C.S. Lewis Creativity

This spring I gave my C.S. Lewis students a challenge - to integrate their study of Lewis with their own personal interests, hobbies, or talents. Instead of a traditional academic term paper, they tackled a special term project, finding a creative way to present themes and content from Lewis in a medium that particularly interested them. 

The results were a great change from the norm. The musicians in class set Lewis poems to music and wrote/performed original songs inspired by The Weight of Glory, The Screwtape Letters, and Till We Have Faces. We even got an original C.S. Lewis rap. One artist drew a beautiful and detailed map and timeline of Narnia, while another produced a series of digital art pieces representing most of our reading list. One student made a music video to show how the worldviews that Lewis critiques in That Hideous Strength are still alive and well in our popular culture. We had a short story based on the Narnia Chronicles, and the transcript of a trial set in a dystopian science fiction future where a noted Christian apologist (based on Lewis) has his ideas put on trial. 

The variety and creativity of these projects was a delight. In so many ways, Lewis's writings are full of ideas that should go beyond our academic lives and infuse our daily walk as Christians. My goal was to have students connect those ideas to other parts of their lives, and I think they did a great job doing so. Below is just one example from a collection of great projects; a piece on The Screwtape Letters by Elise (click for larger):