C. S. Lewis Tour--Great Malvern

We began our visit to Great Malvern, England, with a tour of the Morgan car factory. Now, as you might imagine, this site has no direct link to C. S. Lewis. However, another person whom I have written about, namely Sheldon Vanauken, who came to faith through C. S. Lewis, bought a car here back in 1967.

Great Malvern is dominated by the tower of Malvern Priory. Parts of the church building date to 1085.

We stayed right next to the Priory in the beautiful Abbey Hotel. At breakfast we had this lovely view of the Priory out of the window by our table....

Malvern Priory has a larger display of 15th century stained glass than any church in England.

The Priory is also known for its misericords. These are the seats of the Monk's stalls. Each seat is hinged with a ledge underneath on which the Monks could rest, taking the weight off their legs during the numerous long daily services. In this photo a kneeling cushion is resting on the ledge of the misericord.

No other church in England has such a well preserved collection of medieval wall tiles. sited on the lower part of the wall behind the high altar.

There are 19 of the larger tiles bearing the date 1453 in Roman numerals. Eleven tiles carry the Arms of England, lions and fleur-de-lys.

On Easter Sunday 1947, the Lewis brothers celebrated Communion here. The Priory claims that C. S. Lewis' use of a wardrobe and a lamppost as images in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe may possibly have been inspired by something in the church....

Could this be the wardrobe?

Could this be the doorway to Narnia?

And could this be the inspiration for the lamppost in the middle of a wood?

The claim seems to me to be dubious at best. But in my next post we will take a deeper look at C. S. Lewis' real connections to Great Malvern and what inspiration he may truly have received there....

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C. S. Lewis on Homosexuality

Arthur Greeves In light of recent developments in the United States on the issue of gay marriage, I thought it would be interesting to revisit what C. S. Lewis thought about homosexuality. Lewis, who died in 1963, never wrote about same-sex marriage, but he did write, occasionally, about the topic of homosexuality in general. In the following I am quoting from my book, Mere Theology: A Guide to the Thought of C. S. Lewis . For detailed references and footnotes, you may obtain a copy from Amazon, your local library, or by clicking on the book cover at the right.... In Surprised by Joy , Lewis claimed that homosexuality was a vice to which he was never tempted and that he found opaque to the imagination. For this reason he refused to say anything too strongly against the pederasty that he encountered at Malvern College, where he attended school from the age of fifteen to sixteen. Lewis did not rate pederasty as the greatest evil of the school because he felt the cruelty displa

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The final two days of our C. S. Lewis Tour of Ireland & England were spent in London. Upon our arrival we enjoyed a panoramic tour of the city that included Westminster Abbey. A number of our tour participants chose to tour the inside of the Abbey where they were able to view the new C. S. Lewis plaque in Poets' Corner. Though London was not one of Lewis' favorite places to visit, there are a number of locations associated with him. One which I have noted in my new book, In the Footsteps of C. S. Lewis , is Endsleigh Palace Hospital (25 Gordon Street, London) where Lewis recovered from his wounds received during the First World War.... Not too far away from this location is King's College, part of the University of London, located on the Strand, just off the River Thames. This is the location where Lewis gave the annual commemoration oration entitled The Inner Ring on 14 December 1944.... C. S. Lewis occasionally attended theatrical events in London.

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A Prayer at Ground Zero

Christmas Day Thought from Henri Nouwen

" I keep thinking about the Christmas scene that Anthony arranged under the altar. This probably is the most meaningful "crib" I have ever seen. Three small woodcarved figures made in India: a poor woman, a poor man, and a small child between them. The carving is simple, nearly primitive. No eyes, no ears, no mouths, just the contours of the faces. The figures are smaller than a human hand - nearly too small to attract attention at all. "But then - a beam of light shines on the three figures and projects large shadows on the wall of the sanctuary. That says it all. The light thrown on the smallness of Mary, Joseph, and the Child projects them as large, hopeful shadows against the walls of our life and our world. "While looking at the intimate scene we already see the first outlines of the majesty and glory they represent. While witnessing the most human of human events, I see the majesty of God appearing on the horizon of my existence. While

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Will Vaus

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