The Plunge with Derek Holser

Surprised by Joy: The Great Divorce | Jess Lederman

Welcome to the 9th and Final Episode in our series on C.S. Lewis's novel, The Great Divorce. Join us as we explore the ideas presented by Lewis in this fantastic tale, a dream vision, written in response (according to Lewis) to William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
 
Today's conversation features Jess Lederman. In this episode, Jess and I discuss how he came to faith in Jesus Christ, how The Great Divorce portrays purgatory, the difficulty with some ideas presented by Reformed theology, C.S. Lewis's rendering of George MacDonald, and why Jess believes we will all inevitably be surprised by joy. 
 
Jess is the creator of https://www.worksofmacdonald.com
 
He is the author of Hearts Set Free: An Epic Tale of Love, Faith, and the Glory of God's Grace
https://tinyurl.com/4w4jumry
 

The Moment Contains All Moments: A Conversation w/Joel Wentz on Lewis's Great Divorce

Welcome to Episode 8 of 9 in our series on C.S. Lewis's novel The Great Divorce. 
 
Today's conversation features Joel Wentz. In this episode, Joel and I discuss the miracle of the redemption of disordered desires, why The Great Divorce is a great book for a neighborhood book club, the proper terror of A Wrinkle in Time, and possible reasons for the manner in which Lewis portrayed George MacDonald's theology of the ultimate redemption of all people (Christian universalism).
 
Joel and his wife Jill live with their two children in Portland, Maine. Joel has been in vocational ministry for 12 years. Joel spent 8 years as a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and he has served for the past 4 years in his current role as teaching pastor at Missio Dei Church.  https://www.mdchurch.org
 
Joel is also a musician, a big fan of tabletop games and an avid reader. He reviews books and occasionally interviews authors on his YouTube channel "Books and Big Ideas". 
 
https://www.youtube.com/@JoelWentz

This Life Is Merely The First Page: A Conversation w/Elizabeth Hardy on Lewis's Great Divorce

Welcome to Episode 7 of 9 in our series on C.S. Lewis's novel The Great Divorce. Join us as we explore the ideas presented by Lewis in this fantastic tale, a dream vision, written in response (according to Lewis) to William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
Today's conversation features Elizabeth Baird Hardy. Elizabeth is Instructor of English at western North Carolina's Mayland Community College. In addition to composition and literature courses, she teaches humanities courses including Myth in Human Culture and Introduction to Film.
 
In this conversation, Elizabeth and I discuss the ongoing recovery in her hometown from Hurricane Helene, the coincidence of our recording on the date of C.S. Lewis's death (and JFK's assassination), the pitiful tiny-ness of Hell, and the overwhelming solid bigness of Heaven. 
 
Elizabeth is the author of Milton, Spenser, and the Chronicles of Narnia: Literary Sources for C.S. Lewis Novels.  (https://www.amazon.com/Milton-Spenser-Chronicles-Narnia-Literary/dp/0786428767)
 
 
She also frequently writes literary and popular culture criticism and has contributed to numerous collections focusing on the work of C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling, and well as on topics as diverse as The Hunger Games and Star Trek. 
 
A popular presenter, she contributes to a variety of programs and podcasts and depending on the day, can be found sharing about eighteenth-century medicinal plants, World War II Victory Gardens, or literary alchemy. 
 
To donate to Feeding Avery Families, click here:
https://feedingaveryfamilies.org/support-faf/

Hide No More: A Conversation w/Stephen Dunning on Lewis's Great Divorce

Welcome to Episode 6 of 9 in our series on C.S. Lewis's novel, "The Great Divorce." Join us as we explore the ideas presented by Lewis in this fantastic tale, a dream vision, written in response (according to Lewis) to William Blake's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell."
 
 
Today's conversation features Stephen Dunning. Stephen received his PhD in literature from the university of Cambridge, which he attended as a Commonwealth scholar. For many years, he was an English instructor at Douglas college in New Westminster, British Columbia. In 2007 he joined the English faculty of Trinity Western University and he taught there until 2017.
 
 
Stephen is the author of The Crisis and the Quest, a Kierkegaardian reading of Charles Williams and many articles on modern British and Canadian literature. He co-founded the Inklings Institute of Canada in 2013 with his colleague Monika Hilder.
 
 
Along with his continued participation in Inklings Institute events, he keeps busy by writing stories for his grandchildren and their friends and by singing in a choral group.
 
