Vague faith in Middle Earth
LOS ANGELES — Faced with the end of his world, even the cheery hobbit Pippin lost hope. “I didn’t think it would end this way,” he tells Gandalf, as they watch the forces of evil advance in Peter...
View ArticleFreud, Lewis & God on PBS
Dr. Armand Nicholi of Harvard Medical School was caught off guard as he read evaluations of his first seminar on the life and philosophy of Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis. “Several of the...
View ArticleThe Lion, the Witch and the Fans
Mrs. Dilber is not one of Charles Dickens’ most famous characters. Still, Ebenezer Scrooge’s spunky housekeeper became a favorite of director Paul McCusker and his Radio Theatre (www.RadioTheatre.org)...
View ArticleThe future of Narnia
Soon after the smashing opening weekend of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” the Rev. Bob Beltz had a vision of what his Hollywood colleagues might be doing someday just...
View ArticleShadows of THE wardrobe
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The tall wardrobe in the office of the Westmont College English department isn’t much to look at, but visitors from near and far keep visiting to peek inside. A previous owner...
View ArticleFinal Harry Potter wars? Part I
Harry Potter and his best friend Hermione Granger arrived in the magical town of Godric’s Hollow on a snowy Christmas Eve. Carols drifted out of the village church as they searched its graveyard for...
View ArticleTesser well, Madeleine L’Engle
Madeleine L’Engle found it amusing that her critics kept missing the obvious in her fiction. Consider the magical women in “A Wrinkle In Time” — Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which. It’s true that...
View ArticleLosing faith in Narnia, Part I
While there are no cars in Narnia, screenwriter Stephen McFeely rolled out an automotive image to express the message at the heart of the second film drawn from the seven-book fantasy series by C.S....
View ArticleLosing faith in Narnia, part II
The producers and writers behind “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” say the same thing when describing the challenge they faced bringing the novel to the screen. The problem, all agree, is that...
View ArticleC.S. Lewis: Still too popular after 50 years
Even though it has been 50 years since his death, the faithful at Headington Parish Church in Oxford, England, are constantly reminded of the loyal, but rather quiet, parishioner who always occupied...
View Article
