Monday, March 21, 2011

C.S. Lewis: When Theological Liberalism Hits the Headlines

Thanks to Robbie Sagers for the following quote from C. S. Lewis:

Liberal Christianity can only supply an ineffectual echo to the massive chorus of agreed and admitted unbelief. Don’t be deceived by the fact that this echo so often “hits the headlines.” That is because attacks on Christian doctrine which would pass unnoticed if they were launched (as they are daily launched) by anyone else, become News when the attacker is a clergyman; just as a very commonplace protest against make-up would be News if it came from a film star.

By the way, did you ever meet, or hear of, anyone who was converted from scepticism to a “liberal” or “demythologised” Christianity? I think that when unbelievers come in at all, they come in a good deal further.

—C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcom: Chiefly on Prayer (Mariner Books, 2002 edition), 119.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Background Links for Studying Bonhoeffer

http://www.bonhoeffer.com

Journey Films’ website dedicated to the film contains congregational resources for a variety of faith communities and additional articles by Bonhoeffer experts relating to the film.

http://www.dbonhoeffer.org/

The International Dietrich Bonhoeffer Society provides information on research, recent publications, and the progress of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works translation project. This site would be most helpful to the serious student and/or researcher of Bonhoeffer.

http://www.ushmm.org/bonhoeffer/index.html

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's article is helpful for reflecting upon and discussing the dangers of anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism in Christian circles. The author acknowledges that Christian and Jewish scholars evaluate Bonhoeffer’s legacy quite differently.

www.jcrelations.net

This website is owned and maintained by the International Council of Christians and Jews. It offers a variety of resources to foster mutual understanding and respect between Christians and Jews.

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/ww2era.htm

Propaganda was central to Nazi Germany. This page is a collection of English translations of Nazi propaganda for the period 1933-1945, part of a larger site on German propaganda. The goal is to help people understand the great totalitarian systems of the twentieth century by giving them access to primary material.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERnazigermany.htm

An exhaustive collection of links to articles about Nazi Foreign Policy (1932 – 45), Nazi Germany (1932-45) and Nazi leadership.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/Nazi%20Germany.htm

Another collection of illustrated articles with a focus on social history: Hitler’s report card, Nazi filmmaker Leni Liefenstahl and Jesse Owen’s winning four gold medals in Berlin in 1936.

http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirdWildWeb/courses/
mwt/dictionary/mwt_themes_780_bonhoeffer.htm

This excerpt from the Boston Collaborative Encyclopedia of Modern Western Theology focuses on Bonhoeffer’s early works, his Christology and his major work, Ethics.

Bonhoeffer Speaks Out Against Hitler


An insightful video documenting Bonhoeffer's views concerning the Third Reich.

C. S. Lewis, Superstar (From Christianity Today magazine)

At first glance, C. S. Lewis and Elvis Presley seem like polar opposites. But a closer look will show that these two cultural icons have a lot in common.

Like Elvis, C. S. Lewis had been a soldier. Both men came to fame on the radio. Both men's homes (Graceland and the Kilns) have become pilgrimage sites. Both left behind estates now valued in the millions. And both rose from relative obscurity—Elvis, a Mississippi truck driver, and Lewis, a tutor at Oxford—to become larger-than-life figures profiled in books and movies and beloved by legions of adoring fans. Like Elvis, even after death, Lewis remains a superstar.

Read more:
C. S. Lewis Superstar | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction