CS Lewis and the Problem of Evil

The concept of evil takes a central place in the writings of C.S. Lewis, from characters such as the Ice Queen in the Tales of Narnia to an exploration of the theological concepts of evil. In C.S. Lewis and the a Problem of Evil, Jerry Root investigates Lewis’s take on many aspects of evil. In Lewis’s view the greatest manifestation of the true nature of evil was subjectivism: the individual’s take on reality leads inevitably towardsself-referentialism and utilitarianism.

What the book highlights is the fact that Lewis consistently used his novels, both the fantasy Narnia novels and other works, to discuss the nature of evil and the problems that it faced for the individual. Consistently employing his characters to fulfill and further his case, most if not all his villains are presented as subjectivists or entirely self-absorbed. Take the White Witch of Narnia as an example: incapable of understanding true love or human empathy, she is condemned to a life of perpetual isolation, trapped in a endless cylce of repitition  incapable of connecting with other beings – human and non-human alike. What I think Lewis was exploring was that the nature of evil is at its most insidious when their in an absence of love or human empathy: in order to achieve and understand one another, we must love and truly empathise with one another. This I think is Lewis’s message that is so vital to an understanding to his concept of evil.

What is unique about the ideas presented in this book is that the nature of evil is presented in an entirely new light and addressed in a entirley different manner. There has been considerable critical acclaim for the book; Alan Jacobs, author of The Narnian: the Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis, describes how ‘few ideas were more central to Lewis’s thought than his critique of subjectivism. Particularly valuable in this study is Root’s insistence that Lewis considered fiction and poetry as key venue.’

C.S. Lewis and a Problem of Evil is available from James Clark & Co.

Blaise Fermor-Hesketh

Imparted Wisdom

In a recent blog post about Robert Elinor’s Buddha & Christ: Images of Wholeness by our sister the Lutterworth Press, they were anxiously awaiting the arrival of Paul O. Ingram’s new publication The Process of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue.

And now, we are pleased to announce, it has arrived! We thought we would pass on the press release to pique your interest in this fascinating and insightful book:

The Process of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue

By Paul O. Ingram

In recent years there has been a burgeoning of interest in Buddhist-Christian studies, an area of theory which compares Buddhism and Christianity on comprehensive theological and philosophical grounds—such as ultimate reality, human nature, suffering, evil and the role of Christ and Buddha historically. It asks in what ways do these religions intersect and what can each learn from its religious ‘other’? Paul O. Ingram’s new publication explores this profoundly postmodern experience of religious pluralism.

Ingram’s new title builds chiefly on the theoretical basis of his previous work Buddhist-Christian Dialogue in an Age of Science, in which the dialogue between these two faiths was expanded to include their interaction with the natural sciences, creating a ‘trialogue’ of interpretation. The Process of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue turns again to dialogue and ‘trialogue’, revolutionising his original readings through the added perspective of Alfred North Whitehead’s process philosophy, a theory of metaphysics that emphasises the role of processes in philosophical and ontological analysis. Ingram practically applies this mode of philosophy whereby: ‘process is fun­damental to not only human experience, but to the structure of reality, the way things and events really are’ (Author Introduction). The principal discovery at the heart of Ingram’s thesis is that the Buddhist-Christian dialogue in its three modes – conceptual, social engagement and interior – act as interdependent processes of creative transformation. According to this theory, the interreligious dialogue is a process by which the believer passes into the other faith tradition, inherits what can and cannot be appropriated into his/her own faith, before being reconciled into the original faith community

The Process of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue explores both faiths as comparative practical humanitarian forces in the world, which Ingram finds to be the ultimate “common ground” between Buddhism and Christianity. Thus transcending purely religious matters, the global-cultural span of this work gives rise to debates of social, environmental, economic and gender justice. This text will appeal therefore to those with interests as varied as philosophy, sociology, theology, comparative religion, ethics and mission studies.

Reviews for The Process of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue:

“The multifaceted complexity and richness of the work, however, issues from Paul Ingram’s wholehearted engagement with dialogue, not just as a scholar, but as a person. In plumbing the very depths of his own faith, he has been inexorably impelled to examine his life within the larger scope of human and cosmic diversity, to reach beyond any sort of dogmatically predefined boundaries. He is a scholar of Japanese Pure Land thought, East Asian Buddhism, and religion and science, but it is here in The Process of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue that he truly reveals the deep hues of his kaleidoscopic lifework.”

Mark Unno, University of Oregon

“Ingram offers an insightful, well-structured, and panoramic view of the field of Buddhist-Christian studies, mapping out the conceptual, socially engaged, and interior dimensions of the dialogue that continue to enrich and expand the horizons of both traditions.”

Ruben L.F. Habito, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University

About the Author: Paul O. Ingram is Professor of Religion Emeritus at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. He is the author of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue in an Age of Science, Wrestling with God, and Wrestling with the Ox: A Theology of Religious Experience.

If you are interested in reviewing this title, please contact our friendly Publicity and Sales team at James Clarke & Co: publicity@jamesclarke.co or sales@lutterworth.com.

