Over at the Chronicles of Narnia blog, the script writers have posted an interesting discussion on adapting Prince Caspian from book into movie form.

As writers, the biggest challenge we faced was connecting the Pevensies’ story to that of Prince Caspian. In C. S. Lewis’ book, they’re essentially two separate narratives which only come together near the end. While this is perfectly entertaining to read, it makes for a strangely structured movie where your favorite characters are absent for long stretches at a time.

Consequently, we decided to weave the two plots together early, bringing the Pevensies into Narnia near the start and giving them a greater role in Caspian’s journey. This not only helped on a structural level, it also allowed us to take advantage of the alliances and antagonisms that would evolve when we tossed three kings and two queens together into the same room — or underground chamber, as the case may be.

This reminds me a little bit of the movie adaptation of Tom Clancy’s A Clear and Present Danger. Jack Ryan, the main character, doesn’t appear in the book until almost halfway into the story. Of course, for the movie you couldn’t really have Harrison Ford not show up until halfway through, so they adapted the storyline accordingly. The result? I thought it made for a better movie than if they had stuck strictly to the book’s progression.

What do you think about adapting books into movies? How are books and movies different, and how does that affect the adaptation? Do you have any favorite movie adaptations or any real groaners to share?

Related post:  How Will the Prince Caspian Movie Be Different from the Book?

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The new J.R.R. Tolkien book, The Children of Hurin, was released yesterday.

From ABC news:

Six thousand years before the Fellowship of the Ring, long before anyone had even seen a Hobbit, the elves and men of Middle-earth quaked at the power of the dark lord Morgoth.

Hunted by easterlings and orcs, they fled to the fastness of Nargothrond and to the deep forests of Brethil and Doriath. Among them, a hero emerged. Strong and courageous he was, but foolhardy and impetuous. His name was Turin, son of Hurin.

The Lord of the Rings works rank up there as some of my favorite books and movies, so I am excited about this one. I am curious how many Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fans out there plan on getting this.

Here is the book description from Amazon and some comments from Adam Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien’s grandson:

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Two of these things are not like the others. Here is the top ten list of Latest BestSellers of Religion Hardcover from Publishers Weekly for the week of March 12, 2007. Do you notice something strange about the list? The top two books are both by atheists attacking religion and defending atheism. What is wrong with this picture? This is like giving out country music awards to a rap group. (Or rap music awards to a country group.)

1. The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins
2. Letter to a Christian Nation, by Sam Harris
3. Get Out of the Pit! Straight Talk About God’s Deliverance, by Beth Moore
4. The Purpose-Driven Life, by Rick Warren
5. Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential, by Joel Osteen
6. Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul, by John Eldredge
7. How to See Yourself as You Really Are, by Dalai Lama and Jeffrey Hopkins
8. Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires, the Respect He Desperately Needs, by Emerson Eggerichs
9. The Confident Woman, by Joyce Meyer
10. Epicenter: Why Current Rumblings in the Middle East Will Change Your Future, by Joel Rosenberg

Reported in DallasNews Religion; HT: PastorBlog

Update: Here are some recent articles by Albert Mohler and Alvin Plantinga on the Dawkins and Harris books mentioned above.

• “God’s Dupes?” — Atheist Public Relations at Work, by Albert Mohler
• The New Atheism? by Albert Mohler
• The Dawkins Confusion, by Alvin Plantinga
• The Dawkins Delusion, by Albert Mohler
• Sam Harris Writes Letter to a Christian Nation, by Albert Mohler

Fred Sanders has an interesting post at the Scriptorium today on Narnia and Holy Saturday. First he draws the comparison between Aslan’s delayed arrival to help Peter and the Narnian army in their battle against the White Witch to the disciples’ waiting for Christ’s resurrection on Saturday.

One of the most interesting decisions Lewis makes in establishing the chronology of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is the way he keeps Aslan out of the picture long enough that the armies of Narnia have to face the White Witch in his absence. The film adaptation handles this very well, I think. Dramatically speaking, it makes for a great story to have the heroes bravely fight against overwhelming odds with no hope of rescue. They give their all and face real martyrdom, before the risen Aslan comes over the hilltop at the last possible second, leading a re-animated army he has gathered from the dungeon of the Witch.

Then he goes on to compare the waiting of the disciples on Holy Saturday to our waiting in the present for Christ’s return.

Since Jesus ascended into heaven and left us waiting for his return, we are in a position strikingly similar to the disciples: for them, Jesus had descended into the earth and left them waiting for his return. The two returns of Jesus –from the grave and from the Father’s right hand– are different. But the waiting should feel familiar. Welcome to the meantime, where we have God’s promise and live by faith that Christ will be back, keeping all God’s promises. Welcome to Holy Saturday in Narnia.

As a big Narnia fan, I really enjoyed this one. You can read the full article here.

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Here is an excerpt on human suffering and the cross from John Stott’s landmark book, The Cross of Christ:

I could never myself believe in God if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as ‘God on the cross’. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after awhile I have had to turn away. And in imagination, I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through his hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of his. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross which symbolizes divine suffering. ‘The cross of Christ … is God’s only self justification in such a world’ as ours.¹ (John Stott, The Cross of Christ, pp. 335-336)

¹ P.T. Forsyth, Justification of God, p. 32.

The following is excerpted from A. W. Tozer’s essay, “The Cross is a Radical Thing,” found in his book, The Root of the Righteous. I trust you will find it a meaningful meditation on the cross for this Good Friday.
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“The cross of Christ is the most revolutionary thing ever to appear among men.

