Apologetics in a Secular Age: The Space Trilogy of C. S. Lewis

Apologetics in a Secular Age: The Space Trilogy of C. S. Lewis is an eight week course designed to introduce students to Christian Worldview apologetics through the literature of C. S. Lewis.

This course is an elective humanities course designed to guide students through the philosophical questions that C. S. Lewis explored in this trilogy of fantasy novels published between 1938 and 1943. A quote from the first book, Out of the Silent Planet, summarizes the types of questions that this course will explore. “Things do not always happen as a man would expect. The moment of his arrival in an unknown world found Ransom wholly absorbed in a philosophical speculation.” Students in this course will step into three unknown worlds which the master apologist, C. S. Lewis, crafted to explore the philosophical dilemmas that clash between Christian humanism and Modern Secularism.

At the conclusion of this course, students will gain a greater appreciation for the literature of C. S. Lewis, grow in literary criticism, form philosophical arguments that will support a biblically Christian worldview, and strengthen their own writing skills in philosophy and storytelling. Students will be assigned reading appropriate for the week, relevant reading quizzes, once-weekly 2-hour live recitation, and a final 1200-word written essay. In the course of the 8 weeks, the students will have read all the texts listed below, taken 6 reading quizzes, written three short essays (300-400 words) that lead to a final 1200-word final essay, and attended a minimum of 8 live class meetings to discuss the reading assignments in Socratic fashion. In this course, students will develop an appreciation for Christian worldview apologetics in an ever increasing Secular Age.

Course Objectives:

1. To explore great ideas of human thought through imaginative literature.
2. To gain a grasp of the philosophical questions that clash between Christianity and Secularism.
3. To develop lateral thinking skills by analyzing and synthesizing themes and motifs.
4. To cultivate an appetite for learning as a way of life (the life of the mind).
5. To cultivate a desire to pursue the highest things.
6. To be able to think Christianly and speak persuasively about perennial human questions.

Texts or Required Materials:

• Christiana Hale: Deeper Heaven: A Reader’s Guide to C. S. Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy, Romans Road Press 2020 [ISBN 978-1-944482-56-5]
• C. S. Lewis: The Space Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength) Simon & Schuster; Reissue edition (2011) [ISBN: 978-1451664829]

Optional Text:

• Sanford Swartz: C. S. Lewis On The Final Frontier, Oxford University Press 2009 [ISBN 978-0195374728]