Season 4, Episode 55, After Hours with Dr. Rob Coons.

Welcome, everyone. Pints for Jack is your weekly CS-Lewis podcast, where Matt, Andrew and I break down and discuss the works of C.S. Lewis.

This season, we're eavesdropping on the correspondence of a senior demon's screw tape,

as he explains how to tempt the patient, a human assigned to be tempted by screw tape's nephew,

Wormwood.

Each week we'll be considering a different letter, untwisting screwtap's hellish logic,

and forming a battle plan for our own spiritual lives.

However, today is a Thursday, meaning that it's an after-hours episode. And today I'm interviewing a guest on the show, and earlier this month, we began Barfield

Month, speaking to Owen Barfield's grandson.

And today, we're continuing by chatting with Professor Rob Coons.

Robert C. Rob Coons is a professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is taught

for 33 years. He is the author or co-author of four books, including Realism Regained and the Atlas of

Reality, a comprehensive guide to metaphysics. He is the co-editor of the waning of materialism

and co-editor of the Neo-arastatelian perspectives on contemporary

science. He has been working recently on the Aristotelian interpretation of quantum theory,

on defending and articulating Thomism in contemporary terms, and on the arguments for classical theism.

Dr. Coons, welcome to Pynast for Jack.

Thank you, David. It's great to be here.

Now, I first came across you through a video where you were presenting a talk which was called

Tolkien, Barfield, and Neoplatonism, How Metaphysics Molded Middle Earth. Epic title, by the way.

And as someone who's been wrestling with understanding Owen Barfield, your talk was really great for me for two particular reasons.

Firstly, it helped me connect Barfield to the rest of the inklings.

...