The Eagle & Child

(apologies.  My “About” page needs major updating)

…me.

My name is Marc Vandersluys.  I’ve just moved my whole family 1,000km to Providence Theological Seminary in the nearly non-existent town of  Otterburne, Manitoba, Canada.  As of this writing (October 2009), I am in the first semester of the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) program, which when completed will, according to my wife, allow me to defeat Lord Voldemort. It will also mean that I can be ordained into the ministry.

It occurred to me just now that the name of my blog is in some sense more appropriate now then it was 6 years ago when I first started (see below).

Interests include my family, tea, good music (currently: Bob Dylan, The Arcade Fire, Bruce Cockburn), a good book (Bill Bryson is my favourite author, The Lord of the Rings is my favourite book and theology is my favourite subject).

…the name.

“The Bird is now gloriously empty, with improved beer, and a landlord wreathed in welcoming smiles! He lights a special fire for us!…I know no more pleasant sound than arriving at the B. and B. and hearing a roar, and knowing that one can plunge in.”

– J.R.R. Tolkien on The Eagle & Child pub in Oxford, England (which he and his friends nicknamed ‘The Bird & Baby’).

I needed a clever name for my blog, something other than “Marc’s Blog” or “Vanderblog”. I can’t recall how The Eagle & Child came up, but it seemed perfect when it did.

The Eagle & Child is a pub in Oxford, England, where J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and other members of the Inklings would gather Tuesday mornings for a pint and some good discussion. They discussed their own literary works-in-progress, and I imagine theology and philosophy was also covered.

I admire both J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis–Tolkien for his depth of story telling, Lewis for his insights, and both for their faith (I’ve never read any Charles Williams, but perhaps I should).

If I could go back in time, this pub at the time of the Inkling’s meetings would be one of the places I would go. I would get my own table and watch them at a distance: cardigans or tweed jackets, a haze of pipe smoke around them. I would tell the barkeep, “I’ll have what they’re having,” pointing, of course, at Tolkien and Lewis, and I would taste their beer of choice.

The concept of the Inkling’s gatherings was sort of what I had in mind for this blog. It was to be a place where people “gather” to discuss life, faith, literature, philosophy, and so on. This seems to be happening…