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LOS GATOS, CA -- In a move celebrated by casual viewers but criticized by longtime fans of C.S. Lewis's children's book series The Chronicles Of Narnia, Netflix has released marketing materials confirming that The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe will feature the first-ever black White Witch."We wanted a more sympathetic approach to the famously white villain, and believe us - you're going to love the changes in store for each of Lewis's most beloved characters, which reflect the world we live in today." Showrunner Matthew Alrich wrote in a series of Tweets announcing the move. "We hope that sassy...

Credit: University of Manchester Some say King Arthur slayed a giant there. Others say he knelt in prayer and his knee print indentations are forever etched into the stone. But archaeologists are setting out to find out just how big the structure is and what really happened at Arthur's Stone, a 5,000-year-old, Neolithic chambered tomb in Herefordshire, England, near the border of Wales. On July 1, a team of researchers began excavating the site, said Julian Thomas, an archaeology professor at the University of Manchester who is leading the project. They'll be on site for the next four weeks, Thomas...

Archaeologists from The University of Manchester have started a dig at a 5,000-year-old tomb linked to King Arthur...Arthur's Stone is a Neolithic chambered tomb which has never previously been excavated, but English Heritage say that similar examples in the same region have been found to contain incomplete skeletal remains of several people, together with flint flakes, arrowheads and pottery.Today, only the large stones of the inner chamber remains, which is placed in a mound of earth and stones whose original size and shape remains a mystery. The chamber is formed of nine upright stones, with an enormous capstone estimated to...

oday C.S. Lewis, the man whose literary works such as The Chonicles of Narnia book series is known as a titan of the Christian faith. When he was alive, Lewis’s deep insights, wisdom, words of comfort, and reason were all sought after, particularly during World War II, when he addressed the people of Great Britain on the BBC, and thereafter. After he passed away in 1963, C.S. Lewis’s writings would continue to bring valuable insight, wisdom, words of comfort, and reason to generations looking for serious answers about God, life experience, the fractured world around us, pain, suffering, and how...

C.S. Lewis and accomplished author J.R.R. Tolkien sat down and had a talk about children’s stories in their day. Douglas Gresham, the stepson of C.S. Lewis’s, elaborated on this conversation between them. He said, “[Lewis and Tolkien] sat down and had a discussion about children’s literature that was being produced in those days. They found that they both agreed that children’s literature of that time was really not good enough for children. It didn’t say the things that children needed to hear. And it didn’t say the things that children would like to hear and enjoy. So, they both decided...

Seventy years after its first publication, C.S. Lewis's classic 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' remains resonant with readers young and old. Since its publication 70 years ago today, C.S. Lewis’s “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” has been translated into 47 foreign languages, made into a movie series that grossed more than $700 million at the box office, and was included in Time magazine’s list of the top 100 novels published since 1923.Featuring a land of magic, evil witches, and otherworldly creatures, the world of Narnia introduces millions of children to the fantasy genre every year. It’s...

isitors to St. Mary’s Church, a 12th-century parish in Yorkshire, England, will soon be welcomed by a cast of characters from C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. As Harriet Sherwood reports for the Guardian, 14 limestone sculptures depicting Aslan the lion, Jadis the White Witch, Reepicheep the talking mouse and other magical creatures are set to replace worn medieval carvings on the church’s exterior. ...

By now regular readers know that I am a fan of C.S. Lewis, and I was a fan of him before becoming Orthodox. In fact, I consider him one of the influences that led me to Orthodoxy, though I would not have thought of it that way before I became Orthodox. You see, it was not until I became Orthodox that I realized just how much of C.S. Lewis’ thinking reflected a more “Eastern” viewpoint, or perhaps, I had better say a more “universal” or catholic viewpoint.One of his statements has to do with the whole issue of theosis or...

A man sets himself on fire Wednesday on the Ellipse in downtown Washington, across from the White House, the Secret Service said. A spokesman for the Washington Fire Department tells CNBC, “I can confirm that we’ve transported one patient with burns from the Ellipse and we’re now on the scene assisting law enforcement,” referring to Park Police and U.S. Secret Service officers. Alina Berzins says she was visiting the National Mall with two of her cousins from Bolivia when “we saw this man” on the Ellipse and “he starts running, and then we saw him covered in flames.”