 
Stephen also is a writer of fiction and his new series, The Perilous Times Saga, will be released in the first half of 2025 with book one entitled, Suzy and the Magic Turnip.

The Gift of the Magi: A Christmas Interlude

Merry Christmas from the Plunge!We interrupt our regularly scheduled series to bring you a special Christmas edition of The Plunge. Today's episode features a reading of that beloved Christmas tale of love and generosity - O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi.
 
 
The Gift of the Magi was first published in the New York Sunday World in December 1905, and was later included in his 1906 short story collection "The Four Million."
 
 
For more on the life of the author and the circumstances surrounding the creation of this story, check out the link below:https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/history-o-henrys-gift-magi-180973840/
 

The Great & Terrible Afterlife: A Conversation w/Karen Scheffler on Lewis's The Great Divorce

Welcome to Episode 5 in our 9-part series on C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce. Thank you for joining us as we explore the ideas presented by Lewis in this fantastic tale, a dream vision, written in response to William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
 
Today's conversation features Karen Scheffler, who is originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Half a lifetime ago, she moved to Vermont where she and her husband raised two boys. Karen has been a teacher, an artist, a wildflower, and a business owner. She's the person who stands in the back of the room, taking it all in. 
 
In her words, Karen is "an insignificant human intensely interested in becoming that shining light about which she's heard rumors - less and less terrified about what it means, mainly because of all the stars she's been meeting along the way.
 
Karen and I discuss the Secret Garden and the Sacred Heart, the horrors of Lewis's portrayal of the great and terrible afterlife, and the power of un-masking ourselves and becoming who God made us to be.

The Curious Case of Clive's Archangelic Letter: A Great Divorce Conversation w/Brenton Dickieson (Episode IV)

Welcome to Episode 4 of 9 in our series on C.S. Lewis's novel, "The Great Divorce." Join us as we explore the ideas presented by Lewis in this fantastic tale, a dream vision, written in response (according to Lewis) to William Blake's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell."
 
 
 
 
Today's conversation features Brenton Dickieson, a father, husband, friend, university lecturer, and freelance writer. Brenton lives in the nearly magical land of Prince Edward Island with his superstar kindergarten teacher wife, Kerry, and their son, Nicolas, a singer-songwriter.
 
 
You can follow Brenton on X, @BrentonDana.
 
 
 
 
Brenton and I discuss the curious case of the Archangelic Letter, Lewis's approach in a number of stories, the legacy of The Great Divorce and the cultural implications of the transition in the West from the Baby Boomers to the Millenials (with a brief interlude for the perpetually overlooked Gen X).
 
 
 
 
To learn more about the "Archangelic Letter", please check out these articles:
 
 
 
https://apilgriminnarnia.com/2024/10/02/the-other-side-of-screwtape-c-s-lewiss-archangel-fragment-an-archival-publication-by-brenton-dickieson-and-charlie-starr/
 
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/cslewisjournal/vol13/iss1/2/
 
 
 
 
 
As the author of more than 1,100 articles, blog posts, and reviews, Brenton has worked as a freelance author, columnist, and policy writer for Canadian magazines and the government of Prince Edward Island. As a theologian of literature, Brenton writes the popular website, A Pilgrim in Narnia, which explores the intersections of faith, fantasy, and fiction. With more than 1.1 million website hits and a yearly readership now exceeding 200,000, more than 8,000 social media followers, and significant networks within the scholarly and readerly worlds of C.S. Lewis and the Inklings, Brenton has a powerful platform for considering the literary, spiritual, and theological interest of some of our most famous world-builders, including C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, L.M. Montgomery, and others. In becoming the Founding Producer and Host of the SSHRC-funded “MaudCast: The Podcast of the L.M. Montgomery Institute” in 2020, Brenton has increased his networks of popular and scholarly readers who like to talk about the books they love. Brenton is a popular guest speaker for theological and literary societies and a sought-after essayist.
 
 
 
 
https://apilgriminnarnia.com/about
 

Courage, Dear Heart: A Conversation w/Monika Hilder on Lewis's Great Divorce (Episode III)

Welcome to Episode 3 of 9 in our series on C.S. Lewis's novel, "The Great Divorce." Join us as we explore the ideas presented by Lewis in this fantastic tale, a dream vision, written in response (according to Lewis) to William Blake's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell."
 
 
 
Today's conversation features Monika B. Hilder, an author, professor and speaker who specializes in Fantasy and Children's Literature, with a particular focus on the writings of C.S. Lewis and other Inklings-related writers.
 
