What a powerful life lesson, this man, in one sentence, changed my entire perspective on how I am to live and deal with the many struggles and pains in my life, thank you dearly Mr. Gresham, you have no idea the impact you have had on this near 20 year old man. I heard your voice on the narnia radio theatre my entire life growing up, even up to this day I listen to them as I lay my head down. Having you and your stepfathers influence in my life has mad eme a better man, a better christian, and a better friend. You have helped me see the connection between scripture and life, and how even in fiction, you can praise God and teach both young and old the many truths of life. I am so thankful for you and your family

@louisegogel7973

2 жыл бұрын

That is wonderful! Would you share the one sentence that made such a difference to you?

@chucksolutions4579

2 жыл бұрын

Please share the sentence!

@poshkidsmum

2 жыл бұрын

My personal tutor at Uni was a tutee of CS Lewis. I recognised Lewis's influence on him in the first lecture he gave in my second week as an undergrad, and asked him if they had ever met. He jumped as though I had stuck a hatpin in him. But after that insight, I could not put a foot wrong there...

@michelleflood7225

2 жыл бұрын

Caleb that was a lovely comment but when Tolkien and Lewis met he was actually an atheist but through Tolkien’s influence on Lewis he was brought back to the Anglican faith of his childhood .

I'll just come out and say it: what a crush I've had on D.G. for decades. What a bright compelling soul he is. Terrific interview.

Hearing him speaking about Cs Lewis and Tolkien warms me. I love their friendship and they both helped each other for the books they made. Douglas is so blessed to know them both, hope and wishing him well

How wonderful to rediscover Doug after all these decades. Many fond memories of working together during our time at ABCTV in Perth,Western Australia. Always the consummate professional but more importantly a jolly good fellow!

My life with my brother was very similar. People can't understand unless they lived with someone with extreme mental health difficulties. A healthy sibling can be marginalized because the chaos management is priority.

Oh my, how beautifully, masterfully and humbly Doug has managed, for lack of a better word, the legacy of one of the most important authors ever. Doug’s hugely generous soul has not disappeared into the shadows because of this, but shines ever so brightly and delightfully.

Lovely and life affirming interview with a wise and strong Christian man. May I presume to write that C.S. Lewis would be very pleased. Blessings on Douglas Gresham, his wife and their wonderful and charitable works.

I just watched the movie "Shadowlands" last night and this interview showed up. This is a very honest and humble man who has a lot to say about what Christ can do to transform a human life. I couldn't help but notice that he is wearing a watch on each of his wrists. I like what he said about the inability to run one's own life. His style of dress and his boots even add to his charm and character.

@paulheffron4836

2 жыл бұрын

@Rudi Burke Thanks, Rudi. I'll check it out.

@auniversalwoman

Ай бұрын

I just watched it too I can't believe that movie is thirty years old

That was brilliant. Douglas Gresham is a fascinating man to listen to and I do agree with him about the Americans and the British. They react and praise differently and they like slightly different things in books. I'm also a free-flowing Christian without a church. It used to bother me that I couldn't find one I felt was true, but now I'm fine with it, I don't belong to any. Here is a little trivia about Joy - her family had Polish and Russian roots, and Jewish too. And they were quite strict and she did exceptionally well at school and entered university at a young age.

@joyceanthony-huff2914

4 ай бұрын

Everyone knows joy was Jewish

Hi This is fascinating. I am pleased that I have taken the time to listen to this. Well done to Douglas.

Douglas, I don’t think it was Jack holding your hand. It was the Holy Spirit.

My grandfather Was a well known writer in his day & wrote : Paradise Lost at around age 11 & was of the temperament of this gentleman. He reminds me of him soo much! He ❤❤ was my favorite mentor & relative & deep thinker > next to CS Lewis. MR.Greshim's eyes light up talking about God /Jesus/ his mom & Jack, as it should be with those we cherish & have lost. He brings a deeper realistic view of Lewis that makes all he has written even more profound.

I want to tell you that my grandchildren of my second child, are avid readers of the NARNIA stories and their beautiful mother reads these family style. Its very nice to be able to share the real authors lifetime stories as well. Thank you for sharing your life with Jack Lewis. He left you a legacy and that is special. Not all parents leave such a life profile behind for their children. Worth so much more than any amount of a financial inheritance. Memories.

What an incredible life, Mr. Gresham. Thank you for your generosity in sharing with us. Blessings in Christ to you.

A wonderful interview. I loved every bit of it, especially the "digressions"!

Douglas, you are a fine personality, more than likely because of the influence around you growing up & your experiences. It is obvious you are a man of God! I love listening to you tell your stories & thank you for sharing.

