November 29, 2007

Happy Birthday!

cslewis.jpg

Clive Staples Lewis was born this day in 1898.

My quote-of-the-day-email-guy notes this passage from the end of Chapter 3 of Lewis' Mere Christianity:

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic... or else He would be the Devil in Hell... let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher."

(The quote puts my QOTDEMG's nose out of joint, but I believe that Lewis is spot on.)

I was first given an anthology of Lewis' writings when I was a first year law student. And I remember quite clearly that it was only in reading him that I finally began to grasp any notion of what was really meant by Faith. Of course, Lewis never became a Catholic himself, but it's quite safe to say that he was largely responsible for my first tottering steps towards the banks of the Tiber, and has continued at my side even as I splash about in its waves. However, I'd recommend him to anybody, regardless of their particular denomination.

The eldest Llama-ette and I also make the Chronicles of Narnia our primary bedtime reading. This year, we've gone all the way through the cycle, and are now (on the insistence of the gel), reading them in reverse order. Currently we're in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and the gel talks ominously of starting the whole business all over again once we've finished The Magician's Nephew. I think, I think, that the morals of the stories are starting to sink in on her. (She seems particularly interested in characters such as Edmund and Eustace who turn from their former, rotten selves with Aslan's help.) However, I also happen to know that she loves the Brit inflections I put on the children's speech. Recently, she said, "You know, Dad, you sort of sound like that when you talk." She meant it as a compliment, but I was a bit startled to be caught out in my pretentious Anglophilia by a mere nine year old.

Posted by Robert at November 29, 2007 10:49 AM | TrackBack
Comments

Knowing both your respect for CS Lewis as well as your current transition, do you have an opinion on the current "Golden Compass" debate, i.e. not that the movie is overtly anti-Catholic/Christian but that it would serve as an inducement for parents to buy the books which include part 2 and 3 which reputedly are far more indicative of Pullman's stated hatred of Lewis?

Posted by: Mike at November 29, 2007 02:36 PM

Well one of the main justifications for making a film of a book - especially a kids' film - is that it will encourage the kiddies to read the book, so I don't see why that wouldn't happen here as well.

Of course, it's a free country. And of course there are going to be parents who don't know or don't care about the anti-Christian flavor and just take the "Whatever, at least the kid's reading" stance. And I suppose there will be some parents who actually like the idea of feeding their kids some anti-Christian reading material.

All I can say is that we're not that sort of parents.

Posted by: Robbo the LB at November 29, 2007 03:59 PM

I think the Pullman series being made into a film is unusual in that most kids' movies are made because the books are widely read and there is a demand for it.

I've never met anyone who's read Pullman. I think without the book's ideological bent, it would never have been made. I think it will be a failure for the reason that there's really no established fan base.

Except for, you know, Satan. I mean, I'm sure he'll go see it.

:-) I kid.

I think the net effect might ultimately be to make people say "What is this magisterium, and how do I get to be a part of it"?

Posted by: The Abbot at November 30, 2007 05:17 PM