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Editorials

If It Ain’t Broke, Break It–And Call This An Improvement

Much of the damage done in this world is done by people who don’t exactly mean to rebel against God–they just figure they have a better idea. And even in the peripheral zones of human creativity, it can happen that people make “improvements”–which AREN’T…. The existing Narnia movie, while I would have done a few things differently, does NOT feature any alterations or expansions which I would consider damaging…I am, for the record, confident that the future films WILL be done right, and that I will have no serious complaints. But perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to imagine (and so be forewarned against) some “anti-improvements” which could occur if scripts for the follow-on movies were to be written by writers who DON’T appreciate the vision of Mr. Lewis. “Prince Caspian” being already scripted, I’ll start with “Dawn Treader.”

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Editorials

The Right and Left Paws of Aslan

The idea of a “left wing” and “right wing” in politics and society is a fluid one, subject to a lot of confusion. You can’t understand liberals unless you know what they want to liberate, and you can’t understand conservatives unless you know what they want to conserve….It may help us toward clarity if I attempt, presupposing what I think to be reasonable modern definitions of the left and right, to identify some places in The Chronicles Of Narnia where C.S. Lewis expressed sometimes liberal ideas, and sometimes conservative ones. […]

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C.S. Lewis Books

Editorial: Fighting Evil Is Not Deifying War

A participant in this forum has complained that the Narnia movie departs from “the essence of Christianity,” and that it glorifies war. This person goes further by claiming that the “deification of war” is particularly associated with “right-wingers.”

Let me dismiss first the most easily dismissed contention…. […]

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Editorials

Unzipping My Skin

I remember pretty well what I used to be like as a teenager. With my parents being very busy and having little time for me I turned into a pretty independent person very early on. Most of the time I was on my own and therefore I had things go my way. I liked to make my own decisions. Now imagine my mom coming and telling me what I should do and what not. Boy, I could give her a hard time about it and be sulky and grumpy all day long. Which of course not only spoiled her day but mine also. But it was all her fault and not mine, at least from my perspective. […]