Can you image what it was like to be C.S. Lewis preparing for and delivering his radio talks in the 1940’s?
As noted in a previous minute Lewis made his radio debut in August 1941. The result became four series of talks that eventually become known as Mere Christianity. Prior to Justin Phillips writing C.S. Lewis at the BBC there had not been any detailed account of the behind the scenes preparation before and between these historic broadcasts.
FACT OF THE DAY:
“Who Goes Home? or The Grand Divorce II” was published today (11/17) in 1944 in The Guardian. It later became part of chapter two of The Great Divorce.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
[About the grey town:] “That’s one of the disappointments. I thought you’d meet interesting historical characters. But you don’t: they’re too far away.”
“Who Goes Home? or The Grand Divorce II”
(First published in The Guardian on 11/17/1944)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
(Name the source of this Lewis quote): “I have been told of a very small and very devout boy who was heard murmuring to himself on Easter morning a poem of his own composition which began ‘Chocolate eggs and Jesus risen.'”
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Fifty years ago C.S. Lewis died on the same day that John F. Kennedy was murdered. While the mystery of who killed Kennedy remains in some minds, it is clear why C.S. Lewis continues to be admired and his popularity is ever growing. The key reason is because he wrote in several diverse realms and thus had a variety of audiences. Some are only familiar with him as the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, while others respect him because of his works dealing with understanding or defending the Christian faith. Then there are those who have regard for him due to his academic books resulting from teaching Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
Ironically almost as each decade
FACT OF THE DAY:
Today (11/16) in 1966 the US edition of Letters of C.S. Lewis came out. It was edited, with a memoir by W.H. Lewis, his brother.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“The remarkable thing about his literary career is that it never occurred to him until a relatively late date that his great achievement would be prose.”
Letters of C.S. Lewis – Memoir by W. H. Lewis
(US edition published 11/16/1966)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
Christian Behavior, the third series of talks on the BBC ended earlier this month in 1942; There are twelve chapters in the book version, but how many were actually on the radio?
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Paul McCusker is the Creative Director at Focus on the Family. Many know him for his involvement in Adventures in Odyssey where he has written over 300 shows; and of course he helped create the Radio Theatre Production of The Chronicles of Narnia. Just recently a new radio drama called C.S. Lewis at War: The Dramatic Story Behind Mere Christianity was released and that was the focus on this interview with William O’Flaherty.
(Click “Read More” to LISTEN)
FACT OF THE DAY:
On 11/14/1958 Lewis wrote to Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher to accept his invitation to become a member of the Commission to Revise the Psalter.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Despair is a greater sin than any of the sins which provoke it.”
The Screwtape Letters – XXIX
(First published in The Guardian on 11/14/1941)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
One fictional series ended this month and another began (in different years); what are they?
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Can you believe there was a time when C.S. Lewis wasn’t well-known as the author of The Chronicles of Narnia?
It is difficult to image knowing an author without identifying him to his most famous work. Yet, if you were alive in 1949 you would have been witness to the release of the first biography on C.S. Lewis. That year Chad Walsh published C.S. Lewis: Apostle to the Skeptics.
FACT OF THE DAY:
The Screwtape Letters – XXIX: Cowardice was released today (11/14) in 1941 in The Guardian.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Our research department has not yet discovered (though success is hourly expected) how to produce any virtue. This is a serious handicap. To be greatly and effectively wicked a man needs some virtue.”
The Screwtape Letters – XXIX
(First published in The Guardian on 11/14/1941)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
What Narnia book was published for the first time in the US this month?
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FACT OF THE DAY:
Although previously released in 1991, All My Road Before Me came out in paperback in the US on this date (11/13) in 1992.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that he is “finding his place in it”, while really it is finding its place in him.”
The Screwtape Letters – XXVIII
(First published in The Guardian on 11/7/1941)
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QUIZ OF THE DAY:
Finish the quote and name the source (5 words):
“There is no use in talking as if forgiveness were easy…For we find that the work of forgiveness has to be ______ _____ ______ ______ _______.”
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Malcolm Guite is one of the contributors to The Cambridge Guide to C.S. Lewis and the author of many poems. Just coming out in November, 2013 is his collection of poems called The Singing Bowl. Dr. Crystal Hurd caught up with Malcolm recently for this brief interview about it and about the special event where Lewis is being honored in Poets’ Corner.
