C.S. Lewis: Reason and Imagination

C.S. Lewis: Reason and Imagination

October 9-10, 2025
The College of Arts & Humanities and the School of Christian Thought are proud to present the Houston Christian University C. S. Lewis Conference: Reason and Imagination. Taking place on the Houston Christian University campus, this conference will feature a spectacular list of C.S. Lewis experts and thought-provoking speakers. The event will begin with a series of speakers who were selected from an open proposal call. These presentations will cover Lewis’ influence on scholarship, religious communities, literature, and the larger culture. Day one of the conference will culminate with the annual A. O. Collins Lecture. Leading C.S. Lewis scholar Michael Ward will be delivering this year’s lecture on the beloved Lewis character, Aslan. Day two of the conference will feature an international list of scholars covering topics on Lewis from a variety of academic disciplines. Don’t miss out on Friday’s banquet with a special address from Louis Markos. Michael Ward will complete the conference with the keynote address: “What has Anscombe to do with Narnia? From Miracles to Chronicles.”
Registration Pricing:
Standard registration- $55
Early Bird registration (by Sep. 1)- $45
Student registration- $20
Early Bird student registration (by Sep 1)- $15
Breakout presenter- $30
Program sponsor ($150)- includes attendance for one, name in the program, and thanked from stage.
Table sponsor ($300)- includes attendance for two, name in the program, thanked from stage, and table at the conference.
Please contact Trevor Harris (harristh@hc.edu) to inquire about sponsoring.

REGISTER NOW

 

General Schedule
Day/Time
THURSDAY, OCT. 9
Daytime, TBD
7-9 p.m.
A. O. Collins Lecture:  “Aslan at 75: Reflections on C.S. Lewis’s Christological Imagination.”
Michael Ward
FRIDAY, OCT. 10
C. S. Lewis Conference
8:00-9:00 a.m.
Registration, with coffee
9:00 a.m.
Welcome
9:15-10:00 a.m.
(30-minute lecture with 15 minutes for questions)
Talk #1: “A Case for Dismay: C.S. Lewis’s Moral Argument”
Robert Garcia
10:00-10:45 a.m.
Talk #2: “George MacDonald’s Influence on C. S. Lewis”
Monika B. Hilder
10:45-11:00 a.m.
Break
11:00-11:45 a.m.
Talk #3 “Retrieving Natural Philosophy for Humanity’s Sake: Prophetic Warning and Exhortation in The Abolition of Man”
Melissa Cain Travis
11:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Catered Lunch, McNair Hall
1:00-1:45 p.m.
Talk #4 “Just War, Proper Emotion, and Union with God: Lewis’s Christian Conception of the Morality of War”
Chris Eberle
1:45-2:30 p.m.
Talk #5: “C. S. Lewis’s Nature Poetry: Yearning for Eden”
Don King
2:30-3:00 p.m.
Break
3-3:45 p.m.
Talk #6: ‘“It’s only a model’: Thoughts on The Discarded Image and Disenchantment in the West”
David Davis
5:00-7:15 p.m.
Banquet, McNair Hall w/ Speech
Louis Markos
7:30-8:45 p.m.
Keynote Address: “What has Anscombe to do with Narnia? From Miracles and Chronicles”
Michael Ward

 

Call for Papers

Oct. 9-10, 2025

“My own eyes are not enough for me, I will see through those of others.” CSL, An Experiment in Criticism

The College of Arts & Humanities and the School of Christian Thought at Houston Christian University welcome proposals for papers (15-20 minutes) for the upcoming “C.S. Lewis Conference: Reason and Imagination,” October 9-10, 2025.

The conference is an interdisciplinary celebration of Lewis’s impact as a thinker, storyteller, apologist, and cultural critic. The conference examines the dynamic interplay between reason and imagination across Lewis’s entire oeuvre, exploring how this interplay has influenced scholarship, religious communities, literature, and the larger culture.

Submissions may address, but are not limited to:

· Philosophical and theological issues in Lewis’s thought
· Reason and imagination in Lewis’s fiction
· Myth and storytelling in Lewis’s apologetics
· Comparative studies (i.e., bringing Lewis into conversation with others)
· Lewis’s engagement with science, reason, and modernity
· Pedagogical uses of Lewis’s work
· Lewis’s impact on contemporary Christian culture
· The Lewis-Barfield debate known as the “Great War”
· Intersections of Lewis’s work with psychology, aesthetics, or ethics

Submission Deadline: Aug. 18, 2025

Submission Guidelines: Please submit via email an abstract (200-300 words) and a brief bio (100 words) to Dr. Julianna Leachman (jleachman@hc.edu). Notifications of acceptance will be sent by Sept. 10, 2025.

Conference Schedule: all papers will be presented in breakout sessions on Thursday Oct. 9, followed by a schedule of presentations and banquet dinner on Friday and two keynote addresses by leading C.S. Lewis scholar Dr. Michael Ward.

Publication Opportunity: Selected papers may be considered for inclusion in a peer-reviewed volume or journal issue following the conference.

 

For questions about the Call for Papers, contact Julianna Leachman (jleachman@hc.edu).
For general questions about the conference,  contact Trevor Harris (harristh@hc.edu).