C.S. LEWIS, · 2019-12-10 · C.S. LEWIS, DISCOUNT FOR CLERGY & STUDENTS with Michael Christensen On 11th May 1959, C. S. Lewis gave a talk on modern theology and biblical criticism

C . S . L E W I S ,

DISCOUNT FOR CLERGY & STUDENTS

with Michael Christensen

On 11th May 1959, C. S. Lewis gave a talk on modern theology and biblical criticism in response to a

sermon by the Dean of King’s College Chapel and former Warden of Gladstone’s Library, Alec Vidler.

The Dean’s sermon was entitled ‘The Sign at Cana’ in which he lifted up the spiritual significance of

Jesus’s wedding miracle of turning water into wine, and called for a demythologised Christianity for

modern times. In a similar debate, Anglican Bishop John A. T. Robinson gave an interview about his

new book which questioned the traditional image of God as a supernatural Person. Lewis

responded a week later with an editorial in which he rejected the liberal Bishop’s assumptions about

what ordinary people believe, his disallowance of the supernatural, and his ‘higher criticism’ of

Scripture.

60 years after these theological controversies in Cambridge occurred, liberal/

progressive and conservative/evangelical Christians still argue about modern

(and postmodern) theology, the meaning of miracles, literary genre, and how

to interpret the Bible beyond a strict literalism. This course casts new light on

old debates and explores C.S. Lewis’s views about the inspiration of scripture,

the nature of revelation, and the question of inerrancy for Christianity today.

£ 2 3 5Fri 26th - Sun 28th

J U L£ 1 6 0RESIDENTIAL FROM NON-RESIDENTIAL

J O H N R O B I N S O N A N D A L E C V I D L E R O N M O D E R N T H E O L O G Y , S U P E R N A T U R A L M I R A C L E S A N D T H E B I B L E

P R O G R A M M E

Fri 26th

J U LY 6pm Welcome to Gladstone’s Library

8pm ‘The Sign of Cana’ Sermon by Alec Vidler

Sat 27th

J U LY 10am The Debate at Wescott House, Cambridge11am Coffee

11.30am The Missing Letter on Scripture in Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer by C.S. Lewis (recently found)1.30pm Free afternoon

4pm Tea

4.30pm Bishop John Robinson and the ‘Apostate Bishop’ in The Great Divorce8pm Film TBC

Sun 28th

J U LY 10am C.S. Lewis on Scripture - A New Work in Progress11am Coffee

11.30am Vilder, Robinson and Lewis as Brothers

D I N I N G :8 A M - 9 A M B R E A K F A S T | 6 . 3 0 P M D I N N E R | 1 2 . 3 0 P M L U N C H

Background texts:

‘Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism’ (C.S. Lewis in

Christian Reflections, Walter Hooper, ed.)

‘The Sign of Cana’ (Alec Vidler in Winsor Sermons, 1959)

‘Our Image of God Must Go’ (Bishop John Robinson in the

Observer, 1963)

Honest to God (John T. Robinson)

Letters to Malcolm Chiefly on Prayer (C.S. Lewis, 1963)