On Lying and Keeping the Tavern

Two weekends ago, in conjunction with the 33rd anniversary of Eighth Day Books, we celebrated the Inklings for the seventh year in a row. It was an amazing weekend. If you missed it you really should plan on attending next year. It’s always the weekend after the annual Touchstone conference (either the third or fourth weekend of October).

In light of our recent Inklings Festival, today’s issue of (Micro)Synaxis is focused thematically on the Inklings and beer. But I’ve also thrown in a preview of one of the readings for the Symposium seminar on “Lust and Lies” (Jan. 12-13, 2022) plus two bonuses: an old piece on why EDI and EDB celebrate the Inklings and a brief report on my recent sabbatical.

Speaking of the Symposium, learn more and register here today to take advantage of the early bird registration rate. Prices will increase on Dec 1. Become an Eighth Day Patron and you'll save 50% off registration, along with many other perks. Become an Eighth Day Pillar and you can attend our three featured events for free, plus the other perks.

One final announcement: Save the date for this year’s Giving Tuesday on November 30. I’ve got some fun plans in the works for this year that I’ll be announcing next week.

Now dig in.

1. Bible: St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians 4:9-16

Brethren, God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the off-scouring of all things. I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

2. Fathers: "On Lying" by St. Augustine

Our pre-Symposium Seminar on January 12-13, 2022, will explore the theme of “Lust and Lies in the Bible (Ezekiel), the Fathers (St. Augustine), the Liturgy (TBA), and Literature (TBA).” Click here to read a small sample from St Augustine’s treatise “On Lying.”

The Seminar is limited to 10 participants so if you want to join us for an amazing experience of discussing great texts together, a sort of group lectio divina, learn more and register today here.

3. Books & Culture: “Let Us Keep the Tavern” by Arthur Machen

Arther Machen, the hero of our 2021 Inklings Festival, is slowly being rediscovered thanks to the hard work of Christopher Tompkins and his Darkly Bright Press. This short piece is an apologia for the tavern. Here's a short sample:

If a man can discover an old English inn, and in it a hunk of bread, a good cheese, and a pint of honest ale, he may boast truly that he has lunched very well. Provided, of course, in the first place, that the inn or Tavern does not call itself “Ye Olde Red Loin” or “Ye Olde” anything else: “Ye,” it has been observed by the judicious, has a tendency to make the beer too weak and the cheese too strong. But if the tavern be genuine and the food and drink be genuine, then I say that he who lunches thus lunches well.

Read the entire short piece here. And then go to Eighth Day Books and purchase the book in which it is printed: Dreamt in Fire: The Dreadful Ecstasy of Arthur Machen (Darkly Bright Press, 2021).

Become an Eighth Day member today to begin receiving the upgraded version of Synaxis. The full version of this issue for all Eighth Day members contains the additional following content:

4. Liturgy: Synaxis of the Archangel Michael & the Other Bodiless Powers: Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Salaphiel, Jegudiel, & Barachiel

5. Poetry: "The Rolling English Road" by G. K. Chesterton

6. Essays et al: "The Flying Inn: Chesterton on Alcohol & the Sacramental Imagination by Ralph Wood

7. Essays et al: "A Plea for Prohibition" by G. K. Chesterton

8. Essays et al: "Alcohol, Drunkenness, & Drinking" by G. K. Chesterton

Bonuses:

A. From the Archives: "Why Treasure Pipe-Smoking, Beer-Loving Englishmen? An Appreciation of C. S. Lewis & Friends" by Erin Doom

B. Director's Desk: "A Brief Report on Director Doom's Sabbatical" by Erin Doom