C. S. Lewis and the Inklings: Discovering Hidden Truth

Dr Mark R. Hall received his doctorate from the University of Tulsa, specializing in British literature from Beowulf to the Twentieth Century. He has been an English Professor at Oral Roberts University for almost 25 years, teaching courses in Medieval, Romantic and Victorian British literature as well as C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and science fiction. Playing a major role in the governance of the C. S. Lewis and Inklings Society (CSLIS) since 1998, Dr Hall has served as the organization’s President and hosted the annual conferences at Oral Roberts University in 1999, 2005, and 2011. His interests include C. S. Lewis and his connection to science and science fiction, especially H. G. Wells, and he has presented on subjects including “Presupposition and Scientific Methodology: A Critique of C. S. Lewis’s Views of Christianity, Evolution, and Intelligent Design,” “Science and the Lewisian Imagination: Superstring Theory and the Great Dance,” “Dancing with the Dinosaur: C. S. Lewis as a Twenty-first Century Prophet,” and “The Intertextuality of C. S. Lewis and H. G. Wells: A Journey into the Imagination.” Dr Hall has also given presentations on J. R. R. Tolkien and language – “Language as Invention: Treebeard as the Voice of Landscape and Community” and “Language as Identity: The Force of Community in the Lord of the Rings” – as well as on Arthurian elements in Tolkien’s works – “Aragorn and Arthur, Merlin and Gandalf: Tolkien’s Transmogrification of the Arthurian Tradition and Its Use as a Palimpsest for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.”

Jason Fisher is an Independent Scholar specializing in J. R. R. Tolkien and the Inklings, fantasy literature, and linguistics. His most recent book is Tolkien and the Study of His Sources: Critical Essays (McFarland, 2011). Other publications include entries in the J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment (Routledge, 2006); contributions to numerous books; essays in Tolkien Studies, Mythlore, The Year’s Work in Medievalism, Beyond Bree, North Wind, Renaissance; and many, many book reviews. Jason is also the editor of Mythprint, the monthly publication of the Mythopoeic Society (http://www.mythprint.org). He blogs at Lingwë – Musings of a Fish (http://lingwe.blogspot.com/), where he has been discussing J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, J. K. Rowling, and related topics since 2007.