) to discuss in depth these shorter essays by Lewis significantly grouped together. We considered the topics raised in these essays alongside exercises in the spiritual direction tradition.
Together, we practiced such exercises as Lectio Divina, the Examen and contemplative prayer to develop the inner life of the soul and utterly private in conversation with God. We also considered the rich history and symbolism of labyrinths, and then designed and created our own. This led us to examine “patterns” in our own lives, as raised by Lewis, and the importance of contemplation, trust, forgiveness, and keeping traction in our faith in a relentlessly distracting world. Students wrote tutorial papers and defended positions, which they complemented with creative work, such as attempting their own adaptation of Screwtape toasts, penning poems glorifying the commonplace, and composing prayers, hymns or descriptive meditations. In these ways, we examined all types of hungerings and longings – why we consume and what we consume, the notion of taking and eating, not just taking and thinking, and what it means to “commune” within community. Conversations were lively, and the atmosphere each time even festive!
New College Franklin is greatly indebted to the Inklings Project for a sharing in the exultation of humility and the lasting joy brought to us by the studies of Lewis and spiritual formation. These essays, and the conversations around meals, will long stay with us. From this classroom experience, we continue to carry with us what it means to reflect on one’s prayer life and spiritual formation in Christ – for, meanwhile:
little people like you and me, if our prayers are sometimes granted, beyond all hope and probability, had better not draw hasty conclusions to our own advantage. If we were stronger, we might be less tenderly treated. If we were braver, we might be sent, with far less help, to defend far more desperate posts in the great battle.
If we couldn’t have a pint or a plate at the Bird and Babe pub on a Tuesday morning during term in Oxford, at least we could have a cuppa and a bite at the corner of 3rd and Church in Franklin, TN on a Tuesday evening all together – and it was a foretaste indeed of the great feast to be held at our Father’s table, where we will glorify Him and enjoy Him forever!
From a Fellow
Dr. Timothy Burbery, AY23-24 Inklings Project Fellow
On teaching The Lord of the Rings and Dune
This fall (2024), I’ve been teaching the course I designed as a 2023-2024 Inklings Project Fellow, Studies in Authors: J.R.R. Tolkien and Frank Herbert as a 400-level English course at Marshall University. Marshall is the number two public university in West Virginia; WVU is the flagship. The course has eight students, almost all of them literary studies or creative writing majors.
Thus far, it’s been a delight, and we’ve focused primarily on the first two books of The Lord of the Rings and Dune, generally regarded as the exemplars of the high fantasy and science fiction genres, respectively. We’ve also dipped into Tolkien’s Silmarillion for context. As the term starts to wind down, I may, additionally, teach Tolkien’s provocative speculation about the possibility of Iluvatar’s incarnation into Middle-earth (“The Dialogue of Finrod and Andreth”) and/or “Of Túrin Tarambar,” perhaps the author’s darkest story.
I’ve brought in several critical approaches, including ecocriticism, post-colonialism, and the anxiety of influence, but most of our discussions have focused on plot and character elements. We’ve also done a bit with the Peter Jackson films. And Ralph Wood’s The Gospel According to Tolkien has been a big influence for me as I teach, especially his discussion of Pity, in its older, richer sense, of solidarity, even piety. So have the two Tolkien podcast episodes on The Rest is History hosted by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. Moreover, Tom Shippey’s work has been indispensable, particularly his insight that Tolkien’s work is fundamentally linguistic.
Perhaps the most enjoyable part of the class has been the “dialogue” between the two authors. To my knowledge, there is no evidence that Herbert read Tolkien; that may be because the Legendarium only exploded into popularity after the writing of Dune was completed. (It first appeared in 1965.) By contrast, Tolkien read—and perhaps unsurprisingly, disliked—Dune. We don’t know why but of course he disapproved of many other authors, including Shakespeare and C.S. Lewis, to name just two. Unlike with those two writers, however, Tolkien never elaborated on why he didn’t care for Dune, so we can only speculate.
In any case, it has not been as easy as I had initially hoped to put them into conversation with each other. However, a dialogue has emerged all the same, since our 15-week semester is divided into four main segments, in this order: Tolkien, Herbert, Tolkien, Herbert, thus allowing for us to register the overlaps and differences between them.
