One-on-One with David Downing on ‘Looking for the King’

But very few twentieth-century novelists besides Lewis and Tolkien have the power to show us what good people look like--characters with integrity, compassion, courage, and a willingness to sacrifice for others.

Ed: How and when were you first introduced to C.S. Lewis and the Inklings? What did you find most interesting and attractive about their work?

David: I first read both Lewis and Tolkien during my college years. Someone recommended the Narnia Chronicles to me in high school, but I thought I was far too sophisticated and mature at the age of 18 to be reading "kid stuff"!

When I finally dipped into The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe one summer, I was so enthralled that I read all seven Chronicles in a month. Then I sat down and re-read all seven of them again the next month.

I started reading The Lord of the Rings one evening in college when I had classes the next day, forgetting all my homework because I couldn't put it down. I recall that it was about 2:00 in the morning when Gandalf was pulled into the abyss, and I almost had an anxiety attack.

Later in the story, when Gandalf reappears, I had a sense of relief and elation that seemed some small tincture of the joy of that first Easter morning.

Baca Juga

I'm sure that part of my attraction to both Lewis and Tolkien is simply that both are master storytellers. But there is also a power of Goodness in their work. As an English major in college, I spent much of my time reading contemporary novelists who are experts at portraying troubled people--selfish, neurotic, brutish, and downright evil.

I'm sure this ability to portray good characters convincingly is derived from their Christian worldview, a sense that ultimately, it is not evil or chaos, but Goodness that ...