I’ve been reading the blog A Pilgrim In Narnia for several years now. Today I invited onto the show its author, Dr. Brenton Dickieson to talk about the book we’ve been reading this season, Till We Have Faces.
S3E33: “After Hours” with Brenton Dickieson (Download)
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Time Stamps
00:00:00 – Entering “The Eagle & Child”…
00:00:10 – Welcome
00:00:40 – Biographical Information
00:01:46 – Drink-of-the-week
00:03:21 – Quote-of-the-week
00:03:44 – Patreon supporter toast
00:04:00 – Introduction to Lewis
00:12:00 – Favourite C.S. Lewis work
00:13:16 – Why did you start a blog?
00:18:50 – What is it you love about Till We Have Faces?
00:27:27 – Why is it hard to understand?
00:34:03 – Orual vs. King Trom
00:43:11 – Sympathy for Paganism
00:51:48 – Why should your heart not dance?
00:59:48 – “Last Call” Bell
01:00:40 – Brenton’s Website
YouTube Version
Show Notes
• I shared some biographical details about Dr. Dickieson, the author of A Pilgrim In Narnia:
Besides teaching in the literature department at Signum University, Brenton Dickieson is Adjunct Instructor in Literature at The King’s College in New York City, Sessional Professor in the Centre for the Study of Christianity and Culture at the University of Prince Edward Island, and Instructor in Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, BC. He also does freelance speaking and writing and is the author of the popular Faith, Fiction, and Fantasy blog A Pilgrim In Narnia. After completing a Masters degree in biblical literature at Regent College, Brenton moved with his wife Kerry and his son Nicolas to their native home in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island to teach and write. His academic interests include how the creation of fictional universes helps in spiritual formation, theological exploration, and cultural criticism. He has just completed his PhD at the University of Chester, focussing his work on C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Inklings.
Biography of Dr. Brenton Dickieson
• The drink-of-the-week was Tetley’s Tea. Dr. Dickieson was drinking Father Walker’s Dry Cider from Red Island Cider, with the following explanation:
C.S. Lewis was a cider drinker and chose the Inklings’ pub because of its hard cider. I am drinking something local dry cider called Father Walker’s by Red Island CIder. Fr Walker’s is named for a Church Picnic here in Prince Edward Island in 1898. A local priest, Father Walker, was able to procure a large number of barrels of non-alcoholic apple cider for the families. Little did he know that the non-boozy juice would turn out to be hard cider. The picnic was one of the most successful and infamous events in the area’s history.
Brenton Dickieson
• The quote-of-the-week was pilgrim-themed:
One road leads home and a thousand roads lead into the wilderness.
C.S. Lewis, The Pilgrim’s Regress
• We toasted Anthony Petz. My your heart always be as full as my cup of tea, my friend…
• Dr. Dickieson told the story of how he first read C.S. Lewis. He tried several times to read Mere Christianity, but struggled. He was then thrown in the deep end when he was told to teach Japanese students English using The Great Divorce! When I asked him to name his favourite C.S. Lewis book and he correctly answered that it is The Great Divorce!
• We spoke about the inception of his website, A Pilgrim In Narnia. After reading Letters to an American Lady, he started his blog as a sandbox to test out ideas in public and invite more people into the conversation.
• We then started discussing Till We Have Faces…
• In one of his recent articles Brenton said that, while he loves this book, he hasn’t written much about it on his blog until recently, possibly because he doesn’t fully understand it! I asked him to share some of the questions which plague him while he reads it.
• Dr. Dickieson wrote an article in February where he compared and contrasted Orual and her father, King Trom. I asked him what he saw as the similarities and differences between father and daughter. He also pointed out a link between Orual and Jadis.
• Brenton also posted another article at the end of February entitled “A Peasant Pagan Prayer”. I asked Dr. Dickieson to speak about the empathy which Lewis seems to show to the disciples of Ungit. I spoke about my desire to have C.S. Lewis sit down with St. Jerome to help him be less ashamed of loving Pagan literature.
• In April, Brenton posted an article which was prompted by a Zoom digital liturgy which a friend had made for Vespers. I asked him what it was it that struck him about that liturgy and how it connects to Till We Have Faces.
“Why should your heart not dance?”
C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces (Part I, Chapter 9)
• We had intended to talk about The Four Loves and The Screwtape Letters, but we decided to save that for another episode! Dr. Dickieson will be coming back on the show next season.
• I asked Dr. Dickieson if there’s anything else in particular he’d like to talk about with regards to Till We Have Faces. You can read more of Dr. Dickieson’s work at A Pilgrim In Narnia. He can also be found on Twitter and Instagram.
• (Between recording and publishing, more articles about Till We Have Faces was posted on Dr. Dickieson’s blog, both a guest post by Katie Stevenson and one connecting Lewis’ book to COVID-19).
