George!!!

Hello All,

I know that you are excited about reading Lilith this week. Yes, it is a crazy and wacky book! I have really enjoyed it and now feel that I understand C.S. Lewis so much better. (I went on a Lewis binge over Christmas break.)

Those of you who have read a lot of Lewis should be picking up resonances with MacDonald. I felt this with Lilith much more than with Phantastes, but that may be because I have assigned The Great Divorce for the Theology II class meeting this weekend. Definitely resonances there: having a guide (Mr. Raven [it is George MacDonald in The Great Divorce!]), meeting those that are lost and cannot help themselves along the way, or (if you think of Til We Have Faces or The Space Trilogy) the importance of participating in the process of redemption: a becoming the causes us to desire true redemption.

Overall, it seems that George (or GMD, as my friend Kristin writes it) longs for us to have an imagination that explores faithfully what life with God is and could be. We'll talk about this in more depth in class, but if you are interested check out GMD's essay "The Imagination: Its Function and Its Culture." I'll post an edited version of this essay later--I just need to scan it into my computer.

Anyway, I'm having fun reading George!!

Peace to you all,
Chelle