The 50th anniversary of the C.S. Lewis Celebration is still going strong, around the world and also at the C.S. Lewis Foundation. For our own part, we recently concluded our C.S. Lewis Summer Conference in San Diego, which we were very proud of. Our next conference will be this fall in Houston, and then remember to save the date for the Summer Institute at Oxbridge, which will follow on July 21-31, 2014.
Apart from these events, preparations are still being undertaken for Lewis’s placement into Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey. Dr. Michael Ward, the organizer for this C.S. Lewis Memorial, was recently interviewed by Lancia Smith about the project and also about Lewis’s legacy in both Britain and America. You can find Part 1 of the interview by clicking here, and Part 2 here.
Concerning the longevity of Lewis’s legacy, an article was just published in The Christian Century, contending that C.S. Lewis is “Our Augustine.” A subscription is required to read the full article, but its assessment of Lewis is unique and compelling.
In a similar vein, the New York Times recently ran an article entitled “C.S. Lewis, Evangelical Rock Star,” investigating Lewis’s cultural longevity, especially with evangelical Christianity in the United States. The top comment on the article was, coincidentally, left by Dr. Greg Cootsona, a pastor in Chico, California, who is authoring an upcoming biography of C.S. Lewis. Cootsona argues that Lewis is often incorrectly associated only with American Evangelicalism, rather than “mere Christianity,” which is the concept Lewis was more devoted to. Cootsona blogs about this (and C.S. Lewis in general) regularly on his website.
Lastly, former C.S. Lewis Foundation intern Brett McCracken’s new book, Gray Matters, will soon be released. McCracken’s new book, following his popular debut Hipster Christianity, is an assessment of Christianity and its intersection with contemporary culture, specifically in the matters of food, music, movies, and drinking alcohol. The book will be released on August 1, but you can read about it and pre-order it from amazon now.
Thanks for mentioning me in this blog post. I was very intrigued by Luhrmann’s NYT article–glad to have CSL highlighted there, but also want be sure we remember his central commitment to “Mere Christianity.” By the way, the tag above for me is misspelled (“Coostona”). Would love to have that corrected if possible.