“People have discovered by bitter experience that when man starts out on his own to build a society by his own power and knowledge, he succeeds in building something uncommonly like Hell; and they have seriously begun to ask why.”

Would that more people today of all political or religious or non-religious stripe seriously begin to ask themselves the same question and find the Answer in God made man.

Thank you for putting this article online, Kendall.  A most encouraging and interesting read! 
Clifford Swartz

Somewhere my memory tells (I could be wrong however) that Lewis was never elevated to the position of “Oxford Don”, his highest title was Lecturer at Oxford.  Shunned by Oxford He accepted the position of full professorship and thus became a Don at Cambridge in the 1950s.  Lewis scholars out plase correct me if I am woring on this.

A “don” is anyone holding an academic position at Oxford (or Cambridge), even a “mere” college fellow without any university position.  Lewis (Fellow of Magdalen College and University Lecturer) was this certainly a “don,” even though his only professorship was one he had in Cambridge (where he became also a Fellow of Magdalene College) beginning in 1954.

William Tighe
(Ph.D, Clare College, Cambridge, 1984)

Wikipedia has an entry for “University Don”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_don

A don is a fellow or tutor of a college or university, especially traditional collegiate universities such as Oxford and Cambridge in England.

The term — similar to the title still used for Catholic priests — is a historical remnant of Oxford and Cambridge having started as ecclesiastical institutions in the Middle Ages.

So it looks like Lewis was an Oxford Don, though as you say he did become a full professor at Cambridge later in his life.  You don’t need to be a full professor to be a don.

Splendid shoes to fill and follow. After Jesus, Moses, Paul and my parents, I want to meet Professor Lewis in Heaven.

Wonderful to be able to read an article about Lewis written in 1947—feels a bit like time travel.  Thanks!

Will you be recording your class and make it available online?  I have attended a Lewis reading group every week for the last 8 or so years.  We gather and read a book aloud and comment whenever we feel the need.
Brad M

It is a wonderful encounter with Lewis as well as a wistful reminder of the caliber of writing once found in the pages of Time.