My Goal
This site is dedicated to C. S. Lewis and the pursuit of intelligent Christian thought. I want to blog about my own quest to present original research and insight into Lewis and his ideas (with probably some J. R. R. Tolkien thrown in for good measure!). Further, I also want to discuss my own apologetical and creative ideas, as they occur to me. In all, I make no claim to be anything special–something I hope is appropriate on a site dedicated to a man who humbly described himself as a “mere layman of the Church of England.” Perhaps, though, with the leading of the Spirit, I will hit on some ideas that are far bigger than myself. If I do, I hope you find them interesting and useful!
Who am I?
My name is Dr. Brian Melton. I think I’m somewhat hard to quantify, to be frank. I grew up in south Georgia, went to college at Toccoa Falls, graduate school at Texas Christian (under Dr. Steven E. Woodworth), and currently teach at a large private university in Virginia. My previous “specialty” was Civil War History, and I’ve been published multiple times there. I currently work entirely on-line as a academic mercenary for several different institutions. My vita (academic resume) is available here, for anyone so interested.
That said, I entertain a very wide range of interests and have never limited myself to one area (which I know defies the expectations of a Civil War historian). I am also interested in philosophy, apologetics, science, and writing fiction. I enjoy backpacking and martial arts amongst other things.
My interest in Lewis began early, when my mother first read me The Chronicles of Narnia as a child. Lewis spoke to me, and reached me on a primal level, touching my intellect and imagination equally. In many ways, Lewis and (later) Tolkien did much to “sanctify” my mind and my imagination, showing me that we are to worship God as much with them as we are with our spirits. My interest in all things Lewisian only increased as I worked on my degree in philosophy and religion at Toccoa, where I came under the guidance of Dr. Donald T. Williams, a first-rate Lewis scholar himself. I had to set it aside to get my Master’s and Ph.D. (one has to pay the bills, after all). Now that time has progressed further and given that the university for which I teach doesn’t care what (or even if) I write anything, I’ve decided to go back to study one of my first loves–the works of C. S. Lewis.
Feel free to contact me at tumnus.library@gmail.com.
Please visit the other site I blog for, on occasion: While We’re Paused!
Check me out on Amazon.com.
A Note on Sources
When quoting a letter in a parenthetical reference (from the fifth post on), I reference its location (i.e. LP 150) followed by the page number it is found on in Hooper’s edited collection (below). Unless otherwise specified, all of Lewis’s letters are read and quoted from:
- Lewis, C. S. The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Family Letters, 1905-1931. Vol. 1. Walter Hooper, ed. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2004.
- Lewis, C. S. Surprised By Joy: The Shape of My Early Life. Orlando: Harcourt, 1955.
- Lewis, C. S. The Screwtape Letters. New York: HarperOne, 2001.
Mere Lewis 
Sounds like a fascinating idea! I look forward to following your progress. Lewis comes up frequently on my blog, as I find that his ideas on fantasy, books, and Christianity are indispensable for studying literature.
Having blogged for a whole year, can I offer a suggestion relating to site design? Make all your posts–and your archives–very easy to find for readers. Have detailed and organized categories. Have the monthly archives easy to access. And maybe even make a separate page (on the top menu bar) where you simply have a list of all your posts, so that we readers can quickly glance through the topics in Lewis’ life that you cover and find what interests us. That’d be really helpful!
God bless!
Will do. I had originally intended for the calendar to serve that purpose, but I don’t suppose it will offer categories. This blog will very much be a long term “work in progress” so I’ll bump more organization up to the top of the list!
Hello there,
Blogging someone’s life is indeed a fascinating idea. Just out of curiosity, why Lewis of all people?
Thanks! I’ve actually always been fascinated with Lewis ever since I read the Chronicles of Narnia as a child. Later, that fascination only deepened when I discovered his philosophical works and his friend Tolkien. I’ve wanted to publish scholarship on Lewis for years, and to that end, I want to start with a very good grounding in Lewis himself. I suppose being a professional American historian (my day job, at the moment) gave me an emphasis on studying his past. Something like this is the best chance I can see to really get to know him. It’s the sort of thing that other scholars have done before, perhaps, but I’m keeping track of my thoughts on this blog.
BTW, I’m also happy to report that I’m on my way to publishing on Lewis professionally too. In the past two years I’ve made two presentations on Lewis and war in Narnia at the Mythopoeic Society, and I’ve had articles appear in Mythlore and The Lamppost. Hopefully, I can bump that record up to include books too someday.
Thanks for reading!
Found you looking for an online version of an essay. Looks as if it has been quiet for a while. Is anything going on anywhere?
I do hope so. Life have been insane and unsettled for us since about 2013, but that’s hopefully changing. This project is one I want to pick back up at the earliest opportunity.