Dear Readers,

Well, I am still waiting for that annoying alarm clock tone to wake me up from this fantastic dream I’ve been living in for the past few months. Never would I have guessed that I would be here, living in C. S. Lewis’ house, walking through his Narnian forest of Shotover, reading first editions of his books, and meeting some of his scholars and even those who actually knew him and called him friend!

Even if it wasn’t too great a task already, it has become a simply hopeless one to pay God back for all the blessings He keeps heaping upon me. I find myself usually speechless, overwhelmed, and at a complete loss for how to respond adequately on days such as these.

I’ve started an attempt at jogging through Shotover in the mornings to counter my intake of all these wonderful English creams, cheeses, and pies. This morning I woke up early, groggily put on my running shoes, half-heartedly attempted to touch my toes, and then stepped outside The Kiln’s Tradesman entrance to a glorious sunshiny day full of birdsong.

As I made my way up the path through the C. S. Lewis Nature Reserve, I noted how different the forest looks each time I go through it, even at the same times of the day. There really is something magical about these woods. The sunlight filters differently through the leaves each day just like snowflakes are never quite the same as any other snowflake. There are two tall trees that stand guard on either side of the path just before you come to the top of the reserve and the kissing gate. I call them the Gatekeepers. Every time I walk between them, I feel a little thrill of excitement inside and wonder what treasures await me today.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: C.S. Lewis, C.S. Lewis Society, C.S. Lewis Study Centre, Mary Pearce, The Kilns, Walter Hooper

Dear Readers,

Remember when you were a child and you would occasionally have dreams of walking into a room of yours and instead of finding a closet or a bedroom, it would instead be utterly filled with whatever your heart desired? I used to dream I had secret rooms like those that would change with my whims and

Bookshelf at The Kilns

desires.

Sometimes the rooms would be filled with magical woods, fantastic adventures, true lifelong friends, books like the library in “Beauty and the Beast,” dazzling things to eat, or rows upon rows of the prettiest clothes. These were just little passing fancies that would waft through my imagination sometimes.

Well, I seem to be living in the realistic version of one of those fancies. Here at The Kilns I am living for a short time in a place where there are rooms overflowing with wonderful books for me to read! It is almost overwhelming because I know that no matter how hard I will try, I won’t be able to read them all before my time is up. This makes choosing which books to read incredibly hard; the Sofie’s Choice of Book World!

Thankfully a new friend who comes to help me clean made my decision for me and pulled a book out for me from them all and thrust it into my hands saying that I absolutely must read this one: “Beyond Ourselves: a woman’s pilgrimage in faith” by Catherine Marshall. I am only a third of the way in so far, but already I know it is a jewel that I will treasure forever. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Beyond Ourselves, C.S. Lewis Study Centre, Catherine Marshall, Mary Pearce, The Kilns

The Kilns

Dear Readers,

Greetings from Oxford, England! I am absolutely thrilled to be the acting warden here at The Kilns this spring. God is so good, and He never fails to surprise me with this fact. The series of events that led me here could have happened in no other way than through God’s omnipotent guidance and plan.

A little about myself: I am a graduate of California Baptist University in Riverside, California with a BA in English and Communication Arts with an emphasis in Theatre. I also have an extensive background in dance of many kinds and a huge heart for the art of story and its ability to inspire hearts and point them to Jesus.

Since graduation, I have been apart of the camping ministry in northern California, where I have seen so many miracles of God that it is a wonder I still worry about the future sometimes! I am still not sure what my plans will be after this fantastic chapter of my life comes to a close at the end of June, but I am keeping the memories of all of His wonderful past blessings and moments of guidance close to my heart as I journey on.

I have been a great admirer of C. S. Lewis ever since I read the entire Chronicles of Narnia to my little brother before he went to sleep each night, doing all the voices and being just as enraptured by the great lion who was not tame, but good and of those most fortunate of children who found their way from our world into a magical world full of wonder and adventure. During college and beyond I have often lost myself to this world in his other works of fiction, thrilled on what he had to say about the written word, and been challenged in my walk with Christ in his books such as The Four Loves and Mere Christianity.

And then I discovered that one of his own greatest inspirations had been George McDonald, an author I had actually found at quite a young age and held dear to my own heart for the writing of what is still to this day my favorite fairy tale of all time, “The Light Princes.” This made me love C. S. Lewis even more. However, I had never actually read a biography on him and knew very little about his actual life. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: C.S. Lewis, Mary Peace, The Kilns

The following post is from Cole Matson, one of our Scholars-in-Residence at The Kilns.  Taken with permission from his blog The Unicorn Triumphant, Cole’s post gives his reaction about the recent C.S. Lewis College announcement and his ideas on the relationship of the arts, Great Books, and Christianity at the future college. Thank you Cole for the very thoughtful post!

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Note: Cole Matson’s ideas, including those about the future curriculum of C.S. Lewis College, are his own and do not necessarily represent those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation or C.S. Lewis College.

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I have just returned from a week-and-a-half’s vacation with my family in India. We went from Delhi to Jaipur to Corbett National Park to Nainital in the foothills of the Himalayas. (Let me just say that the sunsets up there are absolutely gorgeous, and I could happily live as a hermit for a summer in sight of those snowy peaks.) I returned to Oxford with family in tow on Sunday to the sight of snow covering the ground. It looks like we’ll be having a white Christmas here at the Kilns!

(Picture snapped yesterday morning) Photograph by Cole Matson.

I also arrived home to some news so good I’ve been sharing it with folks left and right:

Announcing the founding of C.S. LEWIS COLLEGE!

You heard that right, folks. After years of work, one of the C.S. Lewis Foundation’s two major physical projects – the other being the running of the Kilns and its programs – finally has a home, and a proposed start date. And I – and the other friends of the Foundation with whom I’ve spoken – couldn’t be happier.

On the website linked to above, you’ll find information on the Dec. 16th announcement, including videos from the press conference with the participating organizations, and an information video on the plan for the College. There are also press documents and FAQs, as well as links to the venture’s partners.

(Picture from new C.S. Lewis College campus. Photography by Sharon LaBella-Lindale. More pictures available here.)

C.S. Lewis College is exactly the kind of college I was looking for as a high school senior interested in both professional-level theatre training and a solid foundation in the liberal arts within a Christian academy. I didn’t find such an environment at the time (though I have since been informed of smaller Christian colleges that I have been told have excellent theatre programs, such as Benedictine College in Kansas), so I was split between my two top choices. One was Wheaton College, which my father, grandfather, and several other family members had attended and loved, and which impressed me with its commitment to a solidly intellectual Christian environment and the warmth and fellowship of its students and faculty. The other was New York University, which had an academic culture that was the polar opposite of Wheaton’s (just how much so I was to find out later), but which had one of the top undergraduate professional theatre training programs in the country. Wheaton did not even have a theatre major. So, on the advice of my father, I chose NYU. My father knew that I wanted top-level training, and I think he also knew that he did not have to worry about me losing my faith in NYU’s strongly secular environment.

I’ve often wondered if I made the right choice. I was greatly challenged by my teachers, made good friends, Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Christianity, The Kilns