Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas might be a short – indeed very short – story at only 7 pages, it has sparked many many more pages of literary and philosophical analysis.

Luke, Kiara and Victoria look at The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas; providing commentary on the mysterious narrative perspective, the problem of viewing sin as benign suffering, and how Catholic teaching looks to a third way in many moral and ethical dilemmas.

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a Fourteenth Century Arthurian poem – and one of the oldest poems written in the English language.

Luke, Kiara and Victoria explore Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; discussing the overtly Catholic culture of the poem, pondering the virtuous nature of the protagonist, and attempting to read Middle English on air – with questionable results.

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The Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien was known for his distaste for allegory, however he did write one: Leaf by Niggle.

Luke, Kiara and Victoria dive in to J.R.R. Tolkien’s short story Leaf by Niggle, and discuss the creative process and its greater meaning, how beauty can emerge out of suffering, and what we can learn from Tolkien’s refusal to compartmentalise the facets of his life.

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Described as a metaphysical thriller, G.K. Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday is the prolific author’s most famous fiction novel.

Luke, Kiara and Victoria explore this detective thriller to discuss Chesterton’s ability to “paint with words”, the poetry of order in the world, and why Catholicism provides the ultimate rebellion against the law of entropy.

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Listen to Dr Robert Tilley’s An Atheist Appreciation of Chesterton on Cradio.

Read Marc Barnes’ Better than Nothing on Bad Catholic.

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The Salem Witch trials were one of the darkest moments in American history, and the tale was recounted for the 20th Century by Arthur Miller in The Crucible.

Luke, Kiara and Victoria dig in to the infamous story of witchcraft, hysteria, adultery, and vengeance to explore Arthur Miller’s striking presentation of redemption and marriage.

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You can find the primary and secondary sources mentioned by Kiara on the Salem witch trials at the Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive.

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Southern Gothic writer Flannery O’Connor is perhaps one of the United States’ greatest Christian writers, and is especially noted for her short story: A Good Man is Hard to Find

Luke, Kiara and Victoria tackle O’Connor’s most well-known short story by looking at the notions of Grace & tragedy, “Golden Age” syndrome, and the tale’s infamous ending.

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Lord of the Flies is a standard book on any high school reading list – chronicling the fall from civilisation of young boys trapped on an island.

Luke and Victoria explore this tale of survival and savagery in this episode, discussing how people (and morality) survive without civilisation, the root evil of pride in all sin, and the Biblical origins of the name Lord of the Flies.

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Animal Farm – one of George Orwell’s classic novels – presents a satire of the Soviet Union in the form of a story about farm animals.

In delving in to the dystopian classic, Luke, Kiara and Victoria explore why man-made ethical systems ultimately fail, how Orwell’s cutting satire speaks about our own culture, and how a stirring revolutionary anthem can be set to the tune of La Cucaracha.

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In the final chapter of Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis explores The Trinity, why God Is Love, and what this means for humanity.

Luke, Kiara and Victoria discuss why faith is more than feelings, how The Trinity is like a dance which He created us to participate in, and why through Christ’s Incarnation and Death we become part of God’s Divine Life.

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The post Catholics Read Mere Christianity: Part IV appeared first on Cradio.

After introducing the basis and beliefs of Christianity, C.S. Lewis explores Christian Behaviour in his third book of Mere Christianity.

This time Luke, Kiara and Victoria delve in to the virtues which guide proper Christian behaviour, the difference between psychoanalysis and morality, and how attaining virtue can be a case of “fake it ’til you make it”…

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