To all and sundry:-

I am back and amazed at all the nonsense that is being bandied about concerning the announcement from HarperCollins.

Here at Rathvinden Ministries, it is our busiest time of year, and at present I really don't have time to get embroiled in some long and fruitless discussion on Merelewis; so this is to be my first and last post on this matter.

There is no "new" or "different"company.

All that is being attempted, is to make the original seven chronicles more readily acceptable to younger children by first introducing them to Narnia in stories aimed at younger and wider audiences. Children today are missing the Chronicles of Narnia because they are already hooked on computer games and pre-teen romances before they are old enough to read the real thing. We have tried before to do this by abridging (something I have never liked) the chronicles in picture books and such. It hasn't worked so we are trying something new. Admittedly my personal motivation may be somewhat different from that of others in publishing, but that is part of my personal commitment to Christ and I must not expect everyone else to share that, no matter how much I might wish it.

As you may (or may not) know, I frequently address schools and indeed I was just recently addressing a Christian Academy in Boston, and I have found that fewer and fewer children are knowledgeable or even aware of the Chronicles of Narnia. In fact in Boston, and remember this was a Christian School, I found that no more than ten percent of the children I asked were Narnia readers. This I feel to be something that should be addressed. It is important to look at such matters with the mind rather than with the emotions. I confess that I had thought better of Merelewisians than to expect all this emotive nonsense here, though I did expect it elsewhere.

And as for:-

"Simon Adley, head of the powerful new C. S. Lewis Company, wants to broaden Lewis's commercial appeal by disassociating Lewis and Narnia from Christianity as much as possible." That's a pretty serious charge. I think you of all people on this list would appreciate it if we ask for your sources on this.

What is wrong with trying to get people outside of Christianity to read the Narnian Chronicles? Should we Christians jealously cuddle them to ourselves and not let anybody else see what we have found? What on Earth do you think Jesus was doing with the Gospel way back when? Did He take His message only to the Pharisees and Priests or did he "secularise"it , try to make it available to a wider audience, by teaching the sinners and ordinary folk in the streets and fields? The Christian audience is less in need of Narnia than the secular audience, and in today's world the surest way to prevent secularists and their children from reading it is to keep it in the "Christian" or "Religious" section of the bookstores or to firmly link Narnia with modern Evangelical Christianity (an idol that has its own feet of clay). As far as I am concerned the more people who read Narnia and thus are then later attracted to Jack's other works, the better; for the sakes of their souls as well as my Ministry. The last time I was with Simon Adley, he was reading and enthusing about "Mere Christianity", so instead of criticizing our business methods and plans perhaps you would be better employed praying for him and for me. If we can get a wider and particularly a secular audience to read the books, we will be serving Christ; go thou and do likewise.

Blessings all,

Doug.

*** POSTING ADDRESS: Messages for posting to the list should be sent to [log in to unmask]

*** CHANGE OF ADDRESS: From the *old* address, send "change merelewis newaddress" in the body of email to [log in to unmask]

*** SIGNOFF: To signoff, send "signoff merelewis" in the body of email to [log in to unmask]

*** ARCHIVES / HELP: To search the archives or for other help, send "info merelewis" in the body of email to [log in to unmask]

This info also available at the Mere Lewis web page at: http://members.aol.com/dwalheim/merelewis.html

*** Copyright by Mere Lewis and the respective authors. *** Do not reprint or publish elsewhere in whole or part without the express permission of the individual author.