Special Guest Lecture: Dr. Michael Ward on Planet Narnia

Details: 7:30 PM, Tuesday, May 13th 2008, in SIO NTV-330 (see map below).

The Chronicles of Narnia are beloved the world over, making them perhaps C.S. Lewis's best-known work. However, the Chronicles seem peculiarly disjointed in their mythology: each book differs from every other in apparently haphazard ways. This thematic tangle led some, like Lewis's close friend J.R.R. Tolkein, to dismiss the series entirely. Given Lewis's appreciation of craft and cohesion, many scholars have sensed that there must be a hidden thread binding the tales together, but their proposals have failed to be broadly persuasive- until now.

In his recent book, Planet Narnia, Dr. Michael Ward argues that the underlying unity between the seven Chronicles of Narnia comes from what many would consider an unlikely source: C.S. Lewis's lifelong fascination with the "seven heavens" of medieval astrology. Piece by piece, Dr. Ward assembles a compelling argument, which he lets us preview on his website: www.planetnarnia.com. For the past several months, he has been touring the United States, and UCSD's Graduate Christian Fellowship and Graduate Students Association are honored to welcome him for his only stop in San Diego.

Michael Ward is an Anglican clergyman, writer, and speaker. In 2005 he completed his Ph.D. in Divinity at the University of St Andrews. In 2004 he became an ordained deacon in the Church of England and a priest in 2005. From 2004 to 2008 he was Chaplain of Peterhouse in the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Ward first became interested in The Chronicles of Narnia as a small child when they were read to him by his parents. He studied various works of C.S. Lewis throughout his academic endeavors, and was an officer in the Oxford Lewis Society from 1993 to 1999. From 1996 to 1999 Michael was resident warden and curator of The Kilns, Lewis's Oxford home, looking after the property on behalf of its owner, The C.S. Lewis Foundation.

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