Faith & Reason Events

Robert K. Garcia
C.S. Lewis on the Ideal and the Human

Baylor University Philosopher Robert K. Garcia visits Gonzaga University for a two-lecture series on the continuing significance of C.S. Lewis, September 15, 2025.

Look Thy First on All Things Lovely: Lewis’s Eschatological Platonism
Monday, September 15, 2025, 12 noon - 1 pm,
Hemmingson Aud (HEMM 004)

Once, while walking with a student, C. S. Lewis watched a flight of swans alight on a sunlit river. The student quoted, “Look thy last on all things lovely, every hour.” Lewis replied, “No. No. It should certainly not be, 'Look thy last...’, but 'Look thy first on all things lovely. Every sight and sound that is good, every touch of beauty or rightness, is pointing ahead to its ultimate fulfillment in the world to come." Lewis reminds us that the beauties we now look upon—whether sunset, flower, or friend—are not final but first fruits: seeds, glimpses, and foretastes of what they are meant to become. Their promise is real though often hidden, growing toward a goodness that can already be glimpsed here and will find its full flowering beyond this life. In this talk I will explore the theory of human nature that underlies this perspective—what Lewis called eschatological Platonism—and consider its implications for earthly pleasures, heavenly bliss, and final destiny.

“The Beautiful Truth about Yourself — C. S. Lewis on the Imago Dei”
Monday, September 15, 2025, 7:00–8:30 pm
Globe Room, Cataldo Building, Gonzaga University

C. S. Lewis held that each person is supremely and irreplaceably valuable. But this was not a groundless platitude or piece of self-flattery. Rather, your value is grounded in the fact that you are uniquely created in the image of God. This means that there never has been, and never will be, another who can image God exactly as you do. Moreover, for Lewis this was no mere theory, but a belief with practical consequences: for over twenty years, he invested one to two hours a day in personal correspondence, thousands of hours he might otherwise have spent writing dozens of books. Such sustained devotion underscores the weight of his conviction. Yet it also highlights the difficulty we face in taking such a view to heart. For his bold vision can seem too good to be true, conferring on us a significance so vast, so elevated, that it induces a kind of metaphysical vertigo; even if one assents to it intellectually, it is difficult to accept it emotionally or volitionally. To meet this challenge, Lewis turned to the imagination. Through story, he invites us not only to understand, but to inhabit—and perhaps even to believe—the beautiful truth about ourselves. In this talk, I will explore the substance of Lewis’s view, show how his longstanding correspondence and imaginative storytelling reinforce this vision, and finally consider what it means for the way we see ourselves—and one another—today.

Robert K. Garcia is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University. His research lies primarily at the intersection of metaphysics and philosophy of religion, with particular focus on the nature and value of human persons. He has authored numerous articles and book chapters and co-edited several volumes, including Is Goodness Without God Good Enough? (with Nathan King), Watching The Chosen: History, Faith, and Interpretation (with Paul Gondreau, Patrick Gray, and Douglas S. Huffman), Compañero de la Filosofía Contemporánea de la Religión [Companion to Contemporary Philosophy of Religion] (with Carlo Rossi), and Antología de Filosofía Contemporánea de la Religión [Anthology of Contemporary Philosophy of Religion] (with Carlo Rossi). He is currently at work on two books: one with C. Stephen Evans on Søren Kierkegaard and C. S. Lewis, and another on Lewis’s views of the uniqueness and value of each person. You can learn more at www.robertkgarcia.com.

Michael Ward

Author, speaker, and C.S. Lewis scholar Michael Ward visits Gonzaga University for a lecture on the continuing significance of C.S. Lewis in Fall 2026 (this event was moved from Fall 2025 due to a schedule conflict).

“The Abolition of Man: C.S. Lewis’s Most Philosophical Work, But Is It Christian?”

C.S. Lewis is best known for his Narnia Chronicles and for works of popular theology such as Mere Christianity. What is less well known is that he began his academic career in philosophy. At Oxford he taught philosophy (with a focus on ethics) for many years, even after English literature had become his official scholarly focus. The Abolition of Man is his most philosophical work and Lewis described it as “almost my favourite among my books.” It consists of a short but dense argument, hard to grasp, and difficult to categorise. Dr Michael Ward will tackle this important and influential volume, showing its relevance for today’s culture and explaining its place within Lewis’s extraordinary body of work.

Michael Ward is a literary critic, theologian, and C.S. Lewis scholar. An associate faculty member in Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, he is the author of multiple books, most notably the award-winning Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis (Oxford University Press, 2010) and After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man (Word on Fire Academic, 2021). He co-edited The Cambridge Companion to C.S. Lewis (Cambridge University Press, 2010) and presented the BBC television documentary The Narnia Code. He studied English at Oxford, theology at Cambridge, and earned his PhD in Divinity at the University of St. Andrews. Formerly an Anglican priest, he joined the Catholic Church in 2012 and was ordained a priest within the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in 2018.