Today marks the 50th anniversary of C.S. Lewis’ death (and also the 50th anniversary of death of both John F. Kennedy and Aldous Huxley). After a half a century it is Lewis’ legacy that continues to grow.
It is worth the time to watch this 24 minute documentary about Lewis. (It was written by one of our clients, Devin Brown.) It includes comments and observations from people like Tim and Kathy Keller, Chuck Colson, Doug Gresham, and Eric Metaxas.
Starting at the 8:30 mark is a section called “Rediscovering Christian Imagination.” (the section is only 5 1/2 minutes in length) We in the publishing industry should have this reminder placed before us on a regular basis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egYTTe4w0tk
Well done. C.S.Lewis was a genius, a great teacher, and a saint. I love his writing. And one of the most wonderful things about his writing, is that you can read it over and over and still get something more.
Focus on the Family’s daily broadcast recently honored C.S. Lewis with an interview with his stepson, Doug Gresham. Such a great program!
Great video. My favorite work from Lewis is also one that most people I speak to have not read – The Great Divorce. I can honestly and without exaggeration say that book changed my life. I’m assuming people reading this blog are fans of Lewis, so (obviously) I highly recommend picking it up.
I am in no way the intellect of Lewis – but I was one of those young seekers in the mid to late 1970s of the Jesus Movement in addition to my family denomination of Disciples of Christ, an often ‘intellectual’ faith description. Our church founding pastor, Dr. James H. Jauncey had been an Australian Scientist working at White Sands Missile Range in the 1940s to 1950s who I suspect through Lewis became a Pastor in the Disciples denomination. He was the pastor of First Christian Church El Paso in the early 1950s where my parents attended and I coming along in 1959. So in our return to El Paso after a half dozen years in both Houston and San Diego California we returned as a family to Janucey’s new plant church where I grew in my faith as a teen to young adult life. Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters were among my earliest reading material as part of that church and his daughter Colleen Jauncey our youth leader.
Lewis changed my life at several key points of my journey. Though I found an also emotional component to knowing Christ through the Jesus Movement of the mid to late 1970s of El Paso my roots in an intellectual faith and grounded on solid Biblical theology helped navigate the troubled waters of the 1980s into 1990s in the fork of the Jesus Movement to a wide range of roads from legalism to liberalism and the dumbing down of intellectual questioning in another movement (acutally several).
By the time SHADOWLANDS was produced and released in 1994 I was at a faith and personal crossroads as a man in his mid 30s, back in a very secular and social progressive University System and all departments at war with Christianity. The more though they countered with their theories, logic or reason (often unreasonable to discuss theology) and science the more I saw the hand of God in it. But I was 15 years the senior of most kids in their teens drinking the poisonous waters of secular humanism. When the film came out in 1994 I studied it deeply.
I had media contacts that managed a UA Theater and for the several months SHADOWLANDS played I was gifted comp admission anytime I wished and saw the film nearly fifty or more occasions. I think at the same time SILENCE OF THE LAMBS was out and I refused to see it wanting to preserve my image of Lewis through Anthony Hopkins representation. Where I had difficulty reading Lewis over the decades (for his depth) as I read rather fast I heard Hopkins voice and slower delivery of thoughts. It brought Lewis work all that more alive to my comprehension and a depth of study I gratefully appreciated. And sadly it confirmed the lack of ‘open minds’ at the University to what Lewis countered in his lifetime of Science and Logic over Faith and loving God with heart and mind. But it sure saved me from a lot of grief and pointless battles so many professors were waging.
The film and study of Lewis also saved me in other areas. One, as a seed thought writer. It was a picture and portal to study Lewis in grater depth thanks to many books released in conjunction with the film. One was by Douglass Gresham LENTENLANDS, Peter Kreeft THE SHADOWLANDS OF C.S. LEWIS and George Sayer JACK: A LIFE OF C.S. LEWIS. I credit the study at the time preventing what may have been a disastrous marriage choice at the time as well. But the study of Lewis is what sparked an absurd thought in 1992 of writing Christian Fiction. One everyone I knew discouraged at the University but not among readers of Lewis, Peretti and Rivers. They encouraged me to write.
I took the day today in a crossroads of news to watch this documentary over and over again. Have done so since it was posted. And today in notes transcribing the content. There are several key directives I once held close in my writing but waned over time. This blog and video has recharged my batteries of why I write and the purpose of my characters contrasted to the rules where I became bogged down in, the mechanics of writing contrasted to the content of my characters and stories. For all this and more, thank you Steve Laube for the post and for Tamela of commenting on it on your FB page. It has renewed my heart of why I should write and what it should always include. God has my writing back on track as a result.
I’ve read more than 20 biographies on Lewis, and this professional video does a great job of introducing the key components of “all things Lewis.” Thanks for sharing this treasure, Steve.
This man, this genius, lived and left his legacy before I was even born. How I wish I could have had a cup of tea and converse about Aslan with CS Lewis.
Psalm 102:18..”Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord.”
So thankful he obeyed God’s calling on his life to write, so that this generation can praise the Lord.
It is all for His glory. I am certain the first words CS Lewis heard were “Well done good and faithful servant.”
Thank you for posting this blog. I’ve watched it now twice!
Seeing Joseph Pearce in this piece, has brought back fond memories of the CS Lewis retreat I had the privilege of attending in 2012. The love of Jesus was evident in all who attended. A small morsel of what heaven will be like.
This was encouraging. Thank you.