Associate professor Dr. Leslie Baynes, of the Department of Languages, Cultures and Religions (LCR) was appointed an inaugural fellow of the Inklings Project for the 2023-2024 academic year.

According to the organization’s website, the Inklings Project is an “intercollegiate initiative that invites people to pursue meaning and joy by entering the world of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and the other Inklings.” Based on this mission, the organization supports faculty who teach courses based on the Inklings and their writings.

Baynes has been a faculty member at Missouri State University since 2005 and has been teaching a course on C. S. Lewis (REL 341) at MSU since 2007. Her book on Lewis, “Incarnation and Imagination: C. S. Lewis and the Bible,” will be published by Eerdmans Publishing Company next year.

“Thrilled” for collaborative opportunity

Baynes said she was “thrilled” to be selected as an Inklings Fellow, which has given her an opportunity “to collaborate with a group of innovative international scholars.”

“The appointment is for academic year 2023-24, but we’re encouraged to take an active role as mentors for the next cohort,” Baynes said. “It will be exciting to see how the program grows and develops.”

Support for creative course development

Inklings Fellows received a grant of $1,500 and support and resources to develop and teach courses that reflect Inklings-related themes. They also gained access to resources, scholarly networks and Inklings events and workshops.

Baynes used some of her grant funds to travel to the Inklings Fellows meeting in March 2024 at the Marion E. Wade Center in Wheaton, Illinois. During her stay, she worked with other fellows to share syllabi, discuss teaching strategies and plan extracurricular Inklings-related activities for students.

She applied the majority of her grant to develop an upper-level/master’s level credit course on C. S. Lewis in coordination with the Department of English.

Similar to other religious course structures, Baynes assigned multiple readings to the students in the Lewis course. She then required both in person and written discussion assignments.

“When Lewis met with the other Inklings, they gathered in a pub to read and discuss each other’s writing,” Baynes explained. “So that’s what the English students and I did: we met at the Mudhouse over coffee and had brilliant conversations.”

“We read a lot, learn about history and philosophy and politics and everything else in the humanities, and we write about, present and discuss it,” she added.

Students find Lewis course relevant and impactful

The C. S. Lewis course is highly relevant for today’s students, Baynes noted.

“Many students are asking the questions that Lewis explores so beautifully: what is the meaning of life? Is there a God/gods? What is good and what is evil, and how do we know? How do we apply what we know in a pluralistic society?” she said.

In addition to helping them address abstract questions, Baynes said students who took her C. S. Lewis course have commented on how it helped prepare them for their careers.

“At a recent careers panel hosted by LCR, several of the panelists, who were alumni majors, noted that being required to speak and make arguments to their peers is an absolutely indispensable skill to learn to be successful in their professions, and they really learned how to do it in our courses,” she said.

The C. S. Lewis course is also the “epitome” of MSU’s public affairs mission, Baynes said.

“Everything in it encourages ethical leadership, cultural competence and strengthening bonds between citizens in our diverse community,” she explained.

“The Lewis course tends to make a lasting impact on people; I’m still in touch with many of the students I taught even in 2007.”

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