“Joy is the serious business of Heaven.”
—C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer
“For me, reason is the natural organ of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.”
—C.S. Lewis, Rehabilitations and Other Essays
“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.”
—C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen:
not only because I see it but because by it, I see everything else.”
—C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
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In This Issue:
1. The Chosen, Season 3: The Superb TV Series on the Life of Jesus Continues in 2022
2. Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power to Premiere
3. New Book: The Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis: How Great Books Shaped a Great Mind, by Jason M. Baxter
4. Top Stage Productions on C.S. Lewis Returning in Spring 2022
5. Spotlighting New Videos
6. Subscribe FREE to the YouTube Channel of the C.S. Lewis Society!
7. Join with Us as a Member of the C.S. Lewis Society and Receive a FREE Book or Video!
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1. The Chosen, Season 3: The Superb TV Series on the Life of Jesus Continues in 2022
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The compelling and inspiring TV series, The Chosen, is a historical drama that portrays Jesus of Nazareth “through the eyes of those who met him.” Created outside the Hollywood system, the series’ artistic storyline and faithfulness to the gospels have been praised, and it is the most widely funded television production in history. Pre-production of Season 3 began in January 2022 with filming expected in the Spring and release toward the end of the year.
Jonathan Roumie will again play the role of Jesus, and the first of eight episodes of the 3rd season will begin with the Sermon on the Mount, preparation of which began in the last episode of Season 2. The episodes will trace through many of the miracles by Jesus, such as the feeding of 5,000 people and calming of the hail storm. The killing of John the Baptist by King Herod creates a ruckus throughout Jerusalem and Jesus is slowly being considered a threat to the Roman Empire.
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Seasons 1 and 2 each have eight episodes, seven seasons are planned, and with a goal of reaching a billion people, The Chosen has already been viewed over 160 million times and translated into 50 languages in 156 countries. • A charismatic fisherman drowning in debt. • A troubled woman wrestling with real demons. • A gifted publican ostracized by his family and his people. • A religious leader struggling with his beliefs.
See Jesus through the eyes of those that met him in the greatest story of all time.
The series is available through its own app as well streaming services NBC’s Peacock, VidAngel, YouTube, Trinity Broadcasting Network, UPtcv, and BYUtv.
Trailer for Season 1 • Trailer for Season 2 • Trailer for Season 3 Not Yet Released
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2. Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power to Premiere September 2, 2022
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The Rings of Power is an upcoming weekly television series from Amazon Studios and based on the vast backstory by J.R.R. Tolkien that he laid out in the 150 pages of appendices to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. (A more complete version was published posthumously as The Silmarillion, edited by his son Christopher Tolkien.)
Filmed in New Zealand and developed by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay for the streaming service Prime Video, The Rings of Power is a prequel series set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before the events of Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The series will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.
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Amazon bought the television rights for The Lord of the Rings for US$250 million in November 2017, making a five-season production commitment worth at least US$1 billion. This would make it the most expensive television series ever made.
“Amazon’s Lord of the Rings Series Rises: Inside The Rings of Power,” by Anthony Breznican and Joanna Robinson (Vanity Fair, February 10, 2022)
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power unveils first look at Galadriel, Elrond, and Amazon's return to Middle-earth,” by Devan Coggan (Entertainment Weekly, February 10, 2022)
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV Series: Trailer, Release Date, Photos, Cast, and Everything Else to Know,” by Lindsay MacDonald (TV Guide, February 13, 2022)
“Lord of the Rings—The Rings of Power: Cast, release date and everything else we know” (Marca, February 13, 2022)
“Rings of Power leak confirms a long-held Lord of the Rings theory,” by Alex Welch (Inverse, February 20, 20220
“Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Revealed an Epic First Teaser: The teaser provides a peek at key settings and familiar characters, but also tees up some tantalizing mysteries,” by Adrienne Westenfeld (Esquire, February 14, 2022)
Trailer • Title Announcement Video
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3. New Book: The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis: How Great Books Shaped a Great Mind, by Jason M. Baxter (IVP Academic, 2022)
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 C.S. Lewis had one of the great minds of the 20th century.
