Members of the Austin C. S. Lewis Society were kind, generous, patient, and encouraging as I participated in their monthly meetings for more than half a decade.
• Margaret and Johnny Humphreys were especially generous in providing the initial funds for a C. S. Lewis workshop that lead to the founding of the Austin C. S. Lewis Reading Group. Their friendship, and their son Paul’s taking my Oxford Lewis class, are treasured memories.
• Joel Heck and George Musacchio are outstanding Lewis scholars and educators who were like graduate faculty who patiently and skillfully helped me develop my ideas.
• Larry Linnenschmitd is a good friend and an avid Lewis reader, whose invitation to participate in a radio conversation on his program not only was fun, but also helped me develop my ideas about Lewis and communication.
Several dear friends offered excellent advice and encouragement just when I needed it:
• Mike Hennessey, a valued friend and eminent academic scholar and educator, proposed the title that you read on the cover of this book.
• Lancia Smith, who skillfully took my author photo, illuminates beauty with her gifts of friendship, wisdom, and encouragement.
←xxvii | xxviii→
• Ron and Judy Brown are long-time cherished friends who offer love and encouragement and were members of the travel group that let me commandeer the tour bus, with the unforgettable help of our Irish-ballad-singing bus driver Kevin Clancy, to make an unplanned stop during our Belfast, Ireland, tour to see Lewis’s childhood home, “Little Lea.”
I thank the many students who have taken my C. S. Lewis course, both on the Texas State University campus and at Oxford University. Your enthusiasm, curiosity, and passion for learning about C. S. Lewis provided the perfect educational pasture that helped me irrigate my ideas. I especially thank my former Oxford C. S. Lewis student and beloved nephew Luke Adam Dye, dubbed “The Magician’s Nephew,” who read the manuscript and offers love and enthusiasm cheering on his uncle.
Several colleagues—no, friends—including Tom Willett, John Masterson, Thompson Biggers, Deborah Uecker, Richard Cheatham, Tim Mottet, Rick Gonzalez, John Fleming, Phil Salem, Cookie Salem, Lee Williams, Cathy Fleuriet, Sue Stewart, Marian Houser, Erik Timmerman, Maureen Keeley, Sue Hall, and Bob Hannah, offered much encouragement and support on this journey.
To my beloved family, wife Sue, son Matt, daughter-in-law Kara, granddaughter Mary, son Mark, and daughter-in-law Amanda: Thank you for the two C. S. Lewis games you invented that made my work more joyful. Game one: Taking bets as to what time of the day I will first mention C. S. Lewis. Game two: If a member of my family is within earshot and they hear me mention Lewis’s name, with just an ever-so-slight eye roll, they murmur “glug glug” and then mime taking a drink. Thank you for your abiding love, good humor, and unswerving support.
Finally, extra-special thanks go to my life editor-in-chief, frequent co-author, former college debate partner, fellow music-major-turned-communication major, personal grammar queen, life partner, and best friend, Sue. Sue was the last person who read the book before publication; her editing skills are simply the best I’ve encountered during the 50 years I’ve known her. Her “life music” is the soundtrack of my life. This book would not have been possible without her.
This book is part of the Peter Lang Media and Communication list.
Every volume is peer reviewed and meets
the highest quality standards for content and production.
←0 | 1→
| 1 | |
| The Case for C. S. Lewis as Master Communicator |
“I have an idea of what is good and bad language … Language is an instrument of communication. The language which can with the greatest ease make the finest and most numerous distinctions of meaning is best.”1
- C. S. Lewis
“Be sure you know the meaning (or meanings) of every word you use.”2
- C. S. Lewis
One of the first things I give my students when I teach my course, “C. S. Lewis: Chronicles of a Master Communicator,” is the final examination; it appears on the last page of the syllabus. I realize that it is unusual to give the students the final exam questions early, especially on the first day of class. But giving students their final exam on day one helps them know what to look for as they begin to examine Lewis as communicator. (Education, I believe, should not be a game of “Guess what I want you to learn,” but rather, a guided conversation with clear goals and objectives.) The final exam consists of two questions that form the overarching goals of the course:
1. What communication principles did C. S. Lewis discuss, either implicitly or explicitly, in his works?
←1 | 2→
2. What techniques of effective communication did Lewis use in his writing and speaking that contributed to his success as an author and speaker?
Underlying these two questions is a claim that informs the premise of this book: C. S. Lewis was one of the most effective communicators of the twentieth century as evidenced by his continued popularity. So, in effect, by writing this book I am taking my own final exam.
Lewis was a master communication craftsperson. He was also a mere communicator. As in the title of one of his most widely read books, Mere Christianity, mere means essential, absolute or, as derived from the Middle English use of the word, pure.3 (Lewis was not the first to use the phrase “Mere Christianity.” Richard Baxter, a seventeenth-century Puritan, used those words to avoid denominational labels when describing Christians.)4 C. S. Lewis was a masterful, “pure communicator” who also wrote about essential principles of communication. This book makes the case that C. S. Lewis knew, discussed, and used effective principles of communication; his application of those principles explains, in part, his enduring success as an author, speaker, and broadcaster.
Being a skilled communication craftsperson does not mean he was a perfect communicator. Lewis sometimes made tactical errors. He misread his audience on rare occasions, and by his own admission, he was not always skilled at appealing to the emotions of his listeners or readers.5 Yet he learned from his experiences and drew upon a comprehensive set of principles about language, meaning, and communication to become one of the twentieth Century’s most celebrated authors and speakers. He was not only a Christian apologist, literary scholar, and prolific author of both fiction and non-fiction, he was an accomplished communication practitioner who modeled what he said about communication.
The assumption that C. S. Lewis was a master at crafting enduring communication messages is supported by three arguments. First, Lewis was and continues to be an astoundingly popular author. People bought his books during his lifetime, and since his death more than five decades ago, his book sales continue to be strong. Both Samuel Joeckel’s book The C. S. Lewis Phenomenon and Stephanie Derrick’s book The Fame of C. S. Lewis document the continuing popularity of Lewis studies, an especially