The supernatural experience Douglas had with God at age 10 when he was about to lose his mother was similar to something that happened to me when I was 29. God showed up! Douglas said his mother lived another four years until he was able to make it without her. God understood a sorrowful 10-year-old boy's heartbreak and stepped in. He did the same for me when I was 29.

I remember Douglas Gresham when he was working at 7BU Burnie Tasmania. He went on holiday while I did his morning shift... I had only been a Christian a few months.. he Asked me if I heard of CS Lewis.. I hadn't... ships in the night.

After many years I am re-reading a book written by his mother. It's called 'Smoke on the Mountain', written before her marriage, as Joy Davidson. . It is a short, sharp commentary on the 10 Commandments and is almost uncanny because it is so relevant to our current world situation it could have been written yesterday. . She was such a gifted writer and may be it would be a good idea to reprint it. Her son is truly following in his mother's footsteps as well as those of his step-father.

Till We Have Faces is a book I read 30 years ago and there are still vivid images that come to my mind. I must get it out again and see what awaits me. Thank you for this wonderful interview and finding this connection to the life of one of my favourite authors.

@chucksolutions4579

2 жыл бұрын

I love all of Lewis’s writings but I think Till we have faces is the one book lewis wrote before he was a Christian.

@annchovey2089

8 ай бұрын

@@chucksolutions4579no. He wrote it after he was a Christian. It was written around 1955. His wife, Joy, played a heavy role as editor. I do not think they married at the time but were shortly thereafter.

How sublime to have a childhood with CS Lewis

You telling that story about your mother I had a similar experience when my mother died.

We love the brother Douglas. God bless . im from Brazil.

He is a mesmerising presence. Sheer charisma.

Thank you for this lovely conversation! May God Continually Bless you who shared this, Douglas, and each of his beloveds in all of His Way, in Jesus Yeshuas authority and name I pray, praise and thank Him!

I’ve never read any of his books. I couldn’t get around the narnia book. But I’m definitely gonna check them out.

"We are not qualified to run a human life" - I love that. I'm laughing but it's so true.

He is a lovely character, and now he looks like aslan !

Wonderful interview.

Marvellous interview!! The real thing talking. Thank you David

@joyceanthony-huff2914

4 ай бұрын

Douglas

I agree with you… I don’t have the need to go to Church because what was implanted to me in my earlier years ie. practice the Virtues not only makes you a good Christian but also embraces all religions/creeds.

Please sir, will there ever be a series or film featuring the Perelandra Trilogy? My favorite of the writings, read many many times.

I feel peaceful when I listen to Jack's stepson.

Just for the clarity of others may I point out that the second question asked in the Q&A session at the end of this video where he states Jack was often visited by his brother towards the end of Jack's life and that they never fell out with each other He of course meant Lewis and Tolkien Perhaps that looks like a lapse of memory but it could also be seen as a "Freudian slip"?🙏

@jdaze1

3 ай бұрын

I dont get it. Are you saying Tolkin was his real brother or what exactly? Thanks.

58:17 Here I am happy to note a difference. Church history was how non-Christians at SSHL tried to wrong a young just recently gone Lutheran Fundie from Christianity. It turned me, first High Church, then Catholic.

Incredible voice!

You get the sense of Lewis in the way Douglas speaks and his ebullient nature. There’s a joy of life here that ‘ Jack ‘ has instilled in his stepson as a gift. I believe that the real C S Lewis was found chatting and drinking in his local pub ; a jovial man, not too serious with a sense of adventure and fun. I feel this seems lost on the interviewer who seems preoccupied with analysing Lewis books and words. His legacy is his stepson and his famous works ‘ Mere Christianity ‘and The Lion , the witch and the Wardrobe ‘ .

Sad to think what Netflix will do to the Narnia Chronicles. Lewis would be so upset.

You'll find the ANCIENT ORTHODOX CHURCH a perfect place to WORSHIP GOD!!! Handed down from the Apostle's and NOT changed in 2,000 years... Also, how to be a good Christian... HUMILITY, REPENTANCE, WORSHIP and CHARITY... Lord have mercy on us all... CS Lewis did writings on Orthodoxy

I read a recent biography of Joy Davidman. It was really interesting. Based on letters written by her to her brother and other people, she went to England with the purpose of meeting with C.S. Lewis, whom she had a serious crush on, apparently just from reading his books, which she loved so she wrote many letters to him. She had pretended to be there to do research on medieval literature or something, but what she really wanted was to try to seduce him if possible, although he kept his distance from her for a long time based on his friends' advice. Only when she was diagnosed with her life-threatening cancer did his attitude change. The book also challenges the idea that her husband, Bill Gresham, was violent towards her. He had been unfaithful and alcoholic and they had loud arguments, but the author concluded that he did not hit her. She claimed he did though, apparently to get more sympathy from Lewis. Bill Gresham did fall in mutual love with Joy's cousin Renee, who with her children had escaped from an abusive husband and had moved in with the Greshams. It was a very complicated situation.

