Last month’s installment reflecting on Lewis’s life over the years showcased a period of enviable production. October, while not having as high of an output, would nevertheless be equally desirable for any other author to have accomplished over the span of an entire lifetime. The debut Narnia book arrived this month, as well as his first apologetic title and the preaching of his first sermon.

It all began with a picture…” or that’s how Lewis once described how he came to create his Narnia stories. The world got its first taste of them on October 16, 1950 when The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe hit the bookstores in the UK (November 7 was the released date for the US). Instead, of attempting to say anything new about the debut story, let me share about other less known adaptations of the story: It was first dramatized for the radio in 1959 and in 1967 a live action version for the TV was produced (here’s the only surviving portion of it.)

The following is part of a revised shorter series reflecting on the life of C.S. Lewis. This is accomplished by summarizing various events or happenings during his lifetime for the month and may include significant events related to him after his death. Each column will remind those already familiar with Lewis why he is so well respected …

Read the full post →“Retrospective: February”

Highlights for the opening third of October (1st – 10th) include: Concluding book from his final BBC radio series, an unsigned review of The Hobbit and the release of A Preface to ‘Paradise Lost’.

While Lewis did go on to record a radio series on love in the late 1950’s, his final one for the BBC was given in early 1944. The book version of it was published on the 9th of October that same year as Beyond Personality: The Christian Idea of God. It is now more remembered at being the forth book in Mere Christianity where it was given a new subtitle: “Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity.” In either edition there were eleven chapters, however, there were only seven talks on the radio, so he added four chapters. They were “Time and Beyond” (chapter 3), “Two Notes” (chapter 6), “Counting the Cost” (chapter 9), and “Nice People or New Men”