Collaborative Creativity: The Inklings' Influence on Literature
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "They don't impose their own vision of that, but says, ah, I see where you're going. I see what you're attempting. And I am committed to be there and support you through the steps of that entire process. In my chapter on resonators, I talk about praise, praise for the work. I talk about encouragement, encouragement for the writer. I talk about the importance of pressure, simply putting a little pressure, leaning on one another to help that person actually buckle down and get the work done." [18:13]
2. "One of my favorite examples, probably the most important example of a resonator among the Inklings is Tolkien's work on The Lord of the Rings. It took him nearly 15 years to write that book. And at several points in the process, we know from his letters, he gave up. He gave up. He totally quit. He said, I'm done with this. I have worked on this. This isn't going anywhere. I don't know what to do next. I didn't want to do this in the first place. All of those things that assault any of us who are involved in any kind of long-term project. Tolkien had had it with The Lord of the Rings, but the Inklings believed in it. C.S. Lewis, in particular, wouldn't let it go. They wouldn't let him quit. They egged him on. They provoked him. They encouraged him. They, in so many different ways, are actually responsible for the completion of that work." [19:50]
3. "Let's talk about the second category that I discovered or uncovered with this inside view, and that's the idea of a challenge. It's the idea of opponents. Now, we don't think about wanting opponents. We don't think about seeking opponents. But, honestly, we need opponents. We need someone who will challenge us in such a way that it will bring out the best in us. We think about iron sharpening iron. We think about the importance on those Tuesdays at the Eagle and Child pub, of the intellectual debate that undergirded the work that they were doing. Those opportunities to argue and refine their thoughts, and not only to refine their understanding, but also to refine their ability to express themselves." [21:25]
4. "A third category of interaction among the Inklings is editors, where opponents try to actually combat or deny the value of something, or redirect the author altogether. An editor makes specific comments, giving specific advice and specific recommendations that can change the way it's written. Now, some of these can be big, and some of them can be very, very small. A word choice, a reference, an image that simply needs to be cleaned up, corrected." [26:19]
5. "When I think about collaboration proper, there's one aspect that is common among the Inklings that I think deserves special mention. And that's their tendency as they met together, as they worked together, as they hung out together, to create collaborative poetry. I think this is incredibly important, because it demonstrates just how interwoven their creative process was. Collaborative poetry, someone would throw out a line, someone would write the next line that rhymes and so on and so on, through the steps of a poem they would create on the fly." [29:21]
### Quotes for Members
1. "I think about the value of role modeling, that is inviting other people into our own creative process so that they can learn from our example those things that worked for us. I think about how valuable it is more and more within the scholarship that we do to think in terms of an apprenticeship. I think about how valuable it is more and more within the scholarship model. How can we help newer scholars in the field to accomplish their dreams and to achieve their goals by helping them to see not just what we have accomplished, but by seeing how we've gone about the work that we've done." [18:13]
2. "But another thing that an opponent can do is actually come against us and prevent us from dead ends. And that, too, is a gift for someone to be able to say, this isn't working. This isn't going anywhere. I know you're excited, excited about this. I love that. But this particular work isn't doing the job that you think it is. And in that light, I think about the profound impact of the Inklings as a group on Charles Williams." [21:25]
3. "Owen Barfield was a solicitor, a lawyer by trade, and when he heard the manuscript of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and he shared that with his wife, Maude, they both came to a conclusion that this was a dangerous book, that if children were to read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, no doubt they would be entering into wardrobes in their homes, closing the door behind them, getting locked in, and that Lewis would face lawsuits as a result. So Owen said, you need to include a warning in this book that children should not lock themselves in wardrobes." [26:19]
4. "The final category I'd like to talk about is a category called reference and this is a topic that deserves a book in its own and maybe someone will put that together someday. An anthology of all of the wonderful places where the Inklings actually write about one another. They cite one another's works. The Inklings show up in footnotes all over each other's books. They show up on dedication pages and of course on acknowledgement pages as well. They write poems about each other. They write poems together about joint experiences that they're having. And they also include each other as characters in each other's stories." [35:21]
5. "How can the example of the Inklings, how can this lively and committed interaction inform my work? How can it inform your work? Your work as a scholar, your work as an author, a teacher, a student, a speaker, your work as a pastor, an artist, a musician, a parent, a priest, an entrepreneur, your role as a friend. I think that is perhaps something that we can all share. The most important question that we can ask, the takeaway from this study is how do we refuse to give in to what I call the Bandersnatch impulse, the impulse to keep things to ourself, protect our drafts, commit to going it alone, to be reluctant to involve others, until we're really confident that our work is what it needs to be." [37:20]
