Doctoral dissertation defense of C.S. Lewis thesis

A few hours ago I attended the doctoral defense of a friend & Paris colleague. He wrote a thesis on a series of talks that C.S. Lewis gave on the radio in London at the end of 1941 and in early 1942. These 9 talks were an attempt to make the Christian faith understandable & plausible to many British people who were interested in looking at it, but not necessarily within the context of the existing churches.

S* did a good job presenting his paper, than answering questions posed by his panel of 4 readers, 2 from the Catholic Institute of Paris and 2 from the Catholic University at Leuven in Belgium. I was glad that it was him and not me, as some of the questions were quite philosophical and cited some people whom I'm not familiar with. S* handled them well. After the jury went out, they came back in and conferred on him the degree of doctor, with a "très bien" mention, which is the highest you can get.

It was fun to be back in my old neighborhood in the 6th district, where I lived 1993-94 and worked with S* and a church 1993-97. I hadn't sat in an academic classroom like that for awhile. I enjoy occasional visits into academia and found the defense session stimulating. However, I don't see myself ever being able to write or defend a dissertation in French, although I think I could handle the research. But I don't see myself giving 5 years of my life to do a doctorate, especially with 3 young kids at home.

Hats off to S*, as well as his wife J*, for this great accomplishment. Certainly the spouse of a doctoral candidate also makes sacrifices, so this degree belongs largely to her too.