Saturday, July 4, 1998

Tarleton expert in demand on C.S. Lewis' anniversary

By LORETTA FULTON Senior Staff Writer

Dr. Joe R. Christopher is finding himself somewhat in demand this year, the centennial anniversary of the birth of one of the modern era's best known Christian apologists, C.S. Lewis.

With a doctoral dissertation and two books on Lewis plus an interest that dates back to Christopher's junior high school days, the Tarleton State University English professor seems a logical choice to be asked to present papers at various Lewis symposia.

"This is a year with a great deal of emphasis on Lewis," Christopher said.

From July 15 through the 20th, Christopher will be program chairman for a session at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., home of the second largest collection of Lewis' works outside of Oxford, England.

"One would not think that one of the greatest groups of C.S. Lewis material in the world would be sitting there in Illinois," Christopher said.

Nor would one necessarily think that a noted C.S. Lewis scholar would be found in Stephenville, Texas, but that's where Christopher has taught for 35 years. And in that time he has managed to bring some notoriety to Tarleton State for his expertise on Lewis.

This past spring Christopher was keynote speaker at the C.S. Lewis Symposium held on the campus of Oklahoma City University, just one of many similar events Christopher has been invited to.

Ironically, Christopher doesn't teach Lewis in any of his classes at Tarleton. Lewis would more likely be found in religious studies than in the English department of a state supported university.

But it was during his own college days - he has three degrees from the University of Oklahoma - that Christopher found Lewis' works to be inspiring, particularly Lewis' landmark work, Mere Christianity.

"Mere Christianity was a very helpful guideline during my college career," Christopher said. "It gave me a way of understanding Christianity."

With college years often being times of discovery and even confusion about beliefs, "The clarity of Lewis in the book was very useful to me," Christopher said.

Early on, though, Christopher was more interested in Lewis' science fiction works. Christopher's first introduction to the Belfast-born Lewis was Out of the Silent Planet.

"I read that back in junior high," Christopher said. "I thought it was sort of a curious old-fashioned science fiction at the time."

However, a closer reading revealed a deeper meaning, as is often true of Lewis' works.

"I found more things in it," Christopher said.

He eventually found so much in Lewis' writings that Christopher wrote his doctoral dissertation on him and has read all of Lewis' writings.

Lewis was born in 1898 and died Nov. 22, 1963, the same day English novelist and essayist Aldous Huxley died and President Kennedy was assassinated.

"Nobody heard about Lewis' death for a week or so afterward," Christopher said.

Even so, Lewis made his mark and is as popular today as ever. A critic, scholar, novelist, and professor at Oxford and Cambridge universities, Lewis is well known for his children's books, such as Chronicles of Narnia, which probably are his best selling works today, Christopher said.

Lewis became better known a few years ago when his life with American poet Joy Davidson was chronicled in the movie Shadowlands, starring Anthony Hopkins.

Much of Lewis' work, from his children's stories to the Screwtape Letters, is marked by fantasy, which can make for difficult reading.

"This sort of work does not speak to everybody," Christopher said.

But for people like Christopher who studied Lewis over a period of time and discovered the deeper meaning of his writings, the wait was worth it.

"In the long run it had a great deal of influence," Christopher said.