Kicking LJ Analog - C.S. Lewis's Letters to an American Lady

Magdalen College,
Oxford
Nov. 10th 1952

Dear Mrs. _________

It is a little difficult to explain how I feel that tho’ you have taken a way which is not for me* I nevertheless can congratulate you - I suppose because your faith and joy are so obviously increased. Naturally, I do not draw from that the same conclusions as you - but there is no need for us to start a controversial correspondence!
…
Yours most sincerely
C.S. Lewis

*She had left the Episcopal Church to become a Roman Catholic

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I love that - "There is no need for us to start a controversial correspondence!" Imagine! Despite the fact that we begin with a Religious Difference, which has both the same and yet different connotation now, we can still conduct a correspondence which is not controversial. We reach out and we connect, there is no need for controversy.

Please note all correspondence comes from the subject volume. Any errors or typos are my own. I have left the delightful vagaries of date format intact in order to precisely identify which letter each excerpt comes from (preposition proudly at the end of this sentence, acceptable per CSL).

This post is actually a prime example of ‘preaching to the choir’, because you guys all know already how encouraging and pleasurable it can be to have a pen pal. Still, I wanted to follow through on this idea as I took a great deal of pleasure in reading this collection of letters, and I was really astonished by the extraordinarily close parallels I was able to draw between Lewis’s letters and actual LJ conversations I’ve participated in. When I first had the idea of writing up this post, I had no idea I would actually be able to cite almost identical communications.
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Kicking LJ Analog - C.S. Lewis's Letters to an American Lady

Magdalen College,
Oxford
Nov. 10th 1952

Dear Mrs. _________

It is a little difficult to explain how I feel that tho’ you have taken a way which is not for me* I nevertheless can congratulate you - I suppose because your faith and joy are so obviously increased. Naturally, I do not draw from that the same conclusions as you - but there is no need for us to start a controversial correspondence!
…
Yours most sincerely
C.S. Lewis

*She had left the Episcopal Church to become a Roman Catholic

-------------------------------------

I love that - "There is no need for us to start a controversial correspondence!" Imagine! Despite the fact that we begin with a Religious Difference, which has both the same and yet different connotation now, we can still conduct a correspondence which is not controversial. We reach out and we connect, there is no need for controversy.

Please note all correspondence comes from the subject volume. Any errors or typos are my own. I have left the delightful vagaries of date format intact in order to precisely identify which letter each excerpt comes from (preposition proudly at the end of this sentence, acceptable per CSL).

This post is actually a prime example of ‘preaching to the choir’, because you guys all know already how encouraging and pleasurable it can be to have a pen pal. Still, I wanted to follow through on this idea as I took a great deal of pleasure in reading this collection of letters, and I was really astonished by the extraordinarily close parallels I was able to draw between Lewis’s letters and actual LJ conversations I’ve participated in. When I first had the idea of writing up this post, I had no idea I would actually be able to cite almost identical communications.
( Read more )