The Green Lady in all her purity, the new Eve, is wrestling with Ransom, the interstellar sinner, over “right thinking” about reality. To listen to one smudged by sin/experience and one unmarred, still walking with God in the Garden, we really get to see that disobeying did bring some “new” knowledge but was that worth the price humanity must bear? Could that suffering be avoided in the new Eden? What happens when lying is introduced into a world that knows only truth? Will Ransom be her undoing...
Nov 07, 2021•1 hr 12 min
Ransom finds himself encountering the Hross, the Sorn, and sea monsters. He learns an extraterrestrial language and valuable lessons. Lewis is a master at dialogue. He creates an imaginative atmosphere and then brings in poignant questions to allow us to wrestle with them via Ransom, Weston, and Devine. The gang breaks all this down while discussing other books and movies that correspond to the topics Lewis brings up.
Oct 25, 2021•1 hr 4 min
We are introducing Lewis’s Sci-Fi or Ransom Trilogy. “Out of the Silent Plant is the first in the series. It is also his 2nd book to be published. “Pilgrim’s Regress” was the first, 1933. This book was published five years later. For many in the group it was their first time reading the series. The book is a catalysts for so many other things he will do stylistically and with atmosphere in the rest of his literature. I hope you enjoy our thoughts on the subject.
Oct 21, 2021•1 hr 15 min
What can we learn from an ancient text? A lot!! This is the foundational work that has allowed us to enjoy “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit.” JRR Tolkien was a Beowulf scholar and is so fun to see things words “middle-earth” and reading about throne room scenes that seem to be straight from Rohan! Many think that a book like this is too hard but once you get into the characters and themes you will find the relevant and relatable! This Tolkien’s translation, but we reference Seamus Haney’s as ...
Apr 14, 2021•1 hr 10 min
This is the final and most thrilling installment of “The Nobel Prize on Literature!” This book was “red beef and strong beer” for all of us! Amid all of his counsel Solzhenitsyn leaves us with illuminating hope, “One word of truth outweighs the whole world!” I believe it and I try to live speaking the truth...or at least not lying! Do you?? This is definitely worth a listen!
Apr 04, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Solzhenitsyn talks about cultural and social value judgments. He discusses the benefits to cultures being dynamic and not clones of each other. Technology and the speed of information can be detrimental to the heart of a people who are not conditioned for it. Listen in as the VFF gang engage with the questions and thoughts raised by Solzhenitsyn in this section.
Mar 22, 2021•1 hr 39 min
Part three of our society’s insights into the book. There are some strands of disagreement within the group about the efficacy of Solzhenitsyn’s philosophies and how they could be applied in today’s world. I love that we are a philosophically diverse group, it truly allows for us to wrestle our own prejudices and heresies in real time.
Mar 13, 2021•1 hr 31 min
If you haven’t read this book then you are missing out. It is filled with “earned wisdom” from an artist who survived hell and offers the truths that sustained him, and defeated tyranny. Not many can say their words helped bring down and evil empire. In this episode we discuss chapter 2 of the 38 page bombshell of a book. He begins with a quote from Dostoyevsky, “Beauty will save the world.” Then he unpacks the brilliant and illuminating truth of it. It is a must read and this is an entertaining...
Mar 01, 2021•1 hr 13 min
This is a beginning discussion on Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and his Nobel Prize lecture on Literature. He did not give the speech as he would have been arrested had he given it. It was his book, “The Gulag Archipelago” that helped take down the USSR and Stalin. He spent many years in these Gulags as a political dissident. This may be the most important book you read this year. We begin by talking about the meaning and power of art and the place of the artist among the nations.
Feb 18, 2021•1 hr 18 min
Part One is the Jack and Beren take on “A Wrinkle in Time.” We discuss the purpose of literature like L’Engle, Lewis, and Tolkien.
Nov 02, 2020•35 min
Beren and Jack discuss the their closing thoughts on A Wrinkle in Time. This was the first time Jack had read Wrinkle in Time as an adult and it solidified many of this literary theories. Both our hosts had a great time reading the book and pull at the theological and philosophical threads to uncover and reveal many truths to help sustain the human heart throughout our human experience.