Fascinating man! I enjoyed this immensely, but I'm a bit of a nitpicker, so... Why two watches? Lol!

@ClassicRoyal

Жыл бұрын

One is CS Lewis?

Lovely Interview, and an Ignorant set of questions.

Great talk, but his negative views on Catholicism seemed solely based on his prejudice against his mother-in-law?!

I shall have to look for the collaboration "Faces" book recommended.

Please ask Mr. Gresham why he agreed to incorporate the literary estate, essentially copyrighted, so that a corporation could keep copyright essentially forever, never in the public domain, if I understand it correctly. Why not let artists adapt the stories in all medium?

@Historian212

Жыл бұрын

Because Lewis’s work should be preserved as he wrote it, not adapted and altered.

The very last question in the Q&A regards the Netflix series… May I ask Was it ever made? If so was it any good?

@seedsoflove7684

Жыл бұрын

Really? On Lewis or Grisham? I would watch it!

@BeesWaxMinder

Жыл бұрын

@@seedsoflove7684 either! 👍

@annchovey2089

8 ай бұрын

Of course it won’t be good. It’s Netflix- one of the most anti-Christian, woke companies out there.

41:02 And I thought CSL had done such a masterly woman's pov as sole writer ...!

I hope the Netflix adaptation doesn't lose the Christian influence.

CS Lewis likely sat in those chairs.

It is a pity Gresham often does not let the person with a question finish.... what was going to be the question? I often wondered....

The description says Lewis adopted the boys when he and Joy were married. Is this true? Because, when Bill Gresham found out Joy was dying he wrote to her telling her he would take the boys back to the US when she was gone. She made Lewis promise to do everything in his power to stop the boys from being returned to the US and their father (he was not a kind man, to say the least). Lewis wrote to Gresham the strongest letter he'd ever written and the boys ultimately stayed with Lewis till his death. Also, you can't just adopted another man's children without his permission.

@omfug7148

2 жыл бұрын

Since his last name is Gresham I assume that no legal adoption took place, speaking of the father, I wonder if Doug's brother inherited a mental illness from him?

@lindacosta5688

Жыл бұрын

Gresham committed suicide a year after Joy died so his influence was minimal, thank God

@rl7012

Жыл бұрын

@@cosettecopperfield8397 She meant Gresham senior, Doug's dad.

@seedsoflove7684

Жыл бұрын

​@@cosettecopperfield8397read and understand the original post.

😊

It’s vitally important that we understand that God doesn’t need us to “commit our lives to Christ;” he wants us to receive what he’s offering us through Christ, who did everything necessary to be able to offer us eternal life in him by placing our faith in him. God has a gift for you In Ephesians 2:8&9 KJV! Have you let him know you’ve received it?

Has Gresham considered Angel Studios?

Thank you for this interview! To respond to your question. I believe that lesbians have a very hard time mostly because 1) women in general have been seen and treated as less than men, and 2) society has been putting same sex relationships down for quite a while. Put the two together, and, if the statistics are accurate about lesbian suicide, you have some of the explanation for those numbers, I believe. I love what you said about churches. I have always felt that every religion, at its true core, is climbing toward the same goal of oneness with what I call Divine Love and you call Jesus. There are some within those religions who are truly connected, and many who are not yet there. There are also many who have no religious affiliations who are connected. The way is through Love in my opinion, and, as CS Lewis said in The Last Battle, ‘what you do in service for good goes in my name’. Also, in The Secret Garden of Frances Hodgson Burnett, Nancy’s mother says it another way: “what are names to the joy maker?” Thank you for sharing your stories and love with the world. Blessings on your family and all the good works each of you is taking part in. 50:54. And thank you for the book reference of JRR Tolkein by George Sayer who was his close friend.

@annchovey2089

8 ай бұрын

George Sayer wrote that Lewis lost his faith after Joy died. Don’t trust this biographer.

Never knew

53:52 There is one more person of whom I know this trait. No, not me. I make annoying forgetnesses about things. That other person, who had understood and remembered every page he had read and thanked God for it was St. Thomas Aquinas.

The chair makes grisham look tiny.

Why is this guy wearing riding trousers - riding boots and two watches ?????

@joyceanthony-huff2914

4 ай бұрын

He's artsy

@tomdigby4463

4 ай бұрын

??????

Why two watches? Is he a Mason?

