Conference cancelled
Registrations were not sufficient for the conference to run. We hope to hold a Lewis event later in the year. Please join the email list if you would like to stay in touch.
The gospel in Narnia
The popularity of C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia continues to grow. Sales of the books, now over 100 million, increase every year, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was recently voted the most popular Children's Book ever in the UK. Meanwhile, the film of the book has been officially classified as one of the all-time top grossing movies worldwide. This has opened up a whole new audience—most of whom have little contact with the church or are even aware that the books are infused with Christian ideas. With production of the next two films under way, and planning for the remainder of the series in the pipeline, this global phenomenon presents an extraordinary opportunity for the gospel.
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Letter-writing professor reluctantly hounded by heaven
C.S. Lewis is most famous for his children's fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia, but he had already spent 40 years becoming one of the last century's most prolific letter-writers. Greg Clarke, Director of the Centre for Public Christianity in Sydney, follows C.S. Lewis's journey to faith through a trail of letters.
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Prince Caspian in The New York Times
AO Scott of the New York Times reviews Prince Caspian. He writes:
When the exiled child kings and queens are thrown back into Narnia (thanks to a sudden outbreak of special effects in a London tube station), they seem no longer to be in a children's fantasy story but rather in some kind of Jacobean tragedy, a reminder that C. S. Lewis was, along with everything else, a scholar of English Renaissance literature. In a dark castle in a dark forest, men with heavy armor and beard-shadowed faces quarrel and conspire. Instead of fauns and Turkish delight, there are murder and betrayal, and a grave, martial atmosphere lingers over the story, even when the spunky dwarfs and chatty rodents return.
Conference update
Don't forget to register!
Here's an update on what's happening:
- We have secured a 40-minute preview reel of Prince Caspian for conference attendees on the Saturday afternoon. Make sure you register to see this!
- Tony Morphett, famous Australian scriptwriter, will be joining us on the Saturday to discuss Lewis's importance for his creative work.
- Alan Jacobs will be joined by Tim Gresham, C.S. Lewis's step-grandson, to talk about the process of getting the book to film, and the Gresham family's involvement.
- You will have the opportunity to take two workshops on the Saturday, including dramatic presentations for schools, workshops on apologetics, Philip Pullman versus Lewis, and much more.
- Special passes to Prince Caspian preview screenings will be given away at the conference!
Registrations close on Friday 16 May. Don't miss out!
Join the conference mailing list
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Lewis and extraterrestrials
Did C.S. Lewis think there was life on other planets? Joel Heck, Professor of Theology at Concordia University, takes a look at an essay that Lewis wrote on the subject. He writes,
In Paul's letter to the Romans (8:19–23), Lewis argued, God hints that the longing for redemption is cosmic, and therefore not limited to this world. Perhaps redemption has happened for all those who need it, has happened through Christ's redemption, and has somehow been extended to other creatures. But we really don't know. And to speculate about other creatures in other worlds takes us into the imaginative narrative that comprises Lewis's Ransom Trilogy, especially Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra. One paragraph of the essay in particular, beginning with the words “It is interesting to wonder ...,” imagines the scenario that Lewis spells out in Out of the Silent Planet. We find Lewis speculating that the vast distances in the universe are “God's quarantine precautions,” designed to prevent the rest of the universe from being contaminated by the corruption of our world.
Read the full post online. And why you're at it, check out the rest of HarperOne's C.S. Lewis blog.
Online registrations open
You can now register online via CPX’s secure website for the 2008 C.S. Lewis Today conference! Follow this link and select from the different options. Make sure you click on the “Check out” link to enter your contact and billing information.
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, NARNIA, and all book titles, characters and locales original thereto are trademarks of C.S. Lewis Pty Ltd. and are used with permission. © DISNEY ENTERPRISES, INC. and WALDEN MEDIA, LLC. All rights reserved.
