Selected by Helen Howell
“These pages must stand for what they are-a brief account of the history of that perverted way of the soul which we call magic, and with the reaction against it. No one will derive any knowledge of initiation from this book. I have not wished to titillate or to thrill; so far as I can manage it, this is history, and accurate history.” -adapted from the Preface
Selected by Helen Howell
These two long essays make up, with The Descent of the Dove, Charles Williams’ principal theological writing. With these books and with The Figure of Beatrice the reader is as fully equipped as possible for studying the religious thought of this brilliant poet, novelist, essayist and historian.
Selected by Doug Wilson
Why must humanity suffer? In this elegant and thoughtful work, C. S. Lewis questions the pain and suffering that occur everyday and how this contrasts with the notion of a God that is both omnipotent and good. An answer to this critical theological problem is found within these pages.
Selected by Jonathan McIntosh
This text analyses the theology of one of the most influential thinkers of the Christian Church, whose intellectual heritage still generates a lively debate between secular and Christian thinkers today. Focusing on Anselm’s theology, the book seeks to prove that Anselm’s interpretation of the life and work of Christ lies at the very heart of his work. Deme’s treatise presents a modern critical account of the works of this 12th-century thinker, presenting Anselm in a confessionally open manner, suitable for a reader with minimum experience of medieval studies or dogmatics.
Selected by Jonathan McIntosh
Modern states commonly deploy coercion in a wide array of circumstances in which the resort to force would clearly be wrong for any private agent. What entitles the state to behave in this manner? And why should citizens obey its commands? This book examines theories of political authority, from the social contract theory, to theories of democratic authorization, to fairness- and consequence-based theories. Ultimately, no theory of authority succeeds, and thus no government has the kind of authority often ascribed to governments. The author goes on to discuss how voluntary and competitive institutions could provide the central goods for the sake of which the state is often deemed necessary, including law, protection from private criminals, and national security. An orderly and livable society thus does not require acquiescence in the illusion of political authority.
Selected by Doug Wilson
“In this book the reader is offered the work of one professional author, two dons, a solicitor, a friar, and a retired army officer; if he feels disposed to complain of hotch-potch (which incidentally is an excellent dish; consult the NOCTES AMBROSIANAE) I must reply that the variety displayed by this little group is far too small to represent the width of Charles Williams’ friendships. Nor are we claiming to represent it… If the authors of this book were to put forward any claim, it would be, and that shyly, that they were for the last few years of his life a fairly permanent nucleus among his LITERARY friends. He read us his manuscripts and we read him ours: we smoked, talked, argued, and drank together (I must confess that with Miss Dorothy Sayers I have seen him drink only tea: but that was neither his fault nor hers). Of many such talks this collection is not unrepresentative.” – Lewis
Selected by Doug Wilson
Reyes introduces the surviving fragments of Lewis’s translation of Virgil’s epic poem, which were rescued from a bonfire. They are presented in parallel with the Latin text, and are accompanied by synopses of missing sections, and an informative glossary, making them accessible to the general reader. Writes Lewis in A Preface to Paradise Lost, “Virgil uses something more subtle than merelength of time…. It is this which gives the reader of the Aeneid the sense of having lived through so much. No man who has read it with full perception remains an adolescent.” Lewis’s admiration for theAeneid, written in the 1st century BC and unfolding the adventures of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy and became the ancestor of the Romans, is evident in his remarkably lyrical translation. C. S. Lewis’s Lost Aeneid is part detective story, as Reyes recounts the dramatic rescue of the fragments and his efforts to collect and organize them, and part illuminating look at a lesser-known and intriguing aspect of Lewis’s work.
Selected by Chris Schlect
In the late eighteenth century, Hawai’i’s ruling elite employed sophisticated methods for resisting foreign intrusion. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, American missionaries had gained a foothold in the islands. Jennifer Thigpen explains this important shift by focusing on two groups of women: missionary wives and high-ranking Hawaiian women. Examining the enduring and personal exchange between these groups, Thigpen argues that women’s relationships became vital to building and maintaining the diplomatic and political alliances that ultimately shaped the islands’ political future. Male missionaries’ early attempts to Christianize the Hawaiian people were based on racial and gender ideologies brought with them from the mainland, and they did not comprehend the authority of Hawaiian chiefly women in social, political, cultural, and religious matters. It was not until missionary wives and powerful Hawaiian women developed relationships shaped by Hawaiian values and traditions–which situated Americans as guests of their beneficent hosts–that missionaries successfully introduced Christian religious and cultural values. Incisively written and meticulously researched, Thigpen’s book sheds new light on American and Hawaiian women’s relationships, illustrating how they ultimately provided a foundation for American power in the Pacific and hastened the colonization of the Hawaiian nation.
Tyndale Library 