Many readers know Lewis as an author of fiction and fantasy literature, including The Chronicles of Narnia and The Space Trilogy. Others know him for his books in apologetics, including Mere Christianity and The Problem of Pain. But few know him for his scholarly work as a professor of medieval and Renaissance literature.
What shaped the mind of this great thinker? In The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis, Jason Baxter argues that Lewis was deeply formed not only by the words of Scripture and his love of ancient mythology, but also by medieval literature. For this undeniably modern Christian, authors like Dante and Boethius provided a worldview that was relevant to the challenges of the contemporary world. Here, readers will encounter a fascinating and insightful figure to guide them in their own journey: C.S. Lewis the medievalist.
Contents:
- Introduction: The Last Dinosaur and the Surprising Modernity of the Middle Ages
- The Lost Cathedral: The Medieval Cosmos—Read FREE
- Breathing Narnian Air: Lewis’s Medieval Apprenticeship
- From Symphony to Machine: New Learning and New Ignorance
- Evil Enchantment: Psychology and Pedagogy in Flatland
- Dante, Counter Spells, and the Weight of Glory
- How to Pray to a Medieval God: C.S. Lewis and Mysticism
- Deep Conversion and Unveiling: When the “It” Becomes a “You”
- Modern Science and Medieval Myth
- Conclusion: Nostalgia for the Future
“This, then, is what is at stake when considering Lewis’s admiration for medieval cosmology, because for him the medieval universe was not just a system of exploded scientific beliefs, but the natural, icon of transposition, the greatest example of the spiritual world expressing itself in the limited vocabulary of the physical, natural world.”
—From Chapter One
About the Author: Jason M. Baxter (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame) is Associate Professor of Fine Arts and Humanities at Wyoming Catholic College. He is also the author of An Introduction to Christian Mysticism: Recovering the Wildness of Spiritual Life, The Infinite Beauty of the World: Dante's Encyclopedia and the Names of God, and A Beginner’s Guide to Dante’s Divine Comedy.
Review:
“C.S. Lewis Was a Modern Man Who Breathed Medieval Air: As both a writer and a scholar, his work hearkened back to a ‘slow, contemplative, symphonic world’,” by Louis Markos (Christianity Today)
Praise:
“Jason M. Baxter is uniquely qualified to guide us through the medieval mind of C.S. Lewis. Those wishing to delve deeper into the ancient roots of Lewis's inspiration and imagination need look no further. Professor Baxter, like Virgil, is a trustworthy guide.”
—Joseph Pearce, author, Further Up and Further In: Understanding Narnia and Tolkien: Man and Myth: A Literary Life
“Without the rich spiritual and literary legacy of the Middle Ages, C.S. Lewis would not have matured into the great apologist, essayist, and fiction writer that he became. Dante scholar Jason Baxter is just the right person to open up that legacy for modern readers and trace how deeply Lewis was shaped not only by the medieval worldview but by the way the medievals thought and felt and interacted with the spiritual and natural world around them.”
—Louis Markos, Professor in English and Scholar in Residence, Houston Baptist University; author, On the Shoulders of Hobbits: The Road to Virtue with Tolkien and Lewis
“Drawing on Lewis’s essays and personal correspondence, Baxter assembles a meticulous portrait of Lewis . . . Baxter makes a strong case for the continued relevance of Lewis’s insights into his medieval muses, including the intrinsic value of studying the humanities and his belief that humans occupy a peripheral place in the cosmos. . . . Baxter’s lucid work sheds light on a crucial dimension of Lewis’s thinking and writing; this should appeal to medievalists and Lewis fans alike.”
—Publisher’s Weekly
“Following closely on his well-received works on Dante and on Christian mysticism, Jason Baxter here opens a window onto the bookshelves and study habits of C.S. Lewis, finding rightly that medieval authors have much more profoundly shaped his imagination and theology than most contemporary criticism has noticed. This well-written volume will be of interest both to seasoned scholars and undergraduate students; for the latter it will prove an invaluable introduction to a rich body of great Christian writing.”
