The Inklings & Their Influence: Mere Christianity for Moderns - Course Description
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The Inklings & Their Influence:
Mere Christianity for Moderns
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything
else.” C. S. Lewis, Weight of Glory.
Course Description:
1Is Christianity relevant to the modern age — the age of technological evolution, the failure of marriage, and
global capitalism? This class is an indepth examination of “the Inklings,” six 20thcentury winsome and
intelligent warriors for Christ,1 and a sampling of the classic books that most influenced them.2
Following Lewis’ adage to read an “old book” for every one or two modern books you read, 3 the reading
list consists of interspersed old and new classics, inviting students to compare similar works and draw
contrast between conflicting worldviews. Students will see more clearly how the timeless truths of “mere
Christianity” are as, vibrant, powerful, and revolutionary today as when St. Paul uttered the words, “Men
of Athens...” on Mars Hill (Acts 17).
The reading and writing assignments for the Inklings is designed to fully engage and delight students and
draw them deeper into the classical education project. The complement writing class (Inklings: Structure &
Style) gives them the foundation of critical writing.
Through Socratic discussion, students will work hard to question and understand love, friendship, sin, hell,
Christian belief, humility, conversion, story, apologetics & the culture wars, suffering, faith, hope, and the
image of God. More than mere conceptual analysis, students will scratch the surface of these profound
realities themselves through these authors’ fresh, modern, and mature expression of the timeless Christian
faith.
As a rigorous class, the workload (with the Inklings Writing class) satisfy three high school credits (1
Language Arts, 1 Social Studies, 1 Elective)
Veritas Academy recommends this class especially as:
(1) Friendly introduction to Classical education, Great Books, and the Socratic method
(2) An excellent way to deepen and strengthen Christian worldview
(3) A rigorous yet delightful exploration of great stories,4 great films,5 and great ideas.
Learning Objectives
Virtue
1
G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, Dorothy Sayers, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Sheldon Vanauken.
2
For example, the Holy Bible, John Milton, as well as nonChristian authors such as Plato, Lao Tze, and H. G. Wells.
3
C. S. Lewis, “On the Reading of Old Books,” God in the Dock.
4
Including fairy tales, some of which are very good, for adults and children. C. S. Lewis says, “When I was ten, I read
fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly.
When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”
C. S. Lewis, On Stories.
5
Students are invited (with parental permission and/or supervision) to watch three films integrated into the curriculum.
2Our ultimate aim in Inklings & Influence is to become more virtuous, wise, holy persons, by the grace of
God. Investment in virtue comes about through engaging in careful, loving, and patient discussion of the
relevant texts and applying ourselves with discipline and perseverance to these studies. Investment in
wisdom comes about through wrestling with some of the Great Books (history, philosophy, and literature)
and coming to understand the Great Ideas therein.
Contact with such ideas changes the student in a lasting way. As C. S. Lewis argues in The Abolition of
Man, education of the mind is inseparable from education of the “heart” — the seat of sentiments such as
love of goodness, hatred of evil, joy at beauty, disgust at ugliness. The Inklings & Influences book list
exposes students to beauty (and to ugliness) in order to guide the formation of their sentiments to align with
reality.
Students will certainly develop skills of reading well, thinking well, and writing well. However, the student’s
ultimate the responsibility begins outside of class. Each student must invest this knowledge and ability to the
service of Christ, by being faithful in church attendance, prayer, forgiveness — an ever more full
participation in the Christian life.
In class, therefore, our fundamental aim is to help equip students for this high calling, but this aim settles into
two distinct but related objectives: Skilled critical thinking and character formation. Our fundamental
method is Socratic/Discussion about the “Inklings” authors and several of the books that so influenced
them.
Reading, Thinking, Writing
As Dorothy Sayers in Lost Tools of Learning, students do well who learn, but students who learn how to
learn do exponentially better. The development of any particular knowledge or skill is of secondary
importance to the development of the critical faculty itself. Hence, this class (in conjunction with the Critical
Composition companion class) is designed to challenge each student with rigorous readings, essays, and group
discussions.
