C. S. Lewis college underway in Massachusetts

Saw this news over at NarniaWeb. The C. S. Lewis Foundation has become the owner of the Northfield Mount Hermon school in Northfield, Mass., as a major step in its plans to start a C. S. Lewis College. The college will be a private Christian liberal arts undergraduate school. It doesn't look like it will be devoted specifically to studying Lewis and his works. Rather, it will have a great books curriculum with fine arts programs, with Lewis as the patron saint, so to speak.

The C. S. Lewis Foundation is an American non-profit organization which wants to start a "renaissance of Christian scholarship and artistic expression within the mainstream of the contemporary university," according to their website. They don't have direct ties with Lewis—i.e., they're not connected with Douglas Gresham or the C. S. Lewis Company Ltd. which owns the rights to Lewis's works—although they do own the Kilns Association which takes care of Lewis's old home in Oxford.

The funds for the purchase came from HobbyLobby, which is dedicated to supporting Christian ministries. I didn't know that about them before; we have a HobbyLobby in our area and shop there occasionally, but I might have been more eager to support them had I known their company background. I also noticed some references to D. L. Moody in the articles about the new college. As it turns out, Northfield Mount Hermon was originally a private school founded by Moody, and his birthplace is near or on the campus.

I almost wish this had happened a few years ago, so I could have attended school there. I say almost; I like my current school. But the C. S. Lewis College interests me, so I may keep an eye on the project.