The stepson of CS Lewis is stepping "through the wardrobe' and into Sydney to reveal the truth about the man behind "The Chronicles of Narnia'.
Douglas Gresham lived with CS Lewis in the 1950s with his mother, Joy, and will be one of the guest speakers at the CS Lewis Today Conference in Sydney from today through to Saturday.
"I am speaking on CS Lewis " the man rather than the myth," Mr Gresham says.
"There have been many biographies and even a film made about him, which are relatively inaccurate. I will speak about him as Jack [as CS Lewis is also known] " the man " in a simple telling of his life."
CS Lewis' stepson " Douglas Gresham
Mr Gresham says it is difficult to talk about the uniqueness of having CS Lewis as a stepfather.
"I have nothing to compare it with. I don't know what its like to grow up without CS Lewis as a stepfather," he says.
Mr Gresham's biological parents divorced when he was eight. He was then taken to England with his mother, Joy and his older brother, David.
"I was in a very alien culture. Then my mother was diagnosed with cancer when I was 10. She died when I was 14, then a bit after that my father in America died, then a little after that Jack died," Mr Gresham says.
"It was a difficult childhood, but full of great delight and great joy. Jack was such a vibrant and buoyant personality, so full of fun and humour. That is one of the things almost always lost in the biographies about him."
Becoming a Christian
"I always believed in God and Jesus, but so does the devil, so that didn't make me a Christian," Mr Gresham says.
"My real problem was I didn't want to submit my life to the authority of anyone but myself. I realised I was worshiping myself and therefore had a fool for a deity," he laughs.
After a bad romantic relationship and the realisation that he was "arrogant, deceitful and proud', Mr Gresham gave his life over to Christ.
After Mr Gresham and his wife, Merrie became Christians they moved to an old manor house in the south of Dublin where they founded Rathvinden Ministries, where they work with people who have suffered pregnancy loss and child abuse.
"If you want to be in any kind of ministry of Christ, work out what you want to do for Jesus and then what Jesus wants you to do for him, then do the latter."
The legend of Lewis
Mr Gresham moved to Australia with Merrie, in 1967.
He lived in Australia for 25 years during which time he was a farmer in Tasmania and a broadcaster and television personality in Western Australia.
Mr Gresham, who regularly returns to Australia to visit family says Lewis has a lot to offer this 21st century nation.
"His works are so valuable to Australian society, which has lost its way and is groping about trying to find it again," he says.
"If you read his works he has so much to offer in the pages of his books. His works open up the truths about God in a completely non-denominational and "non-churchian' way.
"The sooner Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Methodists, Baptists and the rest all realise that Christ comes first and denominations come way down the list, the gospel will be more palatable to non-Christians, which is so more important."
The conference
The three-day conference is the first international conference on CS Lewis in Australia and is being organised by CASE (The Centre for Apologetic Scholarship and Education), MCSI (Macquarie Christian Studies Institute), Anglican Youthworks and a number of other organisations.
The conference will have three different focuses (Lewis for educators, Lewis for scholars and Lewis for everyone) across three different centres (Wesley Conference Centre, New College, at the University of New South Wales and Robert Menzies College at Macquarie University).
At the "Lewis for educators' seminars, teachers can expect to gain a better understanding of the fantasy genre and its place in the Christian imagination.
The "Lewis for scholars' seminars will include contributions from Sydney Anglicans Gordon Preece, Andrew Cameron and Greg Clarke and will be concluded with a provocatively titled debate, "Misogynist, madman or mere Christian? The debate over the character of C.S.Lewis".
At "Lewis for everyone', Douglas Gresham, will speak on the film version of "The Chronicles of Narnia', from his perspective as a co-producer and sign copies of his book "Jack’s Life: Memories of C. S. Lewis'.
"I think making movies is something for me. It was fascinating and I loved the job," Mr Gresham says.
"I have always wanted to make the Narnia chronicles into films, but I searched for a long time before I could find a film company I felt I could trust to make a faithful adaptation of the book.
"I think the promise made by the producers to remain faithful has been proved by the public's response to the movie. It is such a good movie."
For more details visit [url=http://www.cslewistoday.com]http://www.cslewistoday.com[/url]
