With the exception of two DVD’s that Netflix says are currently unavailable, I have now watched everything they have to offer on Lewis.

C.S. Lewis & The Chronicles of Narnia was a short little 1 hour historical documentary of Lewis’ life. No new information but it was well-presented. My favorite documentary continues to be The Magic Never Ends (2002).

Madcapmum asked why I’ve been so interested in C.S. Lewis lately. I’m not entirely sure. I originally started blogging as a way to work through my issues with Christianity. We’ve been about to join a Unitarian Universalist Church for quite some time, but neither my husband nor I can quite seem to bring ourselves to do it because there is so much hatred toward Christianity within Unitarian Universalism even though there are UU Christians. On the other hand, my husband and I both feel quite comfortable at the little Buddhist Sangha based upon Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings. We discovered the Sangha through a retreat for Christian-Buddhist dialogue.

For six years I’ve felt as though I’m in somewhat of a no-man’s land - not knowing where I fit religiously. It wouldn’t be all that difficult to follow the path of fellow UUers and treat Christianity as though it is a “less than” religion. I definitely have issues with it. Especially with fundamentalism.

That C.S. Lewis comes at it through mythology intrigues me because so many Christians do not associate their faith with mythology at all. They think Adam and Eve really existed, Jonah was literally swallowed by a whale, and Noah put all of the animals on the ark 2×2. Clearly, Lewis does not believe in the literalism of the Bible. Yet, he claims the story of Jesus is a true myth. In modern terms, to say something is a “true myth” is a negation. I want to understand, to the the best of my ability, what this meant to Lewis.

While science must deal in literalism (something is either true or not) the arts need not take this approach. Sometimes I think our culture is so caught up in a scientific approach that we forget there are any other possible ways to understand ourselves and our place in the world. What I’ve been realizing more and more is how caught up I am in the literal approach. I thought I left it far behind years ago, but I still notice bits and pieces trailing behind me every now and then. I’m not sure, of course, but I get the feeling that by digging into C.S. Lewis’ understanding of Christianity, I may discover more of my own baggage.