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An 'Eagle and Child' at LSU
Douglas LeBlanc
For the Living Church
http://www.livingchurch.org/
April 6, 2011
When C.S. Lewis gathered with his colleagues in The Inklings to discuss their shared faith and latest endeavors, they met at a pub in Oxford called the Eagle and Child.
The parish hall of St. Alban's Chapel at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge is larger than the Eagle and Child and it's not serving draft beer, but the premise is similar: Gathering together for a meal and lively discussion of higher things.
The Rev. Andrew S. Rollins uses "Lunch with C.S. Lewis" to make some of the grand concepts of Christianity - the goodness of God, suffering, heaven and hell - accessible to an audience not limited to scholars.
"This is not a stealth confirmation class. I'm not out to make you an Episcopalian," said Rollins, who has been chaplain at St. Alban's Chapel since 2004. Audio from some of the sessions is available on the chapel's website.
"Lunch with C.S. Lewis" meets each Wednesday from 11:30 to 12:30 p.m. Limiting the program to one hour (30 minutes for eating, 15 to 20 minutes for a talk, followed by open discussion) helps it fit in the busy schedules of students.
The lunches attracted about 20 students a week when they began, but now they sometimes draw 200, Rollins said.
Rollins says he founded the program in 2006 because he wanted to expand the scope of ministry at St. Alban's.
"I wanted to move us out of working primarily with Episcopal students," he said. "We had a small, dedicated core of Episcopal students on this enormous campus of about 35,000 students."
He found the right content in the writing of Lewis, who joined the Church of England after his reluctant conversion from atheism to Christianity.
"Lewis doesn't put up many walls," Rollins said. "I wanted something orthodox that wasn't strongly attached to any one denomination or church movement."
While attending Virginia Theological Seminary in the mid-1990s, Rollins was youth minister at an Episcopal church and worked with Young Life. He draws on his Young Life work, which emphasized broad humor, to capture and hold the attention of his audience.
His lighthearted presentation style notwithstanding, Rollins presents works about good and evil (The Screwtape Letters), choosing between eternal life or separation from God (The Great Divorce), and the foundational truths of Christian faith (Mere Christianity).
Lewis is "a good model for how to live the Christian life in an academic setting," Rollins said. "He spent so much of his time on the core teachings, the central beliefs of Christianity, which is why he appeals to such a variety of Christians."
The success of "Lunch with Lewis" has prompted Rollins to launch a new afternoon program, "Tea with C.S. Lewis," for students who want to study the Oxford don's works in greater depth.
---Doug LeBlanc is Editor at Large for The Living Church
