It's our first episode ever! We are delving into C.S. Lewis's famous allegorical tale, The Great Divorce. Moses and Jake share their initial thoughts on tackling one of the most intelligent(and very British) writers of the last century.
What's the story?
So a man gets on a bus in Hell, better known here a Grey Town. Said bus embarks on a voyage toward Heaven. The bus makes a few stops along the way, and every time, our narrator and the other passengers get out of the bus to interact with the ever more solidifying environment, and the residents of the land, The Bright Ones. One would think more people would be eager to be heaven bound, yet the passengers - the Ghosts - seem to find every possible reason to get back on the bus and head back to Grey Town. Will anyone make it to the end? What will they have to overcome to get there? What can we learn along the way?
Wouldn't you know it, in reading through a story about Heaven and Hell, we dive into "deep heady theological conversations around Theories of Atonement."
This leads into a conversation around Faith Deconstruction. A process of deconstruction always involves asking the hard and scary questions. It's a necessary process, but unnerving, especially for the well-meaning onlookers.
We cover the genre of the story, and how that affects how the reader enters the world. We discuss a synopsis of the world, the plot, the characterization, and work to acclimate to the fantastical and surreal world that Lewis has created or us.
Public transportation experiences have a way of challenging out isolationist mentalities, and bringing out the self-righteous parts of us. The more we criticize others, the more awkward a bus ride is.
The characters we meet in the first chapter are quarrelsome, isolationist, and insist upon lots of space in which to have their rights. Most eerily of all, we meet Napoleon, eternally pacing in his far away lonesomeness, obsessing over how everyone else failed him. Moses and Jake have a long thread about blame, fault, ownership and responsibility. There's a way that taking responsibility is scary because it requires more of us, but we feel stronger for having done it.
And speaking of the Great Divorce, we remark on how this story is very uncomfortable to read, because of the way Lewis draws us to closely examine us, in all our raw flaws.
Special shout-outs to Garry Friesen(Dr. G) and his house, Aslan's How, a modern day shrine to the Chronicles of Narnia, that once upon a time inhabited a house across the street from Multnomah Bible College.
