From my early days as a believer, I have been a fan of C.S. Lewis. Like many, I was first drawn to his Chronicles of Narnia series. Later, I delved into some of his lesser known works. The Screwtape Letters, with its wit and cleverly written insights into the nature of man and the journey of faith, became and continues to be my perennial favorite. (With apologies to one very enthusiastic SGCC elder, the space trilogy just doesn’t do it for me.) However, one volume that I purchased in my youthful enthusiasm which soon confounded me was The Abolition of Man. As I picked up this small, benign looking paperback of less than 120 pages, I suddenly was confronted with the intellectual giant that was C.S. Lewis. Reading the Chronicles, was a carefree romp through a colorful world of talking animals and adventurous children. But when I picked up The Abolition of Man, I found myself trudging through thick mud with heavy boots. Now, many years later, while not always agreeing with Lewis on some of his views, he still remains my favorite author, and The Abolition of Man still remains one of his most challenging books.
Then today, I happened to find Joe Carter’s post on The Gospel Coalition called C.S. Lewis’ Men without Chests (and what that means) – a reference to Lewis’ book The Abolition of Man – and I was immediately intrigued. What I found was a true delight! Carter links to a Youtube channel called “CSLewisDoodle”. There I watched a 30 minute illustrated video of chapter one of Lewis’ book. I cannot remember the last time I was so provoked to think while at the same time being visually engaged. As the narrator reads, the concepts are literally “illustrated” with simple, yet incredibly creative and clever pictures drawn with white chalk pen on a black backdrop. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did. And if you find it incredibly boring, and me incredibly nerdy, that’s okay too.
–Pastor Dave