His inappropriate laugh is a bit unsettling.

@stechriswillgil3686

2 жыл бұрын

How do you mean ?

@keithawhosoever5384

2 жыл бұрын

Its probably part of the British way to cope with tragedy...you laugh or you cry..sometimes both.🆓✝️🇬🇧

@leighcunningham756

2 жыл бұрын

It is an involuntary reflex in response to his discomfort

2:38

I'm so glad that Lewis was part of Gresham's life; I do believe it saved him to a large extent. I must also say that I don't think it is any honor of Lewis to simply disciple oneself to him, rather than commit oneself to the integral inquiry to which Lewis committed his mind and soul. If Lewis had lived longer, he would have changed his mind about many things, as Biblical scholarship evolved & those that cared about the truth put away childish things, such as the way the first evangelicals invented a new religion of misunderstood readings of biblical books -- and who can no longer hear God's Word -- Reason writ in nature (Logos), because they have Bibles stuffed in their ears. Lewis would not have rationalized away anything scholars like Bart Ehrman have admitted to the world, and would have, in fact, published corrections of Biblical misunderstandings before Ehrman did. To call the gospels the owner's manual of a human life truly makes me fear for despairing hearts broken, brought before Gresham in hopes of repair. To tell them they cannot run their own life, but need to tune their lives to the gospels, is a cowardice and dissociation Lewis would have risen above, as did Ehrman -- albeit sans Lewis' poetry. Lewis would have had Ehrman's courage, and would have articulated better than Ehrman, who, stripped of Puritan & Catholic theology, and the belief in a Bible inerrant, still stood with a naked faith intact. Not in Church or Bible -- but via Logos (not "word", for that is the Greek lexis -- logos is reason, study, and science-- which is the study of nature). And, I am very sorry for the pain still so apparent in every breath Doug takes. The same despair leaks out with every breath I loose upon the world. I get that the Bible Misunderstood has been the crutch he needed to continue, and don't wish to kick it out from beneath him. Yet I must extort all to continue the study Lewis would have bravely pursued, and reach beyond that old crippled framework of dissociated faith, into what steely strength faith can (now) be -- for the Truth indeed makes one free.

@bmide1110

2 жыл бұрын

You have completely and totally misunderstood CS Lewis. The theological perspective you represent is one he knew extremely well (it was just as developed in his time as it is in ours) and totally rejected.

@felixa8607

Жыл бұрын

Exactly. However, I hope Stephanie keeps reading with humility.

@seedsoflove7684

Жыл бұрын

​@@bmide1110i am confused. CS lewis theology was wrong? (Abt what?) Or was not wrong (thus biblical)? Please expound.

@bmide1110

Жыл бұрын

No. I agree with CS Lewis. Stephanie is saying that if CS Lewis had read Ehrman he would have become a liberal. Lewis read plenty of liberals--he knew well the positions put forward by people like Ehrman--and he completely and emphatically rejected them. He called a miracle-denying liberalism the greatest threat to true Christianity. So Stephanie is completely wrong in her assessment of what CS Lewis "would have believed" if he had encountered different interpretations.@@seedsoflove7684

Why Douglas wears watches on both his wrists?

@stechriswillgil3686

2 жыл бұрын

To tell the time here and now , and to tell the time in Narnia of course !

Someone should ask him why he sold the rights of Narnia to that evil company called Netflix. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that we will never see another Narnia film made by people who cherish the message it was made to convey.

@hemanthnagasuresh3589

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah....don't have any hope on netflix to make the series in a clean way.. They'll ruin it.

@philagon

3 жыл бұрын

Narnia will always live in books not the silver screen. It is a mistake to wish that literature be cut to fit in Procrustes' bed of film.

@anniedog34

3 жыл бұрын

@@philagon But a great many more people and children who just don't read or live in a family that does read will be introduced not only the story and characters, but to C.S. Lewis, as well.

@MrJohndoe17

3 жыл бұрын

Deforming the stories by Netflix is possible, (as in the non-Christian Oprah-fied movie version of A WRINKLE IN TIME by L'Engle) but also much less likely the quality of the storytelling will be as poor as PRINCE CASPIAN and VOYAGE OF THE DAWNTREADER. The series ended due to declining box office. I'd suggest the main divine purpose of every stage play, TV iteration and movie about Narnia is to introduce children and other people to the books, and the purpose of the books, is to introduce people to the Gospel, the Bible, and get them seeking the Lion of Judah.

@seedsoflove7684

Жыл бұрын

​@@MrJohndoe17let us pray they do it justice, if they do it at all (or did they already do a narnia movie on netflix?)

Delicious...

10:27

George Sayer claimed Lewis lost his faith after Joy died.