Ron Dart, ed., White Gulls & Wild Birds: Essays on C.S. Lewis, Inklings and Friends & Thomas Merton (Abbotsford: St Macrina Press, 2015). 85 pgs.
Back cover description: Books on C.S. Lewis, the Inklings, and Thomas Merton are a rare breed. This book brings together a variety of essays, from a more personal and confessional level, on the perennial relevance of Lewis, Inklings, and Merton from writers who, in many ways, have been fellow travellers on a similar pathway.
It has been said that a key aspect to cultural ‘tipping points’ is the role of those special leaders that we might label ‘connectors.’ Isolated focus groups become movements when these connectors facilitate the linking of arms across persistent divides to create relational bonds and new networks. I believe that the great writers and thinkers of the 20th century were highly creative and extraordinarily literary; they were also connectors par excellence.
For example, while C.S. Lewis stood firmly in the Anglo-Catholic tradition, his Socratic Club drew together a spectrum that drew agnostics and evangelicals into sane and productive conversations. Thomas Merton was probably history’s premier connector between Christianity and Buddhism, introducing new and lasting levels of compassionate engagement to Buddhism while retrieving their contemplative insights for the Christian community that had regressed so badly on that front.
To Lewis and Merton, I would add Ron Dart’s name as a significant ‘tipping point connector.’ For decades, he has continually compared, contrasted and synthesized the thought of an enormous variety of spiritual figures and streams (e.g. contemplative, charismatic and social prophets); he’s introduced individuals to one another who’ve forged profound working relationships and new networks (not least of which is the editorial circle of Clarion Journal).
Now, Ron has applied these qualities to coordinating and compiling this fine little booklet of essays, White Gulls & Wild Birds, encouraging us to think of Lewis, the Inklings and Merton in one breath. This wasn’t a big surprise to me until I opened the book and found far more than I anticipated … names I would not have connected either as authors or subjects. The variety of perspectives and insights is the chief selling point and deserves to be listed:
After an introduction by Dart, we have:
“My Journey with Charles Williams,” by Stephen Dunning
“Meeting the Mystery of God’s ‘Inexorable Love’ and Mercy in [George] MacDonald and Merton”
“Madeleine L’Engle’s Contemplative Vision,” by Joy Steem
“An Introvert’s Reflection on Merton’s Approach to Silence and Solitude,” by Matthew Stern
“Merton and Me in Merit,” by Jessica Lamb
“In the Footsteps of C.S. Lewis,” by Bill McGladdery
“Ruminations on the Inklings and Thomas Merton,” by Wayne Northey
“Our Journey with C.S. Lewis,” Daniel and Serena Klassen
“A Widening Vision” by Heidi Rennert
“C.S. Lewis’ Socratic Method,” by Tyler Chamberlain
What struck me about the book was that the various authors speak so personally. They are describing their encounters with these sages in the way that my Orthodox friends think of relating to the saints. Chrysostom’s interpretation of Paul began with a personal love for Paul, a sense of ongoing dialogue with him, and real transformation at his master’s feet. I get that sense in these essays: while the author’s are competent thinkers and practitioners in their own right, many of them unveil their experience of the Divine through their contemplative receptivity to the likes of Lewis, MacDonald, Merton and L’Engle.
Further, while the reading is at times devotional and contemplative, it’s not the Christianese kitsch or lukewarm pablum that we’ve come to despise. That said, the whole book is beautifully readable.
I would recommend this little introduction especially to those whose hearts have already been endeared to Lewis, Merton et al, just for the joy of it. But I can also to commend it to those wondering where to start and whether they’re up to the great classics of the last century. This text will serve as an encouraging testimonial ‘yea’ to diving in.
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