C.S. Lewis on Progress, AI, and Gender - with Annie Crawford

Sign up for Annie’s course on the C.S. Lewis Ransom Trilogy. If you sign up now you will get the recordings of the first 10 lessons. The remaining 5 lessons on That Hideous Strength will be every Friday at 3pm CST / 4pm EST: the-symbolic-world.circle.so/checkout/cs-lewis-tri…

I thought Lewis really understood female psychology. It helped me understand myself (as a woman) and certain pitfalls in my thinking. The Woman in Perelandra was helpful in a general way, but Jane in That Hideous Strength really resonated with me. I learned to let God make me in HIS image, not necessarily the way I thought of myself, much like Jane. I never found him misogynistic. I always felt he "got it." God bless that man!

This conversation requires the "symbolic world" paradigm more than most. It's absolutely spot on. It's also not for everybody.

C. S. Lewis "That Hideous Strength". Amazing that it was written so long ago. Lewis' prophetic voice on display for all to see.

Johathan, you HAVE to read Till We Have Faces by C.S Lewis. It's his best work by his own admission and Tolkien’s

The part where she speaks of Old Solar as pure symbolic language reminds me of what I read somewhere about Tolkien. The writer said Tolkien was so immersed in so many languages that he lives in language itself, not just English or Norse or French but in ‘language’

Reading perelandra is the most profound purely reading experience of my life. The only thing that compares in my own experiences in its profundity is the fullness of the liturgy in those times and places when I’ve really felt the presence of the angels and saints shouting unending choruses of praise.

Oh my goodness, I am so glad to hear Jonathan discussing the space trilogy! SUCH a perfect and important subject!

Fr Thomas Hopko of blessed memory was talking about how relevant this was 15+ years ago, in terms of The Abolition of Man - which is a really difficult read, and tells the same story as the That Hideous Strength in essay form. Lewis was seeing all this in the works as early as the late 30s and early 40s. It's interesting that he had that particular intuition so early on.

I introduced high school students to my favourite C..S. Lewis, 'That Hideous Strength', just before Covid and lockdowns.

(spoilers) I just finished the trilogy myself. CS Lewis is a master of many things but three that stuck out to me were: 1) his ability to describe the subtle thought processes behind his characters (especially the dynamics between Jane and Mark). 2) his descriptions of Malacandra and Perelandra as unfallen worlds. To be honest I couldn't really fathom the idea of an unfallen world until I read those books, and they've really sparked a deep thirst for heaven. 3) The idea that the greatest thing in the universe would be to gaze upon the face of God was lost on me. It sounded like abstract or esoteric fluff that Christians would spout but not really mean in their hearts. The way Lewis describes the King and Queen, and Ransom in the third book really helped me understand, in some deep sense that I lack the words for, the significance of gazing upon the face of God.

NICE (from That Hideous Strength) is a good model for a potent strain of authoritarian strategy prominent in today’s world.

You are a great blessing, sir. I have watched numerous hours of your content recently, and I thoroughly enjoy the blend of philosophy, theology, symbology, history, and relevancy. Onward AND Upward!

I began watching this discussion and immediately stopped when Jonathan gave the spoiler alert regarding the 'Space Trilogy'(thanks for the heads up). I went back and listened to the trilogy on audiobook, and I'm so glad I did! What a fantastic story! Now, I'm back to finish the video... Thanks for making this video and for the insightful discussion! Good stuff!

Ive never heard it called the Ransom Trilogy. Always called it the Space Trilogy. That Hideous Strength is such a insightful description of "progressives"

That was astounding. Great job Annie and Jonathan.

Loved it! I will definitely be listening more than once. Many many golden nuggets in this conversation!

Proud. Shine On, Annie & Jonathan!✨✨✨

Finally got Annie on here! 🔥

My mind explodes at the thought of the waters above mix and settle, and ultimately become the waters below. If you’ve ever experienced God and have turned away, wow, this will get you. The fractal symbolic-pattern is truly endless- the blessing that can become a curse, first sweet and then bitter.