If The Process of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue has intrigued you, you may also be interested inMeditation and Piety in the Far East by Karl Ludwig Reichelt, Martin Luther and Buddhism: Aesthetics of Suffering by Paul S. Chung and Islam and Christian Theology: A Study of the Interpretation of Theological Idea in the Two Religons by James Sweetman. To purchase The Process of Buddhist-Christian Dialogue or any of these related titles, please visit our website at www.jamesclarke.co.

A quiet night in with poetry, mysticism and negligence.

As the wind roars outside the windows and summer staggers to an end, why not cozy up with a cup of tea and a good thought-provoking book? From an in-depth study of the poetry of John Donne to a historical dissection of the Georgian Church and a classic introduction to Christian mysticism from the early Church to the present day, we have something for everyone on offer (!) at James Clarke & Co.

You already know their names: St. Paul, St. Augustine of Hippo, St.Francis of Assisi, Catherine of Siena, so why not learn what set these great men and women apart from the average church-goer and discover how their influence has shaped the Church throughout history? Evelyn Underhill’s Mystics of the Church explores not only the historical development of Christian mysticism and its role in the Church, but also provides fascinating insight in the spiritual growth of the individual mystics, their struggles, achievements and influence. Underhill illuminates the whole of her subject by drawing attention to the differences of approach that can bring a man along the road to the divine, from the zealous militancy of a Loyola to the passivity of the Quietists. Add some mystic inspiration to your life for only £20.00 £18.00!

Literature and Sacrament: The Sacred and the Secular in John Donne by Theresa M. DiPasquale is the perfect evening read for a lover of English literature. This elegant and scholarly study places Donne’s secular and religious poetry in the context of 17th-century popular culture and the Reformation debate on the Christian sacraments. DiPasquale sheds new light on the poetics of the period, as well as giving fresh and detailed readings of Donne’s poems. Enjoy an adept and engaging study of one of the greatest poets in the English language for a mere £52.50 £47.25!

Or if you prefer a riveting account of a rather over-looked historical period, try The Church in an Age of Negligence: Ecclesiastical Structure and Problems of Church Reform 1700-1840 by Peter Virgin. Using the same methods employed by pioneering psycho-historian Lewis Bernstein Namier to dissect 18th-century politics, Virgin provides a comprehensive understanding of the status of the clergy in Georgian society. In his exploration of ecclesiastical structure, incorporating tithe income, patronage, pluralism, non-residence and the numerous problems of church reform, Virgin overturns orthodoxies and puts forward a series of original and challenging views of the Georgian Church. Discover, or rediscover, a fascinating period of English history for £52.50 £47.25!

For more titles on religion and poetry, such as Milton and the Preaching Arts by Jameela Lares and On Poetry by Giovanni Antonio Viperano, please click here. If mysticism intrigues you, James Clarke & Co would like to recommend these alternative titles: The Life of the Servant by Henry Suso, Mystical Element of Religion: Two Volume Set by Friedrich von Hügel, Heresy and Mysticism in 16th Century Spain: The Alumbrados by Alastair Hamilton and many more. For more on the history of the Church, such as The Doctrine of Faith in the Reign of Henry VIII by D.B. Knox or Leonard Elliot-Binns’s The Early Evangelicals: A Religious and Social Study, please click here.

Offers end on September 30, 2011! Check out James Clarke & Co and our sister-publisher, The Lutterworth Press, for more special offers and irresistable titles!

 

Putting the RIOT back in Patriotism?

Book of the month: Patriotism, Power and Print: National Consciousness in Tudor England by Gillian Brennan.

RRP:£42.00 £35.70

Offer ends 30th September 2011

The riots of last month shook the country and with it, the perception of the country internationally. One could not help wondering what assumptions were being made all over the world about English social identity, and even more so within our own nation.

Gillian Brennan’s work challenges the established views of those who have followed the tendency of placing the origins of nationalism in the Middle Ages. It stresses the differences between the concepts of nationalism and patriotism and examines the connotations of patriotism in its own right rather than as nascent nationalism.

Gillian Brennan explores the advent of ‘Englishness’, as the result of a disparate community that was gradually centralised and inspired with a sense of unity. As the United Kingdom was born and an Empire started to flourish, this term was gradually replaced by ‘British’, which became the hallmark of a proud and successful nation.

What it is to be ‘British’ or ‘English’ as a signifier of identity is once more being re-appraised. Patriotism, Power and Print explains the origin of England’s social identity, for a community attempting to redefine it today.

Click Patriotism, Power and Print for more information on, or to buy, this title. For more offers from James Clarke & Co, click here.

Living on the Edge …Philosophy’s Answer to the Romantics, 1689-1920.

Book of the Month: Philosophy, Dissent and Nonconformity by Alan P. F Sell.

