Why Did Tolkien Dislike the Chronicles of Narnia? | Dr. Michael Ward
Michael Ward
6.07
15 December 2023
19 November 2025
This is an excerpt from the Larry Arnn Show, in which Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn interviews C.S. Lewis scholar and theologian Michael Ward. In the full episode, the two discuss Ward's path to becoming a scholar and priest and his fascination with C.S. Lewis. Later, Ward dives into the contents of his books Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis and After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man. This interview was conducted on September 15th, 2023.
Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/7_75j0xxuLw
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5oapfoHzICWF9xkef13UWy?si=47f21aaba80c4837
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/michael-ward-c-s-lewis-the-planets-and-the-nature-of-man/id1675561659?i=1000638267610
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Hillsdale College is an independent institution of higher learning founded in 1844 by men and women “grateful to God for the inestimable blessings” resulting from civil and religious liberty and “believing that the diffusion of learning is essential to the perpetuity of these blessings.” It pursues the stated object of the founders: “to furnish all persons who wish, irrespective of nation, color, or sex, a literary, scientific, [and] theological education” outstanding among American colleges “and to combine with this such moral and social instruction as will best develop the minds and improve the hearts of its pupils.” As a nonsectarian Christian institution, Hillsdale College maintains “by precept and example” the immemorial teachings and practices of the Christian faith.
The College also considers itself a trustee of our Western philosophical and theological inheritance tracing to Athens and Jerusalem, a heritage finding its clearest expression in the American experiment of self-government under law.
By training the young in the liberal arts, Hillsdale College prepares students to become leaders worthy of that legacy. By encouraging the scholarship of its faculty, it contributes to the preservation of that legacy for future generations. By publicly defending that legacy, it enlists the aid of other friends of free civilization and thus secures the conditions of its own survival and independence.