An 'Eagle and Child' at LSU

The 'Eagle and Child' pub in Oxford (England) is the much celebrated meeting place of the 'Inklings,' the informal literary and philosophy discussion group that included such luminaries as C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, and others. While the group did meet in a couple of other pubs around Oxford, the 'Eagle and Child' is most associated with the group.

(I took the picture on the right on a pilgrimage to sites in Oxford relating to C.S. Lewis, the Wesley brothers/early Methodism, and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer).

Half a world away in Baton Rouge, that great American college town, we find "Lunch with C.S. Lewis" drawing crowds of hungry Louisiana State University students at St. Alban's Chapel (a ministry I frequented in my own college days, and the chapel wherein my beautiful wife and I were wed). Check the article at The Living Church. The local paper's take is here.

Crowds gathering to discuss Lewis isn't all that surprising perhaps, given his popularity. But we also see that there is, at least for some people, a true hunger for Christian teaching that is a bit more intellectually rigorous than what most sermons and Bible studies offer, while remaining more theologically orthodox than some other academic theological resources.

How do you think our churches can do a better job of inviting people to think more deeply about the faith than they might otherwise do? I've noticed churches in several cities sponsoring "Theology on Tap" discussion groups (or even lectures) in local pubs - is anything like that happening in your area?