Nearly sixty years after his death (the same day in 1963 that JFK was killed), the writings of C. S. Lewis are still readable and impactful. Enough of the shape of the modern/post-modern world had emerged at least in Europe when Lewis penned his works that they remain thoroughly relevant. Also, many of the themes he treated, such as the failings of humans and the odd divine rescue operation centered in Jesus of Nazareth, are essentially timeless. See “The World’s Last Night”: C. S. Lewis on the Second Coming for a listing of the diverse types of literature he produced.
Shadowlands, the movie of Lewis’s romance with the brilliant American Jewish communist divorcee Joy Davidman, includes Davidman’s son Douglas Gresham as a minor character. Also, I had been aware over the years that he had some sort of role in the movie productions of some of Lewis’s Narnia Chronicles, such as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Thus, I could identify Douglas Gresham as the stepson of C. S. Lewis, but that was about it.
In the past month, I happened across an interview of Gresham on YouTube, which I found intriguing. So, I went and viewed further videos of him, all of which I found engaging and edifying. He is an accomplished and talented person in his own right, with a compelling story and a deep sense of purpose. Among other things, he reports having a paranormal experience at age ten or so after hearing the news from the doctors that his mother had advanced, untreatable cancer and was expected to die very soon. In this experience he interacted with a Presence who offered healing for the asking. So the boy asked, and the mother went into unexpected and inexplicable remission starting that night. Besides having his parents divorced, and being uprooted to a different country and having his mother first almost die (and four years later actually die) Gresham had a brother David who was one year older and who repeatedly tried to kill him. David was so toxic that most biographies of Lewis omit nearly all mention of him. It is only since David’s death a few years ago that Douglas feels freer to discuss him. His beloved and trusted step-father C. S. (“Jack”) Lewis died when Douglas was fourteen. He also had a very disturbed father; if you are feeling just too cheerful and need to get depressed, go read the plot summary of his father William Lindsay Gresham’s noir novel Nightmare Alley. He committed suicide when Douglas was still a teenager.
As an adult, Douglas pursued and married the love of his life, and they emigrated from England to Tasmania, where he farmed. He fell into radio broadcasting, and eventually transitioned into media and movie productions, including consulting on the Narnia movies and also on more recent stage and audio adaptations of some of Lewis’s works (e.g., The Screwtape Letters). Along the way, he held a wide variety of temporary jobs, opened restaurants, ran a detective agency, and got a pilot’s license and credentials for counseling. It seems there is nothing he cannot do.
Despite believing in God all his life, he felt that whoever was in charge was doing a poor job managing his life, since nearly everyone he cared about died when he was still young. It was only at age 45 that he became a follower of Jesus. His wife Merrie also had a horrible childhood, and likewise rejected Christianity until late in life. I have included a link to an interview with her. The two of them started up and ran a counseling/inner healing ministry in Ireland for around a decade, helping people recover from childhood trauma.
Anyway, I just wanted to share these videos with readers here, in case anyone wants to tap in. Gresham is in a unique position to share some lesser-known observations about Lewis. Also, in these talks, I was particularly impressed with how Douglas handled questions from the audience. No vague responses here, but tightly-reasoned and crisply-stated specific replies.
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In no particular order, here are the links and titles for the talks I saw. I include my notes on them, to help you decide which, if any, you’d like to listen to:
Interview with Douglas Gresham at the C.S. Lewis Symposium
One hour. ~ 2020 ? Interview centered on C. S. Lewis and his books. But Douglas’s spirit and story comes through.
Stepson of C.S. Lewis, Douglas Gresham, interviewed by Derick Bingham
28 minutes. 1998. Mainly about his own life, including mention of an incredible variety of jobs he has done – the guy is super smart and capable. And how even though he always believed in God, he went his own way in life until a crisis at age 45.
The YouTube blurb: The stepson of CS Lewis, and the co-producer of the ‘Narnia’ series of feature films, interviewed in 1998 by the late Derick Bingham. The setting was Rathvinden House, the then home of Douglas and Merrie Gresham, during a period when they lived in County Carlow, Ireland. Douglas discusses his upbringing, the impact that his mother’s death had on himself and on C.S Lewis, his ‘wild’ days drifting from job to job, finding Merrie and securing her hand in marriage in spite of two years of rejection, how he then almost threw away the marriage he had strived for through a regrettable indiscretion, and how that incident led to a permanent change of direction for him.
Jerry Root & Douglas Gresham | Evangelism and C.S. Lewis: A conversation (04/03/2017)
Total time is 1:42 which seems daunting, but some of this is interludes of introduction and of musical performance. The music is fine, it is musician Meg Sutherland singing songs inspired by Lewis’s writings, many of her sings she wrote when she was about fifteen years old. At Wheaton College.
If you want to skip to the actual discussions with Gresham, they start at the 19- minute mark. 19-40 min…includes Lewis’s views on the meaning of evangelism, and also on how we, including artists of various sorts (including songwriters and other authors), can express our faith in what we do, in an effective and appropriate way.
Discussion resumes at 50 min, but you really should listen to the music starting at 45 min, since this is a song Meg wrote for Doug, reflecting his childhood experience of having his father out of the picture and his mother about to die, while drawing on Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew, where the boy in that story is in the same situation and Aslan gives him a magical apple that heals his mother. That discussion goes till 1:34. The Q&A is towards the end of that discussion, and is high quality.
Douglas Gresham – Liberty University Convocation
2011 . 41 minutes. Straight-talking discussion of the difference between belief in God (which even the demons have) and actually handing your life over to God for him to run. The last half is mainly Q&A, quite impressive treatment of a variety of questions. His reliance on the Holy Spirit in daily life is inspiring.
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REMARKABLE SHORT VIDEO WITH DOUGLAS GRESHAM’S WIFE, MERRIE.
Merrie Gresham: Stepdaughter-in-law to CS Lewis | Rejection and Restoration
16 minutes. 2015 ( maybe filmed years earlier?).
I found this a powerful story, of a very strong, capable woman who because of harsh childhood experiences and her destructive choices found it hard to believe anyone, including God, really loved her. Fascinating how it was a chance hearing of an audio tape of C S Lewis’s Mere Christianity that helped her break through. Women might particularly relate to this video.
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Also…there are several other very short videos with Gresham on YouTube, often discussing recent stage presentations of Lewis’s works. And if you just can’t get enough, Gresham wrote an autobiography, Lenten Lands, which mainly covers his early life and includes many poignant anecdotes of his mother and Lewis. He is 77 years old now, so he may be in a state of semi-retirement.
Image: Narniaweb
Letters to Creationists 
