“Lewis spoke to these questions two years before he and Tolkien launched their barbed wire university [it was under the British Red Cross/Order of Saint John of Jerusalem “Joint War Organisation” “Educational Books Section” program]. In a sermon titled ‘Learning in War-Time,’ which he preached at Oxford’s Church of St. Mary the Virgin on October 22, 1939, he addressed whether humanistic learning was irresponsible when England faced hellish threats and Europe’s liberties hung in the balance. If in the past ‘men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure,’ Lewis observed, ‘the search would never have begun.’ We are mistaken when we compare war with ‘normal life,’ he continued, adding ‘Life has never been normal.’ Plausible reasons have never been lacking for putting off all merely cultural activities until some imminent danger has been averted or some crying injustice put right. But humanity long ago chose to neglect those plausible reasons. They wanted knowledge and beauty now, and would not wait for the suitable moment that never comes. They propound mathematical theorems in beleaguered cities, conduct metaphysical arguments in condemned cells, make jokes on scaffolds, discuss the last new poem while advancing the walls of Quebec, and comb their hair at Thermopylae. And – he could have added a few years later – strive for an Oxford ‘First’ in English Literature, while imprisoned in a Nazi POW camp. Why does man make such efforts – search for truth and beauty in the midst of great adversity? Lewis’ response is simple: ‘This is not panache, it is our nature.’”
Mark Johnson in Gilbert: The Magazine of the Society of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 28 #6 (July/August 2025)