Films – John Bowen

C.S.Lewis\’ The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – Coming to a Cinema near You on December 10

I have an actor friend, Joe Abbey-Colborne, who worked with me in campus evangelism nearly twenty years ago. When I first suggested a collaboration to him, he was nervous. He had had too many experiences of doing dramatic sketches, then having a preacher stand up and say, “Now, I hope you understand that this character […]

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The Spirituality of Narnia

Books

Many people love the Narnia stories. However, not all readers know the deep spirituality that underlies them. In some ways, the stories mirror Lewis’ own wrestling with his spiritual longings, and seek to help others on the same journey. He wants us to feel, as he himself came to feel, that what we long for

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The Meaning of Life: The Views of Monty Python, Douglas Adams, Samuel Beckett, the X-Box, and Jesus

Lectures

At the heart of the courses I teach at Wycliffe College is the question of how to communicate Christian faith to people who are exploring their spirituality but know very little about Christianity. Of course, there’s a limit to how much you can learn about this in the classroom, so from time to time, I

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“Stranger than Fiction” and the Meaning of Life: What Jesus says to Will Ferrell

Lectures, Sermons

The image of God we carry around in our head is one of the most important things about us. Accurate and inaccurate images of God can lead to very different conclusions. For instance, many people have the image of God as very religious. But, from the teaching of Jesus at least, that is a pretty

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Christmas at the Movies: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Lectures, Sermons

Stories are amazing things. Some of them crop up in every culture in every century. Sometimes they turn up in different forms, but still with a recognizable family likeness. There seems to be something about certain stories that appeals very deeply to the human race. I think this is probably one reason we love the

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The Man Who Created Narnia

Lectures

C.S.Lewis is one of the most unlikely children’s authors you could ever meet. He was an academic all of his life, teaching first at Oxford and later at Cambridge. He was not married till he was over fifty, and had no children of his own, nor any nephews or nieces. His closest friends were other

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The Gospel According to Jim Carrey

Lectures, Popular Articles

I do not think the God of Christianity is particularly religious. If Jesus is right, God created all of life, not just the narrowly religious bits. So if God is interested in us, God doesn’t have to wait till we get religious. God can communicate with us many ways—through friends, books, school, experiences . .

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Tolkien and Faith: The Spiritual Worldview of The Lord of the Rings

Dare Booklets

Not everybody who enjoys The Lord of the Rings knows that J.R.R.Tolkien described it as “a deeply religious and Catholic work.” This booklet draws out the Christian underpinnings of the story. Timed to coincide with the release of the third movie in 2003, but intriguing wherever Tolkien’s work is loved. For the full text of

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Using Movies in Teaching and Preaching

Good Idea!

How can the average priest or pastor use movies in ministry? This article offers some practical pointers. Previous generations might have used a flannelgraph to illustrate a sermon for children. Any generation in any culture can teach by telling a story, as long as it is appropriate for the culture. But for our postmodern, postliterate

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The Gospel according to The Truman Show

Uncategorized

Esquire magazine called The Truman Show the movie of the decade, and, in spite of the lack of Oscars it received, I can understand the claim. If you haven\’t seen it, it\’s the story of one man, Truman Burbank, who has been the central character in a 24-hour a day TV show since the day he was

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