Focus on the Family and Tyndale House have released a new Radio Theatre production, C.S. Lewis at War, that takes listeners behind-the-scenes to the events and settings that laid the foundation for C.S. Lewis’ seminal work, Mere Christianity.

Mere Christianity, one of the most influential Christian books of the twentieth century, was created as a series of British radio broadcasts in a time of great conflict and adversity—the darkest days of World War II.

England was at war with Germany, day-to-day living was immensely difficult and the specter of death and devastation loomed over the nation. It was a time of strain, heartbreak and weariness.

BBC officials knew the nation needed a moral underpinning to face the crisis and embarked on an aggressive program to provide it, commissioning some of the greatest Christian minds to step up to the task. Dorothy Sayers and C.S. Lewis agreed to help. From Sayers came the classic radio series The Man Born to Be King while Lewis delivered the now-famous Broadcast Talks that became Mere Christianity.

Recorded in London and on location at Lewis’ Oxford home with a full cast of award-winning actors, C.S. Lewis at War dramatizes a critical time in history when the essentials of a Christian worldview were desperately needed, and demonstrates that grace, compassion and showing the love of Christ to neighbors are even more necessary today.

With sound effects, a musical score and a renowned cast of voice actors, this radio drama shares a behind-the-scenes look at Lewis’ life, friends, family and how his BBC talks came to be a reality. As a bonus, C.S. Lewis at War includes an unabridged reading of the entirety of Mere Christianity by British stage actor Philip Bird.

Nov. 22 is the 50th anniversary of Lewis’s death, coincidentally the same day that both President John F. Kennedy and Brave New World author Aldous Huxley died. For more on Lewis’ life, see our story in the November 2013 issue of Christian Retailing and our online coverage here: https://www.christianretailing.com/index.php/news/industry-news/26285-cs-lewis-writings-still-resonate-50-years-after-death.

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