Sterling College C.S. Lewis Center

08/23/2026

Reminder!

We meet tomorrow, at 6.30pm for the reading of Chapter one, or 7pm for the prizegiving from the summer contest and the discussion of chapter one. All are welcome, please do join us, even if you have never come along before. We'd love to see you!

On Monday August 24, 2026 we will meet for our first reading group of the new academic year. We'll be kicking off a new series, working our way through The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader' at the leisurely pace of a chapter a month. This month we are just looking at Chapter One! We meet in the Lewis Center, located in Mabee Library - Sterling College at 7pm. But please do come at 6.30pm, as Dr. Danley (Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies here at Sterling College) will be reading Chapter One aloud ahead of the meeting. All ages are welcome, and there will be coloring sheets for kids also available. Invite you nan, your nephew and your neighbor along with you!

We will read *only* chapter one this month, and discuss just the first chapter. If you know the rest of the book, that's great, but please no spoilers for those who are just starting their first read. Our first reading group will be led by our Director, Dr. Waters.

Also, at 7pm, before we get started we will be announcing the winners of the coloring contest. And, spoiler alert, I've seen the entries and they are beautiful. These will be judged by Prof. Engler (Assistant Professor of Graphic Design here at Sterling College), and a gallery of the entries will be up for all to enjoy on Monday evening.

08/19/2026

On Monday August 24, 2026 we will meet for our first reading group of the new academic year. We'll be kicking off a new series, working our way through The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader' at the leisurely pace of a chapter a month. This month we are just looking at Chapter One! We meet in the Lewis Center, located in Mabee Library - Sterling College at 7pm. But please do come at 6.30pm, as Dr. Danley (Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies here at Sterling College) will be reading Chapter One aloud ahead of the meeting. All ages are welcome, and there will be coloring sheets for kids also available. Invite you nan, your nephew and your neighbor along with you!

We will read *only* chapter one this month, and discuss just the first chapter. If you know the rest of the book, that's great, but please no spoilers for those who are just starting their first read. Our first reading group will be led by our Director, Dr. Waters.

Also, at 7pm, before we get started we will be announcing the winners of the coloring contest. And, spoiler alert, I've seen the entries and they are beautiful. These will be judged by Prof. Engler (Assistant Professor of Graphic Design here at Sterling College), and a gallery of the entries will be up for all to enjoy on Monday evening.

08/06/2026

It's already August and almost time for semester again, and that means it is also soon time for our next reading group. We will be kicking off a series in August with a slow (and we mean slow with a capital S) read through of The Voyage of the "Dawn Treader". We will read *only* chapter one this month, and discuss just the first chapter, and if you don't even have time for that, come anyway, as we will read a little of it together during the meeting. If you know the rest of the book, that's great, but please no spoilers for those who are just starting their first read.

Our first reading group will be led by our Director, Dr. Waters and meets August 24, 2026 at 7pm in the C.S. Lewis Center. All ages and all walks of life are welcome, and to those from Cambridge (like our Director, who happened to be born there), England (not MA) a special warning: Lewis doesn't paint the most complementary portrait of that city, or rather a certain family from that city, from where our story begins.

06/18/2026

Our Director has been over in France speaking at the C.S. Lewis Conference in Amiens, at the Logis du Roy, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, entitled "War, Fellowship, and Survival in the Lives and Works of C.S. Lewis and Kindred Spirits" which she helped organize (along with Dr. Suzanne Bray, Dr. Sharon Jones, and the main brains and energy behind the conference, Dr. Anne-Frederique Caballero). She delivered a paper entitled "'The subject. . .is death': Shakespeare, War and the atmosphere of Death in Lewis" on the first day in the opening keynote panel.

06/18/2026

Already sad that we've met already this month for the book club, well, fear not! We would love to welcome you to the Sterling C.S. Lewis Center next month for our July book club, this time it will be led by Sterling High School Teacher Ian Anderson. We meet at 7pm, July 13, in the Sterling College C.S. Lewis Center located in Mabee Library. We will be discussing An Experiment in Criticism, and all are very welcome!

06/08/2026

We are looking forward to our Monthly Book Club next week, please do join us on June 15, 2026 at 7pm in the Sterling College C.S. Lewis Center (that's right, we're back to Monday evenings again) for a discussion of The Great Divorce with Dr. Watney.

06/01/2026

Beginning today, and running until August 15, 2026, is reading program - run in collaboration with the Sterling College C.S. Lewis Center. For every book by C.S. Lewis you read, you can claim a free donut and a Clive's sticker at Clive's. But sorry, you have to be 18 or under (believe me, I'm as gutted about that as you are!).

05/26/2026

There's a reason we chose "no ordinary people" as our focus for our inaugural conference and as our strapline for the Sterling College C.S. Lewis Center. We really do believe it. And so did Lewis, and Lewis invites you to consider the shocking reality that you have never spoken to a mere mortal. Our keynote speaker, presenters, student paper presenters, creative writers, theatre makers and actors, and worship leaders wonderfully engaged with this idea at our Spring conference, and all who attended from across the country reminded us with their presence, their questions, their excitement, and yes even their cookie munching, what this extraordinary reality really feels and looks like. You're all extraordinary. Thank you for being a part of our first C.S. Lewis Conference here at Sterling College this Spring.

At Sterling College, we believe thoughtful faith and meaningful learning go hand in hand.The inaugural C.S. Lewis Conference was a powerful expression of tha...

05/23/2026

We were delighted to be joined by Good Day Kansas on the day of our inaugural conference where they interviewed two of our speakers (Sophomore Ashley Riebel and Lewis scholar Dr. Ricke) as well as our Director (Dr. Waters) and we had chance to share a little of our excitement for the conference statewide. Here's the clip that aired on Good Day Kanas soon after!

KSN's Good Day Kansas Host Avery Osen interviews Dr. Sarah Waters, Ashley Riebel, and Joe Ricke.Sterling College Hosts First C.S. Lewis Conference on CampusS...

05/21/2026

So very sad to learn of the passing of Warren Farha of Eighth Day Books, an incredible supporter, champion, and friend of the Sterling College C.S. Lewis Center even before we launched. We are so very grateful we had opportunity to work with him and his team, particularly in planning the Dedication and our inaugural conference where we had a book table from Eighth Day. One particularly wonderful and notable thing was his vision and heart for his homeland, which is to say the Heartland, which is to say Kansas and his desire for intellectual growth and curiosity and caring for a land too often bypassed by plane or interstate. A heart we very much share here at the Sterling College C.S. Lewis Center. He shared with our Director how excited he was for there to be a Lewis Center here in Kansas, and not just for the scholars it might bring, but the fostering of deep discussions prompted by Lewis by those who might otherwise have never had chance to think about these things, to meet Lewis or to meet the Lord to whom Warren (like Lewis) so often nudged readers he encountered towards with quiet encouragement, grins and words of deeply considered wisdom. Another Eighth Day worker, Mr. Sturgill, spoke powerfully at our Lewis Center Dedication about the way Warren deflected any complements he might have received, such as a time when he and Eighth Day were credited with positively impacting the culture in Wichita and fostering intellectual curiosity and careful readers. To which he responded, no, it's not me, it's the books that do that, and the Inklings and their writings most especially - they are the bedrock of our bookshop. And what a shop. The world is emptier without him but we hope and pray we might honor his legacy and echo something of his vision in the ongoing work of the Sterling College C.S. Lewis Center.