Look through the keyhole into the Nonconformist colleges where philosophy’s answer to the Romantics—dissenting, dangerous living radicals— studied philosophy for two long centuries, outside of the mainstream Anglican-Oxbridge Academy. Over one hundred such institutions existed during the period from 1689-1920, and yet Dr. Sell is the very first to tell this alternative history of philosophical education, revealing the diversity that existed in the movement, accommodating everyone from Evangelicals to Rationalists. The subject matter taught was similarly diverse: from logic and metaphysics to ethics and theology. Academy tutors left in turn a small but rich legacy of publication, from which moral philosophy emerges as the unique concern among dissenting philosophical circles. Doctor Sell’s groundbreaking study focuses on such individual thinkers as Richard Price, Joseph Priestley and James Martineau, correcting the unjust overlooking of such figures that continues in Oxbridge-focussed history writings today.

For more information and a chance to get this book at a special reduced price for this month only, click here.

Rosemary Hahn (Publicity)

Related Titles:

• Voice of Nonconformity: William Robertson Nicoll and The British Weekly
  By Keith A. Ives
• Philosophy Begins in Wonder: An Introduction to Early Modern Philosophy, Theology and Science by Michael Funk Deckard and Péter Losonczi (editors)
•  The Proof of the External World: Cartesian Theism and the Possibility of Knowledge by Steven M. Duncan
• Foundations of Progressive Education: The History of the National Froebel Society by Joachim Liebschner

God’s Wounds and Angel Wings…

Today we make the trip from our offices in Cambridge to its sister Oxford for the sixteenth ‘International Conference on Patristics.’ Here scholars from across the globe flock to the quarterly event, which provides an important arena for the testing of ideas within Patristics. It is a veritable hotbed of famous names, lectures and seminars, leading to the Master’s Garden Party at Christ Church, before the evening lecture at St Mary’s, this time given by Professor Guy Stroumsta, the Abrahamic Religion specialist.

Within this hive of academic activity we will introduce four of our latest publications:

All Shall Be Well By Gregory MacDonald is a tour de force across centuries of minority Universalist thought, revealing the sheer diversity existing within the discourse.

God’s Wounds Volume I & II By Jeff B. Pool examine divine suffering through the prism of Creation and Evil respectively, in this crucial contribution to the field of hermeneutics.

Finally In The Shadow Of His Wings By Jonathan Macy relocates the role of angels in the protestant tradition through a combination of scripture analysis and pastoral theology. All three works boldly confront eschatological issues to leave us with much food for thought, not least concerning the destination of our souls!

“Words I never thought to speak” T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding and Festivals of Words

‘If you came this way,
Taking any route, starting from anywhere,
At any time or at any season,
It would always be the same…’

_{T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding, (No. 4 of ‘Four Quartets’)}

Except of course that it wouldn’t, because for the last six years the Little Gidding T.S. Eliot Festival has been quietly growing. To investigate further and to ensure that Web of Friendship: Nicholas Ferrar and Little Gidding and Anglo-Catholic in Religion: T.S. Eliot and Christianity were duly promoted (they were), the newest member of the Lutterworth team attended the event incognito.

There are pictures below of the delightful scene she discovered but of course what the crowd were there for was words; they were not disappointed. In the form of readings, lectures, discussions and song, inspirational words flowed through the beautiful grounds of Ferrar House.

Setting for the Little Gidding Festival 2011

The weekend saw at least seven very erudite speakers engage with an equally passionate and opinionated audience on many aspects of Eliot’s life and legacy, particularly those pertaining to the physical and metaphysical importance of Little Gidding itself. The history of Little Gidding and the Ferrar family, the subject of Joyce Ransome’s new book, was known to Eliot and although it is the later history of the family and house which is alluded to in the symbolism of the forth of his ‘Four Quartets’, the piety of the location is significant to his poetry and indeed his own personal faith— the topic of  Barry Spurr’s work. In addition to the words, wonderful music was provided by Alexander Kershaw, the fantastic Time Loves Changes quartet and some 1920s and 30s music specially arranged by poet and priest Malcolm Guite.

Over 100 people attended the festival from all levels of familiarity with the bard. On Saturday Joyce Ransome herself was in the audience, and on Sunday the numbers were swelled by students of the T.S. Eliot International Summerschool.

The festival was a great success in terms of both enjoyment and learning however this is in

Erudite Speakers, click image for programme

proportion to the huge amount of effort in terms of planning and organising that went into the event. Particular praise and mention should go to Wendy and Paul Skirrow, the new occupiers of Ferrar House who took on the challenge of the festival having only been in residence eight months. Also to the members of the planning committee who not only planned but brilliantly compèred (Simon Kershaw), and lectured (Hugh Black-Hawkins) as well as representing their own societies-the Friends of Little Gidding and the T S Eliot Society (UK). Huge thanks should also go to the staff and volunteers for all their work behind the scenes, particularly in producing the amazing meals, teas and cakes that kept everyone going.

As a complete Eliot novice this under-cover observer would defiantly recommend attending the event in the future however the continuation of the festival depends on the hard work of those involved. If you would like more information about the festival and how you can help maintain Eliot’s memory at Little Gidding, please email eliotfestival@littlegidding.org.uk.

To find out more about The Web of Friendship: Nicholas Ferrar and Little Gidding by Joyce Ransome, or to request a review copy, please contact: Fiona Christie at sales@lutterworth.com