A larger challenge that has emerged has to do with the current reception of Tolkien among my students. Prior to this semester, I taught numerous other courses on him here at Marshall, including Green Tolkien, Tolkien and Friends, and Tolkien and Film. One surprise this time around is that the students have connected less with Tolkien than they did in past courses, and more so with Dune. I’m still mulling this one over. In years past, the Jackson films really helped to stoke enthusiasm for the Tolkien classes, but I’m now realizing that these films are dated; the CGI, for instance, doesn’t land like it did twenty plus years ago. I also wonder if the students have watched just enough of these movies—bits and snatches played for them by their Tolkien nerd dads, say—to be inoculated against them, without really giving them a chance. To offset this possibility, I’ve recommended the Amazon series, Rings of Power, a “prequel” to LOTR, but so far haven’t gotten many takers.
In contrast, the recent Dune films by Denis Villeneuve have really caught their interest and thus made them perhaps more inclined to enjoy the Dune book/s. They are giving Tolkien his due, to be sure, but I’m having to work harder to sell them on his writing, which is relatively dense, chock full of linguistic enjoyment, yes, but also lengthy and demanding in its way.
In addition, Lord of the Rings is quite plot-driven, and while the characters are wonderfully memorable, we seldom get into their heads. By contrast, Herbert is constantly revealing the personae’s inner thoughts. Indeed, though what I’m about to say is a scholarly cliché, at times I’ve wondered if Tolkien’s training as a medievalist has made him perhaps less concerned than he might be about depicting his characters’ inner lives.
So, is Herbert “winning” the battle of dueling authors here? It would be absurd to declare a winner, of course, plus Tolkien can more than stand up on his own, given his phenomenal popularity. Yet I do wonder if my current students’ struggles with Tolkien might signal an important change, as our culture becomes increasingly post-Christian, and perhaps less compelled by the Legendarium’s depictions of real good and evil. In addition, the challenges of reading long, dense books are also increasing in our age, of course. Dune is about 600 pages, to LOTR’s 1200 pages, plus there are the stylistic/authorial differences I’ve mentioned.
Nonetheless, with Tolkien there’s always more to say and discuss. To name but two, his wartime experiences, and possible links with the fiction, have been explored in The Rest is History and John Garth’s book, Tolkien and the Great War. Students have responded well to these biographical elements. They might also resonate with Túrin Tarambar, cited earlier, for its edgy qualities. So, to state the hugely obvious, Tolkien has legs, and I look forward to offering the course again when the chance arrives.
Fellow Spotlight
Dr. Adam Pelser, AY23-24 Inklings Project Fellow
Dr. Adam Pelser, an AY23-24 Inklings Project Fellow, was featured in an article posted on the United States Air Force Academy’s website called “Examining the Works of C. S. Lewis: Critical Thinking and Ethics.” The piece gives a first-hand glimpse of what it is like to be a cadet in Dr. Pelser’s class, “C. S. Lewis and Philosophy.”
As the author of the article, Randy Roughton, writes:
“Pelser has four goals for each course. First, he wants to deepen an understanding of the philosophical themes in Lewis’ writings. Second is a deeper understanding of the historical and contemporary philosophical influences on Lewis’s thought. The third goal is for cadets to learn to identify and summarize theses and arguments in philosophical texts. Finally, he wants each cadet to write and think through arguments carefully and clearly.”
To read the complete article, visit https://www.usafa.edu/examining-the-works-of-c-s-lewis-critical-thinking-and-ethics/.
Quarterly Highlights
Inspiration: “There were the Mountains in the background. They did get nearer, very slowly. They did not seem to belong to the picture, or only as a link to something else, a glimpse through the trees of something different, a further stage: another picture.” – J. R. R. Tolkien, “Leaf by Niggle”
Resource: The Inklings Project Syllabi Repository (link here). Watch the video at the beginning of this newsletter for a quick tutorial on this new resource!
Event: In this edition, we would like to point your attention to TWO events taking place this winter.
January 4, 2025 | The First Adeodatus Winter Forum, “Canonizing” Tolkien: The Case for Reading Tolkien at All Levels of Catholic Education | Pasadena, CA. Join in-person or virtually. Visit https://adeodatus.com/event/tolkien-winter-forum/ for more information.
January 31 - February 1, 2025 | Fahrenheit 2451: Ideas Worth Saving | San Francisco, CA. Visit https://ideasworthsaving.org/ for more information regarding attendance and call for papers.
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For past issues of the Inklings Quarterly, visit www.inklingsproject.org/quarterly.