... With network time slots and movie theater screens becoming a precious commodity, it’s no wonder Netflix looks so lucrative. Thanks to our source, Nelson Murdoch, we are pleased to announce that the fourth film in the Narnia series The Silver Chair, will be a Netflix exclusive original movie and will be available on the streaming service December 6th of next year. ...

ItÂ’s hardly theological novelty or historical oddity to suggest we should be wary of presenting the immaterial God in physical form. This was the point of my recent article on The Shack movie in which I expressed my concern that its portrayal of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit is a violation of the second commandment. I was surprised by the scope and tone of the response. Yet amid many retorts and accusations, I received one thoughtful question from at least a hundred people: What about Narnia? If it is wrong to portray God the Father as the...

CS Lewis was baptised at St Mark's Church off the Holywood Road in east Belfast and attended it as a child. The old rectory beside it would also have been familiar territory to the author as it was once home to his grandfather, the Rev Thomas Hamilton, who was the first rector at St Mark's. A distinctive lion's head-shaped door knob on the rectory is even believed to have inspired the key character of Aslan ...

“The Chronicles of Narnia” film series has been somewhat at sea since “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” (2010), the film adaptation of the third book published in the fantasy series. With a Blu-Ray edition of “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” to be released next week, Narnia fans are wondering what’s next for the series. Christian viewers in particular are concerned if production changes mean the books’ spiritual themes will make it on to the big screen. Reports in 2011 suggested that book six – the creation-myth prequel “The Magician’s Nephew” – might be adapted next, rather than book...

Free Audio: Download the Complete Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis Read by Dr. Chrissi Hart (British Accent) openculture.com/2011/12/the_chronicles_of_narnia_free.html Before the days of Harry Potter, generations of young readers let their imaginations take flight with The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven fantasy novels written by C. S. Lewis. Like his friend J.R.R. Tolkien, Lewis served on the English faculty at Oxford University and took part in the Inklings, an Oxford literary group dedicated to fiction and fantasy. Published between 1950 and 1956, The Chronicles of Narnia has sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages, delighting younger and older readers worldwide. The seven volumes in...

There are multiple films in the works that will explore the relationship between literary fantasy giants J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, one called Tolkien & Lewis from Attractive Films and another called Jack & Tollers from Third Dart Studios. Still another from Fox Searchlight will focus only on Tolkien and is titled, appropriately enough, Tolkien. While the films are in the early stages, one of them — Tolkien & Lewis — is set to announce an interesting castmember: Jill Freud, aka the real Lucy Pevensie from Lewis’ books about Narnia. ...

I have a funny sort of personal connection to C.S. Lewis, who died 50 years ago today. It’s through my mother: she was born in London and is just old enough to remember the Blitz, and like the Pevensie children in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, she was sent to the countryside to escape the bombing. Unlike them ...

Few can have failed to notice that this day marks the fiftieth anniversary of the death of C.S. Lewis (1898-1963). Throughout the summer, Lewis has featured prominently in literary festivals across the length and breadth of England. His home church - Holy Trinity, Headington Quarry, Oxford - arranged a modest celebration of the anniversary in September, and found themselves swamped by the public interest. ...

Clive Staples Lewis November 29, 1898 – November 22, 1963

Recently, while discussing the role of fictional stories in spiritual formation with my students, I found myself returning to the works of C.S. Lewis as an example. While I did not discuss The Chronicles of Narnia, I can undeniably say that the fictional works of Lewis have shaped me spiritually. From a young age, I have read and reread the Narnian stories. They have become a part of my spiritual formation and of many others as well. Lewis has had this effect on Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, as well. He also confesses to repeatedly reading and studying the...

A new book has been published which collects all CS Lewis’ references to his Ulster childhood and the possible role of such places in inspiring many of his greatest works. CS Lewis – And The Island Of His Birth, by Sandy Smith, lifts the lid on CS Lewis’ early life in Belfast and allows the reader to walk in Lewis’ footsteps on a journey that covers Belfast and Ireland north and south, encapsulating the places that many believe were the inspiration for some of his greatest works. Lewis mentioned parts of Northern Ireland at various times in his writing. “That...