Irrigating Deserts

Overview
Enter into the mind of Christian writer C. S. Lewis, exploring the education he received in his formative years and taught during his mature years.

Lewis forged a strong understanding of the value of education in life. What he proposed and illustrated in his writings and modeled in the classroom is a passion for education in the classical tradition and a commitment to truth in the context of the Christian faith. Lewis’s defense of objective truth and the kind of curriculum that would support such truth form the foundation of his thought.

Views on the purpose of education, model schools, and the Inner Ring also are explored along with the effectiveness of Lewis’s use of analogy and other techniques to shape both the minds and the hearts of his students. The analysis of Lewis’s educational philosophy and practice culminates in application of this philosophy and practice to current issues and challenges in modern education and modern Christian education: objective truth, pedagogy, curriculum, interdisciplinary thinking, the purpose of education, “head and heart,” and much more.


What Others Are Saying
“Irrigating Deserts could not be better. It has taught me more about Lewis the educator than I have learned from living in Oxford for forty years.”

Walter Hooper, Literary Advisor to the Estate of C.S. Lewis
 

“In graceful prose and clear explication, Joel Heck explores all facets - from theoretical to biographical - of C.S. Lewis on education. Along the way, Dr. Heck provides solid research and interesting insights on the Oxford system, the depth of Lewis's education, and how Lewis's convictions can be applied in the modern academy. This well researched volume is a labor of love from a dedicated educator and enthusiastic Lewis aficionado.”

Richard A. Hill, Ph. D., Professor of Writing and Literature, Point Loma Nazarene University


“In this meticulous work of scholarship, Joel Heck shows that Lewis's academic vocations - student, teacher, and writer - were driven by a profound philosophy of education. For Lewis, true education is not the shaping of every subject by political and personal prejudices, but a way to free our thinking from the spirit of the age, to cultivate just sentiments and to humble our ego to objective truth - a way to irrigate our mental deserts.”

Angus J. L. Menuge, Professor of Philosophy, Concordia University Wisconsin