WAU Honors College Students Hear Lecture from Oxford University Professor at the Home of C.S. Lewis

On Thursday, May 16, 11 WAU students toured The Kilns, the former home of C.S. Lewis in Oxford, England. Lewis, most known for The Chronicles of Narnia series, spent almost thirty years of his life in Oxford where he was a professor at Oxford University’s Magdelane College. While at his home, which is now a popular destination for tourists and researchers, the group took a private tour of the residence followed by a special lecture by Oxford University Professor and renowned author Dr. Michael Ward, author of The Narnia Code, a breakthrough book that has won awards and wide recognition. In the book Ward argues that each of the books in the Narnia series reveals how each story has insights and meaning that derive from the biblical, classical and medieval significance of the seven plants. For more than an hour, students listened and dialogued with Dr. Ward as he explained in detail the process that led to his new ‘discovery’ about the hidden meanings of the Chronicles of Narnia.

 

The experience was particularly meaningful for the students because they read The Narnia Code as part of a class on C.S. Lewis. During the spring semester, students read a number of Lewis’ books, including some in the Narnia series and others such as Mere Christianity, Perelandra, and The Last Battle.

 

 

“The experience of listening to Dr. Ward was eye-opening,” said Richard Machado, a junior Psychology member of the Honors College. “Hearing him talk about his discovery illustrated the dedication and intellect Dr. Ward put into the work. It was Sherlock-esque. And the great thing about it is that there is potentially more to discover.”

 

 

Students are in the UK as part of the WAU Honors College’s Study-on-Location program, which allows students to take courses on campus during the spring semester, then travel to the UK to ‘experience’ the class through visits to various historical and cultural sites. This year’s classes include the C.S. Lewis class and a course titled ‘Empire to Entropy’, which examines that last phase of the British Empire and is taught by Robin Anthony, a professor based in England. As part of the C.S. Lewis class students not only visited his home in Oxford, but also saw tributes to him at Westminster Abbey in London, and traveled to Belfast, Northern Ireland to visit the home where he was born.