Satisfying and going beyond Kentucky State Standards, students will develop critical thinking skills in
reading, writing, and discussing:
Reading/Writing
Each student will write a concise yet comprehensive summary of the story or argument before class, and
will write a short reflective essay in response to each discussion. (Taken in conjunction with The Inklings:
Structure & Style) students will complete four Term Papers (two per semester) synthesizing their
knowledge and arguing from Inklings texts for a thesis.)
● Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development
3● Make logical inferences from text and cite specific evidence
● Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.
● Summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
● Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly
Dialoguing/Critical Thinking
Classroom discussion works to develop a variety of skills in students, including logical reasoning,
comparative analysis, consideration of alternate possible answers, as well as listening to the words of
others.
● Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
● Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text
● Analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
● Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of
the text (e.g. a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole
● Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.
● Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to
compare the approaches the authors take.
● Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and
quantitatively as well as in words.
● Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the
reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
II. Learning Methods
Socratic/Platonic Discussion:
Before class and (especially) in class, students will work hard to identify the key ideas in each story or
book, the arguments for those ideas, and the presuppositions and implications of those ideas. Having
understood a book fairly, students will join the instructor in searching for the truth in it, and discarding
falsehood (if any).
Each discussion begins with an “Opening Question” posed by the instructor, while students bear the bulk of
the responsibility for understanding, analyzing, and evaluating the text. Class sessions close with a
“Summary” of the discussion (by student or tutor) and “Closing Question” from the tutor, which students
answer in their notebooks.
Classroom discussion must avoid dual pitfalls of mere lecture (from the instructor) and mere “sharing” of
opinions (from the students) — Rather, students and instructor must engage in a colearning process that
4takes each book seriously while growing in truth and discarding what is false.
This means that each class of students, even each session, is dynamic reality with its own promise and its
own risks. Namely, each class must work to find the truth. And Since “all truth is God’s truth”6 students
and instructors will aim to learn even from those books that are ultimately flawed and subChristian, at the
same time as digesting more deeply the truth in books (like Genesis and the Gospel of John) that are
inspired by God himself.
Great Books:
Families new to classical education will appreciate the contemporary readings and the “first taste” of ancient
classics such as Plato. Families already familiar with the classical approach will be delighted and fascinated
to see the applications of older classics to the contemporary fiction and nonfiction of the Inklings authors.
All will be delighted and instructed by a robust exploration of such big ideas as love, friendship, sin, hell,
Christian belief, humility conversion, story, the culture wars, suffering, faith, hope, and the image of God.
Given the dualcredit Students will read approximately 100 pages a week (about one book every two
weeks). Students will grow in reading comprehension, vocabulary, and the skills of summarizing the main
ideas of an unfamiliar text.
Students must read the assigned text in its entirety before the first day of discussion. The book list
represents a small sampling of ancient, medieval, early modern, and contemporary classics (see below for
more details).
6
Augustine, On Christian Teaching II.75. “A person who is a good and true Christian should realize that truth belongs
to his Lord, wherever it is found, gathering and acknowledging it even in pagan literature, but rejecting superstitious
vanities and deploring and avoiding those who 'though they knew God did not glorify him as God...”
52013 Reading List (Subject to Changes)
1. Holy Bible: Genesis
2. C.S. Lewis I Mere Christianity.
3. Plato, Euthyphro / Lao Tze, Tao De Ching
4. C.S. Lewis II Abolition of Man / Sayers,” Lost Tools of Learning”
5. Beowulf
6. J.R. R. Tolkein, The Hobbit
7. H.G. Wells War of the Worlds / 2001: Space Odyssey
8. C.S. Lewis III Out of the Silent Planet
9. Selected Fairy Tales
10. Selected Essays
11. Geoffry Monmouth, Kings of England (selections)
12. Thomas Malory, King Arthur (selections)
13. Milton, Paradise Lost
14. C.S. Lewis IV Perelandra
15. Williams Descent Into Hell / Select Poetry
16. VanAuken, Severe Mercy / Film: Tree of Life
17. C.S. Lewis V That Hideous Strength
18. Holy Bible: Gospel of John
6You can also read