Nov 01, 2020•42 min
Randy and Wes take on the similarities between Tolkien’s “On Fairie Stories” and Lewis’s “On Stories.” It is a killer convo that delves deep into what drives stories and why “good” stories are necessary for human’s to be able to understand and live their lives more fully. This is not one to be missed. (Sorry for the background noise, Drinkling’s neighbor didn’t know we were doing a podcast. It was quite humorous!)
May 18, 2020•40 min
JRR Tolkien is not as well known for his essays but there was one that Randy and Wes wanted to discuss as Verum Fabula Fellowship gets ready to delve into Fairy Tales and Myths. In "Perilous Tales from the Perilous Realm" Tolkien has an essay on Fairie Stories where he dissects the difference between Fairies and Fairie. The element or essence of Fairie is atmospheric and has nothing to do with tiny, winged creatures who perform magic. It is a fascinating look into the underpinning of "Lord of th...
May 11, 2020•34 min
Randy and Wes rabbit trail today via Zoom on topics from Frankl, life’s mysteries, to their daily lives. Verum Fabula Fellowship recently read “Man’s Search For Meaning” and this is a follow up to that discussion. Since we are on Covid restrictions and the group is meeting via Zoom we have only been recording the meeting for posterity sake and not for podcasting. Randy and Wes will try and pick up the slack on the books we cover via the Jack and Beren Show.
May 09, 2020•45 min
Randy and I took this podcast into nature...at an approved social distance. We were at my nearly finished cabin near Hickman Creek. It was a great time of cohesive rabbit trails yet we delve into core beliefs that anchor both of us. It is a real and raw moment that should not be missed.
Apr 24, 2020•45 min
Randy and I are socially distant at Drinklings Roastery, his coffee cafe and roasting facility in Wilmore, Kentucky. We discussed Covid-19 and other rabbit trails. We feel like rabbit trails are our bread and butter and very Inkling-esque ... as they rabbited nearly every time in the Rabbit Room of the Eagle and Child pub. Walter Hooper noted once that the Inklings met and talked about "Public Schools and Sherlock Holmes." It was good enough for them, so we'll keep the format going! Enjoy!
Apr 23, 2020•36 min
Episode IV was the best Star Wars movie hands down. We hope this is the best "Transposition" episode! Lewis evokes thoughts of creativity and priority of information that aid us in exploring reality to discover Truth via the brain and the mind. "And the sceptic's conclusion that the so-called spiritual is really derived from the natural, that it is a mirage or projection or imaginary extension of the natural, is also exactly what we should expect; for, as we have seen, this is the mistake which ...
Mar 22, 2020•1 hr 18 min
Randy and Wes invite Asbury University Adjunct Professor David Whitaker, a core member of the VFF, to discuss his Lewis and Tolkien influences. We delve in to parenthood, childhood, and Narnia (of course). This is really worth the listen as the three of explore ourselves as both the influencee and the influencers. This is a can't miss episode!
Mar 21, 2020•34 min
Randy and Wes wrap up "Transposition." Lewis ends with Hope. Yes, we are limited. Yes, we can never get close to the mountain (Leaf By Niggle) or get to the Island (A Pilgrim's Regress)...But we can get close to Truth and take a transpositional approach so close that a paper drawing of fire can seem to warm one's hands.
Mar 21, 2020•29 min
We have reached to end of Transposition for now. I am sure we will all personally travel back and revisit it again and again. There are so many deep truths in this essay. As will all challenging essays on should end with hope and Lewis does not disappoint. "Transposition can be in its own way adequate. I said before that in your drawing you had only plain white paper for sun and cloud, snow, water, and human flesh. In one sense, how miserably inadequate! Yet in another, how perfect. If the shado...
Feb 28, 2020•1 hr 7 min
CoFounders of VFF, Randy Hardman and Wes Mullins, continue to reprise their roles as Jack and Beren (Lewis and Tolkien). Randy and Wes met at Drinklings Roastery in Wilmore, Kentucky and quickly found out that they had a lot in common with the two authors. Randy had been more influenced by Tolkien and Wes more by Lewis, it was a match made for the Eagle and Child! In today's episode, Randy and Wes discuss in-depth some of the themes that VFF brought up on Monday's reading of "Transposition." The...
