“How could an idiotic universe have produced creatures whose mere dreams are so much stronger, better, subtler than itself?” C. S. Lewis in a letter to Sheldon Vanauken
[Sheldon Vanauken (August 4, 1914–October 28, 1996) is an American author, best known for his autobiographical book A Severe Mercy (1977), which recounts his and his wife's friendship with C. S. Lewis, their conversion to Christianity and dealing with tragedy.]
The universe did not imagine itself into being, but it speaks to us of its origin.
Psalm 19:1-4
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
Showing posts with label C.S. Lewis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label C.S. Lewis. Show all posts
Monday, April 16, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Words Become Flesh
“Philology . . . the love and knowledge of words . . . It is well we should become aware of what we are doing when we speak, of the ancient, fragile, and (well used) immensely potent instruments that words are.” C. S. Lewis, Studies in Words [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studies_in_Words ]
Adverbs as a class have fallen out of favor and are approaching extinction in all but scholarly journals. In a recent critique session, my colleagues Xed four of them from my submission, saying: “They slow down the reader.” “They are unnecessary.” “Too many syllables.” “Show don’t tell.”
That last phrase is a death sentence for any word that attempts to describe action. “Don’t say, ‘The detective looked surreptitiously toward several onlookers.’ Say, ‘The detective looked toward several onlookers.’ The reader should be able to tell how the detective looked from the situation.”
Message received. Lose the extraneous verbiage. We have come to this pass due to the modern emphasis on writing for film and television, an entirely new language of motion and color and forced emotion. Too late to lament, we must adapt, move on and use our adverbs surreptitiously.
God is an avid practitioner of “Show AND tell”
John 1: 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
1 John 1:1-4 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.
Adverbs as a class have fallen out of favor and are approaching extinction in all but scholarly journals. In a recent critique session, my colleagues Xed four of them from my submission, saying: “They slow down the reader.” “They are unnecessary.” “Too many syllables.” “Show don’t tell.”
That last phrase is a death sentence for any word that attempts to describe action. “Don’t say, ‘The detective looked surreptitiously toward several onlookers.’ Say, ‘The detective looked toward several onlookers.’ The reader should be able to tell how the detective looked from the situation.”
Message received. Lose the extraneous verbiage. We have come to this pass due to the modern emphasis on writing for film and television, an entirely new language of motion and color and forced emotion. Too late to lament, we must adapt, move on and use our adverbs surreptitiously.
God is an avid practitioner of “Show AND tell”
John 1: 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
1 John 1:1-4 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Good Fortune
“All fortune is good—whether be it harsh or be it pleasing . . .yet I know not who would dare to say so to foolish men, for no fool could believe it.” Charles Williams, quoting Boethius in The Descent of the Dove.
"Charles Walter Stansby Williams was most often associated with the Inklings (a group of Christian writers including J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis), Williams was also cited as a major influence on W.H. Auden's conversion to Christianity and he was a peer and friend of T.S. Eliot, Dorothy Sayers and Evelyn Underhill." From the website: http://tomwills.typepad.com/thenewchristianyear/
Tomorrow is another Friday the 13th. I have always claimed those as my "lucky" days. My thirtheeth birthday fell on a Friday the 13th in 1961. But luck has nothing to do with our lives as Christians. "All good things come from the father," (James 1:17) and our "fortune is good."
Romans 8: 22-28 NIV
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
"Charles Walter Stansby Williams was most often associated with the Inklings (a group of Christian writers including J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis), Williams was also cited as a major influence on W.H. Auden's conversion to Christianity and he was a peer and friend of T.S. Eliot, Dorothy Sayers and Evelyn Underhill." From the website: http://tomwills.typepad.com/thenewchristianyear/
Tomorrow is another Friday the 13th. I have always claimed those as my "lucky" days. My thirtheeth birthday fell on a Friday the 13th in 1961. But luck has nothing to do with our lives as Christians. "All good things come from the father," (James 1:17) and our "fortune is good."
Romans 8: 22-28 NIV
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
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