Austin Freeman

Chair of Apologetics at HCU, author of Tolkien Dogmatics. Focus on theology & literature, fantasy, angelology/demonology, sin, creation, patristics.....

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

Tales of the Fairies & of the Ghost World, Jeremiah Curtin.
Not ancient legends, but contemporary storytelling. Fascinating, fun, often funny, but I've no idea how the Irish survived with this many supernatural interferences constantly occurring.

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

@IVMiles Last time I tried this it was very unnatural-sounding. Have they updated it?

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

@booksoftitans Yes, but if you want Lewis's thoughts on Arthur then you need to read his commentary on Charles Williams, Arthurian Torso.

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

The Hierarchy of Heaven & Earth, D.E. Harding.
Why did CS Lewis agree to introduce this book? Certainly not because he agreed with it--it is highly unorthodox though original. But it does try to associate stars with angels in a modern context.

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

Myths & Folk Tales of Ireland, Jeremiah Curtin.
Another of the many turn of the century collections that sparked national cultural revivals across Europe.

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

Myths of the Norsemen, H.A. Guerber. This is the book that sparked the lifelong friendship between C.S. Lewis and Arthur Greeves.

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

Ancient Irish Tales, ed. Tom Cross & Clark Harris Slover. Contains most of the 4 cycles of Irish myth. Lots of marvels, lots of fighting, and a specialty in magic items.

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

@RScottClark Would be interested to hear specific ways in which you see Everett Ferguson getting it wrong. Also a response to the fact that the early church also believed that baptism only cleanses from prior but not future sins.

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

@Suzierizzo1 Gladiator fights had been outlawed long before the Western Empire fell.

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

David Mitchell, Unruly: A History of England's Kings & Queens.
You can read this whole book in his voice without purchasing the audiobook. Doesn't like Edward the Confessor because he's too holy to chop people's heads off, and then also judges everyone else for chopping heads. 🤷

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

Oxford VSO: Classical Literature, William Allan.
Organized by genre and then chronologically within that genre. Moves from epic to satire in a way which is certainly not a metaphor for western civilization.

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

Kalevala, Elias Lonnrot.
National epic of Finland, influential to both Lewis & Tolkien. I found the most moving part for me were the wedding passages: imagining a young girl leaving her home and receiving daily life advice from her elders. BUt there's also shape-changing & magic.

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

@Hegemol29052

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

@IVMiles This was C.S. Lewis's opinion.

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

Vergil: The Poet's Life, Sarah Ruden.
Short, because we don't know much. But I now know a lot more than I did! What started as her most irritating claim (Vergil was gay) turns out to be both fairly reasonable & illuminating.

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

Satanic Feminism, Per Faxneld.
Pro-feminist but does a lot of unwitting work to undermine feminism. Did you know many prominent abolitionists were theosophists who worshiped Satan? + just b/c you redefine Satan as some sort of good doesn't get you off the hook. He doesn't care.

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

@Howlingmutant0 Or they could be talking about literally any *Roman* hero.

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

It's World Goth Day. Who you got?

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

@trendsettercase This is how you get people into movie theaters. As long as it's not the Dune popcorn bucket.

[Austin Freeman @DrAustinFreeman]

Nikolai Gogol, Dead Souls.
It's Russian satire and a 19th century classic from before the liberation of the serfs. It also taught me a new term: poshlost.