Feb 19, 2020•43 min
Tonight we wrestled with this notion of higher and lower transpositional propositions. In short, we seem to unconsciously vacillate between interpretations that we construct from higher and lower sources. How many misinterpretations are we guilty of by applying 1-to-1 correlation to things like love, sex, marriage, friendship, etc.. If we only apply 1-to-1 correlations to every similar sensation and emotion then wouldn't we become erratic in our decision making? Would I have to engage romantical...
Feb 17, 2020•1 hr 3 min
“We can’t speak outside of the things derived from our experience. We use that information to impose on the spiritual world instead of coming up with something new.” -David Whitaker (Member) Wes submits that the proposition that communication is discoverable and expressed through linguistics and language. This suggests that there are objective truths and meanings wherein humans are experiencing and trying to express. What is available to us as resources to ensure we get closer to truth and falsi...
Feb 17, 2020•1 hr 28 min
Randy has rejoined VFF and we have started up our "Jack and Beren Show" wherein we discuss things on our minds and hearts stemming from theology to literature to philosophy. It is similar to what happens on Monday nights with the gang but this gives Randy and I chance to dive deeper into certain aspects that we may not be able to on group discussions. Also, we may not even get to the topics of what we are reading, it is sort of an open topic structure for this show. However, Randy comes from a v...
Feb 13, 2020•44 min
The first Verum Fabula Fellowship meeting of 2020 and it did not disappoint. We began our review of "Transposition." It is an essay written by CS Lewis in 1949. The crux of essay lay in the question of why is the religious, spiritual, and metaphysical experience(s) only expressed in the language of the physical, known experiences of humanity? If you will, why are abstractions best expressed in standard rhetoric? Does language offer the writer/speaker and reader/listener a 1-1 ratio of expression...
Jan 28, 2020•1 hr 19 min
We are finishing up "Leaf by Niggle" and it has been an incredible journey. We finally get to attempt to answer does art have purpose? What happens to the art of earth? Wes, David, Katlyn, Nina, Chris, and Janelle discuss the final chapters of Tolkien's great allegorical work.
Nov 26, 2019•1 hr 16 min
PhD Candidate Derek King presents his talk and focus of PhD study "The Hiddenness of God" at VFF. Derek is currently studying at St. Andrews University. He proposes to bring in CS Lewis's anticipation of the Modern Problem of Divine Hiddenness in "Till We Have Faces." The essay he presents in this talk actually was published in "The Journal of Inklings Study."
Nov 23, 2019•2 hr
"Leaf by Niggle" Part Ii. Niggle, the impasioned painter and the lackluster gardener, is still on the docket. We are discussing further into the text and seeing how Niggle deals with distractions and interruptions to his work. The questions still remains does art have value beyond aesthetics? Is art a waste of relational and practical capital? Join us as we go further up and further in.
Nov 23, 2019•16 min
JRR Tolkien wrote this short but powerful book after seeing a tree had been felled by its owners. Tolkien seemed to morn the trees passing as an injustice, to which may be only he and some owls would miss the great poplar. This poplar passing affected him and one day in 1947 he woke up and penned "Tree and Leaf", which we now call "Leaf By Niggle." It is the story of a distracted painter who becomes obsessed with painting only a single tree and the leaves on that tree; he even built a shed for t...
Nov 17, 2019•1 hr 11 min
J Wesley Mullins and Phd Candidate Derek King discuss his upcoming talk on "The Hiddenness of God" at VFF. Derek is currently studying at St. Andrews University. He proposes to bring in CS Lewis's anticipation of the Modern Problem of Divine Hiddenness in "Till We Have Faces." The essay he presents in his upcoming talk actually was published in "The Journal of Inklings Study." This is a preview discussion where the Keynote speakers get to introduce themselves to the VFF listeners and set their i...
Oct 18, 2019•29 min