—David Lyle Jeffrey, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University
“I am often lamenting about what our culture has lost. C.S. Lewis is one of our sages who revitalizes the premodern world so that we can again reclaim an enchanted vision of reality. In this book, Jason Baxter offers the church what we've longed for―the tools by which Lewis embodied the medieval worldview―so we too can imitate this forgotten way of seeing.”
—Jessica Hooten Wilson, Louise Cowan Scholar in Residence, University of Dallas; author, Giving the Devil His Due: Flannery O’Connor and The Brothers Karamazov
“In this beautifully written book, Jason Baxter invites us to breathe the air of the medieval world that was C.S. Lewis’s natural home, providing rich insight into the philosophical and theological imagination that shaped Lewis's thought and writing. But much more, Baxter helps us grasp the urgency Lewis felt to convey the beauty and grandeur of that age to us moderns, who live in a mechanized universe that is robbed of transcendence. This book is a vital resource not only for understanding Lewis and his world but also for making sense of our own.”
—Gary S. Selby, Professor of Ministerial Formation, Emmanuel Christian Seminary, Milligan University
“C.S. Lewis described himself as a ‘dinosaur’―a member of an otherwise extinct species who could still breathe the air of the Middle Ages and could therefore make it come alive for others. Jason Baxter does a great job of surveying and unpacking this whole side of Lewis’s work and its sophisticated, sacramental, and symphonic qualities. The result is a thrilling, moving, and even dangerous ride. Welcome to Jurassic Park!”
—Michael Ward, Senior Research Fellow, Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University; author, Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis
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4. Top Stage Productions on C.S. Lewis Returning in Spring 2022
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A. An Evening with C.S. Lewis (Bird and Baby Productions): David Payne’s acclaimed portrayal of C.S. Lewis in An Evening with C.S. Lewis will resume in the Spring of 2022 with performances in the following cities:
Rancho Cordova, CA: April 22
Solano Beach, CA: April 25 and 26
San Jose, CA: May 20 and 21
Buffalo, NY: November 13
Cleveland, OH: November 18
Davenport, IA: TBA
Buffalo, NY: TBA
Please check the official touring site for David Payne.
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B. The Great Divorce (Fellowship of the Performing Arts): Max MacLean’s superb stage production of the beloved C.S. Lewis novel also returns in the Spring of 2022. Full schedule and ticket booking.
Louisville, KY: April 24
Nashville, TN: May 15
Birmingham, AL: May 21
Fayetteville, NC: June 5
Atlanta, GA: June 12
Asheville, NC: June 25-26
Raleigh, NC: July 9-10
Santa Fe, NM: July 16
Boise, ID: July 30
Chicago, IL: August 20
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5. 2022 C.S. Lewis Summer Institute: Oxford, England
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The 2022 C.S. Lewis Summer Institute, Surprised by Love: Cultivating Intellectual Hospitality in an Age of Uncertainty, is a wonderful and highly recommended conference that will be held in Oxford and hosted jointly by the C.S. Lewis Foundation and C.S. Lewis College. The tri-annual Summer Institute will convene this summer from July 28 to August 5. The morning program each weekday includes two plenary sessions and a meditation on the conference theme, while the evening programming each night highlights the diverse gifts of our artistic community of instrumentals, choral singers, actors, dancers, and poets. Several afternoons in Oxford will feature small-group seminars and workshops for the conference registrants, as well as an Academic Roundtable.
This year’s Summer Institute offers a unique and intentional blend of worship, scholarship, and the arts in a “mere Christian” context for scholars, clergy, professionals, and laypersons around the globe. Attendees from around the world report that Summer Institutes have transformed their approach to their work and their life.
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6. Spotlighting New Videos
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7. Subscribe FREE to the YouTube Channel of the C.S. Lewis Society!
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Our YouTube Channel now features 280 excellent videos, and is organized into twenty-one Playlists by topic. Our Channel also includes 30 original C.S. Lewis Society videos, including The City of God with 50,000+ views and C.S. Lewis on Mere Liberty and the Evils of Statism 27,000+ views. And more videos are coming!
Subscribe FREE to the C.S. Lewis Society’s YouTube channel and receive notices of new videos.
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8. Join with Us as a Member of the C.S. Lewis Society with a Tax-deductible Contribution and Receive a FREE Book or Video!
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