Ask a question about this sermon
1. "They don't impose their own vision of that, but says, ah, I see where you're going. I see what you're attempting. And I am committed to be there and support you through the steps of that entire process. In my chapter on resonators, I talk about praise, praise for the work. I talk about encouragement, encouragement for the writer. I talk about the importance of pressure, simply putting a little pressure, leaning on one another to help that person actually buckle down and get the work done." [18:13]
2. "One of my favorite examples, probably the most important example of a resonator among the Inklings is Tolkien's work on The Lord of the Rings. It took him nearly 15 years to write that book. And at several points in the process, we know from his letters, he gave up. He gave up. He totally quit. He said, I'm done with this. I have worked on this. This isn't going anywhere. I don't know what to do next. I didn't want to do this in the first place. All of those things that assault any of us who are involved in any kind of long-term project. Tolkien had had it with The Lord of the Rings, but the Inklings believed in it. C.S. Lewis, in particular, wouldn't let it go. They wouldn't let him quit. They egged him on. They provoked him. They encouraged him. They, in so many different ways, are actually responsible for the completion of that work." [19:50]
3. "Let's talk about the second category that I discovered or uncovered with this inside view, and that's the idea of a challenge. It's the idea of opponents. Now, we don't think about wanting opponents. We don't think about seeking opponents. But, honestly, we need opponents. We need someone who will challenge us in such a way that it will bring out the best in us. We think about iron sharpening iron. We think about the importance on those Tuesdays at the Eagle and Child pub, of the intellectual debate that undergirded the work that they were doing. Those opportunities to argue and refine their thoughts, and not only to refine their understanding, but also to refine their ability to express themselves." [21:25]
4. "A third category of interaction among the Inklings is editors, where opponents try to actually combat or deny the value of something, or redirect the author altogether. An editor makes specific comments, giving specific advice and specific recommendations that can change the way it's written. Now, some of these can be big, and some of them can be very, very small. A word choice, a reference, an image that simply needs to be cleaned up, corrected." [26:19]
5. "When I think about collaboration proper, there's one aspect that is common among the Inklings that I think deserves special mention. And that's their tendency as they met together, as they worked together, as they hung out together, to create collaborative poetry. I think this is incredibly important, because it demonstrates just how interwoven their creative process was. Collaborative poetry, someone would throw out a line, someone would write the next line that rhymes and so on and so on, through the steps of a poem they would create on the fly." [29:21]
### Quotes for Members
1. "I think about the value of role modeling, that is inviting other people into our own creative process so that they can learn from our example those things that worked for us. I think about how valuable it is more and more within the scholarship that we do to think in terms of an apprenticeship. I think about how valuable it is more and more within the scholarship model. How can we help newer scholars in the field to accomplish their dreams and to achieve their goals by helping them to see not just what we have accomplished, but by seeing how we've gone about the work that we've done." [18:13]
2. "But another thing that an opponent can do is actually come against us and prevent us from dead ends. And that, too, is a gift for someone to be able to say, this isn't working. This isn't going anywhere. I know you're excited, excited about this. I love that. But this particular work isn't doing the job that you think it is. And in that light, I think about the profound impact of the Inklings as a group on Charles Williams." [21:25]
3. "Owen Barfield was a solicitor, a lawyer by trade, and when he heard the manuscript of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and he shared that with his wife, Maude, they both came to a conclusion that this was a dangerous book, that if children were to read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, no doubt they would be entering into wardrobes in their homes, closing the door behind them, getting locked in, and that Lewis would face lawsuits as a result. So Owen said, you need to include a warning in this book that children should not lock themselves in wardrobes." [26:19]
4. "The final category I'd like to talk about is a category called reference and this is a topic that deserves a book in its own and maybe someone will put that together someday. An anthology of all of the wonderful places where the Inklings actually write about one another. They cite one another's works. The Inklings show up in footnotes all over each other's books. They show up on dedication pages and of course on acknowledgement pages as well. They write poems about each other. They write poems together about joint experiences that they're having. And they also include each other as characters in each other's stories." [35:21]
5. "How can the example of the Inklings, how can this lively and committed interaction inform my work? How can it inform your work? Your work as a scholar, your work as an author, a teacher, a student, a speaker, your work as a pastor, an artist, a musician, a parent, a priest, an entrepreneur, your role as a friend. I think that is perhaps something that we can all share. The most important question that we can ask, the takeaway from this study is how do we refuse to give in to what I call the Bandersnatch impulse, the impulse to keep things to ourself, protect our drafts, commit to going it alone, to be reluctant to involve others, until we're really confident that our work is what it needs to be." [37:20]
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