 
 
Monika and I discuss the importance of listening to Aslan, of trusting God, the dangers of hell and the interaction between Lewis and his afterlife guide, George MacDonald. Monika's newest fiction book is ⁠Letters to Annie: A Grandmother’s Dreams of Fairy Tale Princesses, Princes, & Happily Ever After ⁠(2022). She has published fiction, poetry, drama, articles, and a three-volume study of C.S. Lewis and gender: ⁠The Feminine Ethos in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia⁠ (2012), ⁠The Gender Dance: Ironic Subversion in C.S. Lewis’s Cosmic Trilogy⁠ (2013), and ⁠Surprised by the Feminine: A Rereading of C.S. Lewis and Gender⁠ (2013).
 
 
 
She is co-editor of ⁠The Inklings and Culture: A Harvest of Scholarship from the Inklings Institute of Canada ⁠(2020). Monika has also published on George MacDonald, Madeleine L’Engle, and L. M. Montgomery. She has a passion for educating the moral imagination through literature and writes about spirituality, gender metaphor, ethics, fairy tale, suffering and consolation, joy, imagery of Heaven, and celebrating one’s gifts.
 
 
 
She has written children’s picture books and an inspirational book for creative artists. Monika has appeared on CBC Radio and has spoken at conferences across Canada, in the United States, England, Scotland, and Romania. She is Professor of English at Trinity Western University and co-founder and co-director of the Inklings Institute of Canada.
 
 
 
And as the first Canadian-born member of her family, Monika explores the meaning(s) of homeland, the plight of the refugee, and identity—in short, the importance of story.             
 
 
Discover more from Monika at https://monikahilder.com/

Father and Son: A Conversation on Lewis's Great Divorce (Episode 2)

Welcom to Episode 2 of 9 in our series on C.S. Lewis's novel, "The Great Divorce." We will explore and I hope you enjoy, the ideas presented by Lewis in this fantastic tale, a dream vision, written in response (according to Lewis) to William Blake's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell."
Today's conversation features a father and son duo, David and Turner Burnett. We discuss the lasting solidity of heaven, the work of becoming our true selves, and learn a bit about a man named Emmanuel Swedenborg. We hope you'll enjoy our splendid romp through the realm of Lewis's Great Divorce - welcome to the Plunge!
David Burnett is an attorney, investor and avid fly fisherman. He and his wife Tricia have four children and recently celebrated the birth of their first grandchild. David holds an M.Th. from Fuller Theological Seminary and has spent most of his adult life actively supporting the work of International Justice Mission, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to partnering with local justice systems around the world to build safe communities, where all are protected from violence and slavery.
Turner Burnett is a husband, father, writer, music artist and amateur pie-maker. He spends most of his time day-dreaming about seeing artists partner with God to create meaningful beauty that draws people into the Kingdom of Heaven. A Seattle native, Turner currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where he works at Sony Music in artist development. His favorite color is blue!
Thanksgiving special: Kentucky Derby Pie!
https://www.thespruceeats.com/kentucky-derby-chocolate-walnut-pie-recipe-101352

C.S. Lewis's "The Great Divorce" Introductory Episode: All Aboard to Grey Town

This is the introductory episode of our nine-episode series on C.S. Lewis's novel, "The Great Divorce."
 
We will explore and I hope you enjoy, the ideas presented by Lewis in this fantastic tale, a dream vision, written in response (according to Lewis) to William Blake's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell."
 
Our guests include notable scholars, theologians and friends. In no particular order, they are as follows: Monika Hilder, Brenton Dickieson, Stephen Dunning, David Burnett, Turner Burnett, Elizabeth Hardy, Jess Lederman, Karen Scheffler, and Joel Wentz.
 
This episode includes a reading of the preface, written by C.S. Lewis. It also containst excerpts from many of the conversations, although we have not yet recorded with Elizabeth Hardy or Joel Wentz. I have no doubt their conversation will be as dazzling as all the others. Welcome to the Plunge: All Aboard for Grey Town!
 
 
There is no other day. All days are present now. This moment contains all moments...
 
Heaven is reality itself. All that is fully real is Heavenly. For all that can be shaken will be shaken and only the unshakeable remains...
 
Everything becomes more and more itself. Here is joy that cannot be shaken. Our light can swallow up your darkness; but your darkness cannot now infect our light...