Michael Ward

Next one from Paul over in Oxford.

Do you think Greta Gerwig has read Michael Ward's Planet Narnia, and will she incorporate this theory into the upcoming film? A very

Oxford question, I may

add.

[upbeat music] We largely know C.S. Lewis as the author of the classic series of children's novels, The Chronicles of Narnia.

But who was the man behind the books? In this episode of the History Extra podcast, Michael Ward guides Isabel King through the often tumultuous life of C.S.

Lewis from his tragic childhood to his difficult relationship with the Christian faith.

Hello, Michael.

My pleasure, Isabel.

Thank you for having me.

[Instrumental music] That was Michael Ward speaking to Isabel King.

Michael is associate member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, and the author of Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis.

They're just reacting to disasters.

But, you know, so it's like, is there some sort of thematic through line? And an author, a scholar by the name of Michael Ward, posited that the seven Narnia books are corresponding to the seven planets of the medieval cosmology.

And so the past episodes, we've talked about those seven planets.

So that is the sun, the moon, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Saturn.

You can tell that Lewis loved medieval poetry because that sounds like a medieval poem.

That's right.

So anyway, the author, Michael Ward, says this about that poem.

Here we see a compact expression of mercurial qualities, his metal, his kleptic influence, and his spirit of compendo and dividendo, same but sundered, divided and composing.

And it's like, well, as far as I know, no one's done this.

And then I asked Michael Ward and he said no one had.

And I was like, all right, I'm going to try it.

Yeah, your podcast was an excellent resource as we were preparing last season.

We didn't go to quite the level of detail that you did, but between your podcast and Michael Ward's book, After Humanity, that was pretty much most of the preparation that I did as we went through those three very dense chapters.

But you also mentioned something else and that was the fact that nobody else has done this before.

And I pointed out a couple of times of comments that I've made in the last few seasons of Pints with Jack that when I first came to start this podcast, there were fairly few books about the Ransom Trilogy at all.

Not yet.

This morning I have a wonderful guest, one I've been very much looking forward to meeting and discussing, because he has focused on a world, a universe even, that I was aware of but have not personally delved into.

And so I expect to learn a lot this morning along with you, the audience, when we talk to Michael Ward.

Michael Ward is a theologian but also a literary scholar.

And he's a leading voice in C.S. Lewis studies.

And I'm sure that name resonates with everybody.

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Welcome back to the second half of today's show where I'm here with Michael Ward, Oxford theologian and expert on C.S. Lewis.

Next week on Created in the Image of God.

Sunday, August 30th at 7 a.m. U.S. Central Time, host Wade Franson interviews Michael Ward, theologian, literary scholar, and leading C.S. Lewis expert.

He explores the imagination, theology, and hidden depths of C.S. Lewis's work, and why his stories continue to resonate with readers today, from the chronicles of Narnia and the cosmos, to discovering how literature can illuminate faith in unexpected ways.

And then on Tuesday, September 1st at 8 p.m. Central Time, host Wade Franson interviews Kelly Edmiston, pastor, author, and speaker.