Cathy Crow, one of our friends and an alumnus of several of our conferences, including Oxbridge 2008, recently sent us an article describing her church’s creation of a Narnia themed library.  Cathy, a professional librarian, spearheaded the project, and is featured in the article.  We thank the Columbia Metropolitan magazine, author Susan Fuller Slack, and photographers Jane Ellen Moore and Lynn Greenlee, who gave us permission to repost the article and photos.

Through the Wardrobe
Northeast Presbyterian Church’s Magical Land of Books.

Once upon a time…

The Wardrobe Doors to the Library

When the church library was established at Northeast Presbyterian Church on Polo Road, it took shape through the vision and dreams of Cathy Crow, a professional librarian and wife of the church’s pastor, George Crow. One of Cathy’s goals was to give the library a unique indentify, so she decided to name it The Lamppost. It was a reflection, in part, upon the words of Psalm 119:105: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”

Another lamppost that influenced Cathy’s design was from The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven children’s books sprung from the mind of Irish-born writer C.S. Lewis. The writer penned the first volume, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, in 1950, and librarians, teachers and parents in the United Kingdom voted the timeless tale the most influential children’s book of the 20th century.

Cathy and George Crow

In the story, four British children decide to explore an old-fashioned coat wardrobe and inadvertently pass through an entryway to Narnia, a magical land of enchantment that is populated with a rich diversity of wondrous beings. The children pledge allegiance to the wise and powerful golden lion Aslan. In an epic battle they triumph over cruel Queen Jadis, the White Witch who blankets the land with endless winter.

Visitors Posed on Narnian Thrones for Photo Opportunities

Lewis’ writings influenced Cathy’s spiritual growth and ultimately the development of the church library because, she says, “They reflect the best in Christian scholarship and literature.” Scholars say that Lewis was noted equally for literary scholarship and for his intellectual and witty expositions of Christian tenets.

Cathy explains that Northeast Presbyterian Church was growing, and the library needed to grow with it. So plans were developed for a new multipurpose building with ample room in the atrium for both an adult’s library and a special children’s library. Today, the welcoming new atrium evokes a sense of openness warmed with sunlight, and the expansive floor plan offers several intimate seating areas. Pam and Andrew Grayson, a designer and an architect from Birmingham, Ala., who also happen to be family members, designed the children’s facility.
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Mere Christians: Inspiring Stories of Encounters with C. S. Lewis

Andrew Lazo, a close friend and much valued contributor to the C.S. Lewis Foundation, and Marion E. Wade Center docent Mary Anne Phemister have gathered an amazing collection of stories of how C. S. Lewis continues to radically change people’s lives.  In their new book, Mere Christians: Inspiring Encounters with C. S. Lewis, (released 2/12/2009 ) they have collected fifty-five accounts from people from all walks of life who have witnessed the works of C. S. Lewis impacting them in the profoundest of ways.

Contributors include several notable friends of the C. S. Lewis Foundation, including Michael Ward, Phillip Yancey, Earl Palmer, John C. Lennox, Francis S. Collins, Joseph Pearce, Atessa Afshar, and Chuck Colson, Jerry Root, and Walter Hooper, who writes the Foreword.  Accounts also come from a number of important figures in the Lewis world such as Clyde S. Kilby, David C. Downing, Lyle Dorsett, Don W. King, Ronald Bresland, Joy Davidman, and, for the first time, Merrie Gresham (wife of Lewis’s stepson, Douglas Gresham), whose remarkable stories you’ll surely want to read.

Other contributions include accounts from such notables as singer-songwriter Pierce Pettis, Domino’s Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan, pollster George Gallup, Jr., and novelist Anne Rice.  Equally fascinating are the stories from people from many walks of life (Lewis would call them “no mere mortals”), dozens of whom first heard about the project while visiting the Marion E. Wade Center, the world’s greatest repository of materials related to C. S. Lewis and several other like-minded writers.  In fact, the whole book began on a quiet Saturday morning when co-editor Mary Anne Phemister began asking people what brought them to the Wade Center and, specifically, to C. S. Lewis.  And you will likely see some of the editor’s own story in the pages of Mere Christians.

Along with Walter Hooper’s engaging Foreword, Andrew Lazo has written a brief biography of Lewis, arranged by decade, compiled a categorical list of Lewis’s works, and assembled a short list of the most important resources for those interested in deepening their knowledge of the twentieth century’s most important Christian writer.  In addition, the co-editors have set up an email account, merechristians@gmail.com, in hopes of gathering enough interest to publish a second volume.  Stan Mattson, Phil Keaggy, Diana Glyer, and Bruce Edwards have all been approached and have expressed early interest in contributing their own stories to the next volume.

Millions have had life-changing encounters with C. S. Lewis.  Read Mere Christians to see how much you have in common with people from all over the world who have come to treasure the light from the pages of this most inspiring man.

If you’d like to order this book from Amazon.com, please make your order through the C.S. Lewis Foundation’s new and improved bookstore, by clicking here.  Every purchase from our online Amazon Affiliates bookstore earns us credit towards purchase of our own books for the Foundation library.  You can find the book on our main bookstore webpage as a feature title or under the side navigation bar category “Lewis’ Legacy”