Monday, 27 May 2013

The importance of non-writers to a writers group... The Inklings example

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http://notionclubpapers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/what-was-social-dynamic-of-inklings.html

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2 comments:

The Crow said...

How do you feel about the importance of non-Christians in a Christian group?

Bruce Charlton said...

@C - It depends.

Owen Barfield was an anthroposophist (follower of Rudolf Steiner) and a valued, although intermittent - because he lived in London - Inkling.

But the development of interesting discussions would be thwarted if fundamental Christian assumptions were recurrently challenged - for example, if the divinity of Jesus kept having to be argued every time He was mentioned - then there could never be any advanced theological discussion based on that assumption. Which would rapidly become tedious!

Conversation only thrives within shared assumptions - for the Inklings these were at least theistic - but essentially Christian.