“The cross of the Roman times knew no compromise; it never made concessions. It won all its arguments by killing its opponent and silencing him for good. It spared not Christ, but slew Him the same as the rest. He was alive when they hung Him on that cross and completely dead when they took him down six hours later …

“After Christ was risen from the dead the apostles went out to preach His message, and what they preached was the cross … The radical message of the cross transformed Saul of Tarsus and changed him from a persecutor of Christians to a tender believer and an apostle of the faith. Its power changed bad men into good ones. It shook off the long bondage of paganism and altered completely the whole moral and mental outlook of the Western world.

“All this it did and continued to do as long as it was permitted to remain what it had been originally, a cross. Its power departed when it was changed from a thing of death to a thing of beauty. When men made of it a symbol, hung it around their necks as an ornament … then it became at best a weak emblem … As such it is revered today by millions who know absolutely nothing about its power …

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Here is a great quote by Albert Mohler on the importance of reading in his blog post today entitled: We Are What We Read — David McCullough on Reading and History.

Reading is a crucial means of education and gaining knowledge. But books mean more than knowledge in the most basic sense. Books allow minds to meet, ideas to be exchanged, and experiences to be remembered or imagined. Those who do not read impoverish themselves by choice. They are the thieves of their own imaginations and wisdom.

Stephen Prothero, chair of the Department of Religion at Boston University, offers this thought provoking review over at Books and Culture of Lawrence Wright’s new book, The Looming Tower: Al Queda and the Road to 9/11.

In the review Prothero raises the question: who gets to define Islam? It is a difficult question to answer because not even all Muslims agree.

The root meaning of the term Islam is submission, and classically a Muslim is anyone who submits to God by uttering with faith, “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of God.” Over time, however, many Muslims have developed far more stringent qualifications for the category of real Muslim. Some Sunni Muslims see all Shiite Muslims as pretenders to the true faith. Some Shiites view Sunnis likewise. And some Muslims have even stricter qualifications for their fellow travelers. Members of al-Qaeda, for example, believe that any so-called Muslim who holds views about Islam different from their own is not a real Muslim.

He goes on to discuss the Islamic concept of takfir – the act of proclaiming apostate those Muslims who disagree with your position on Islam.

To understand why this line of thought matters, it is important to note that the Qur’an plainly forbids the killing of other Muslims. As Wright discusses, the Qur’an does not shrink from war with idolaters. “Slay the idolaters wherever you find them,” it reads, and “fight those who do not believe in God.” Yet the Islamic tradition, including its four main schools of jurisprudence, also says that women and children must be spared in combat, and that Muslims must not target fellow Muslims for death. Commit the latter crime and you will spend eternity in hell.

In the World Trade Center, of course, many Muslims were murdered. The killings of Muslims in suicide bombings by al-Qaeda operatives and their imitators in Afghanistan and Iraq continue to mount. And it is the notion of takfir that has made all this possible.

It is a fascinating review that gives the reader a glimpse into the many faceted world of Islam. And of course at the end of the review, the chilling question remains: Who gets to define Islam for the rest of the world?

Have your prayers ever gone unanswered? Do you ever wonder if God is listening? If you have ever prayed, then you have faced the problem of unanswered prayer at one time or another.

We often hear that God answers all our prayers. Sometime he answers “yes,” sometimes “no,” and other times “later.” There is a lot of truth to that, but when we talk about unanswered prayer, we are usually talking about the prayers that God answers “no” or “later.” Why does God answer this way? Are there good reasons that we can understand?

Scot McKnight over at Jesus Creed has been posting on a new book called God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer, by Pete Greig. I have not read the book yet, but I have already benefited from Scot’s summary of the main points. Here are sixteen reasons Greig suggests that God sometimes does not answer prayer:

1. Common sense: Am I asking God to do something stupid, meaningless, or illogical?
2. Contradiction: Are my prayers likely to be conflicting with those of someone else?
3. Laws of nature: Are my prayers potentially detrimental to the natural order or to the lives of others?
4. Life is tough: Am I expecting God to spare me from stuff that’s just common human experience because of the Fall?
5. Doctrine: Does my prayer reflect God’s character and His promises in the Bible? Might it be out of line with His will for my life?
6. Second best: Although my desire in prayer is for something good, is it possible that God has something even better in store for me?
7. Motive: Are my prayers essentially just selfish?
8. Relationship: Is there an opportunity here for going deeper in my relationship with God?
9. Free will: Am I expecting God to override someone’s free will?
10. Influence: Am I trying to exercise ungodly power over a person’s life in prayer?
11. Satanic opposition: Is my prayer in line with God’s will but experiencing specific demonic resistance?
12. Faith: Do I really believe that God can do this? Am I out of my league?
13. Perseverance: Do I want it enough to keep praying?
14. Sin: Honesty time: Is there some secret sin you need to confess?
15. Justice: Am I actively seeking to express God’s love for the poor?
16. None of the first 15: Am I trying to find answers where I need instead to trust?

I think this is an excellent list worthy of study and reflection in relation to our prayers. What do you think?

Note: You can access Scot’s full comments on the book here:

• Unanswered Prayers 1
• Unanswered Prayers 2
• Unanswered Prayers 3

Do you ever struggle with regularly reading God’s word? I am currently reading John Piper’s book, When I Don’t Desire God, and found the following section helpful.

“A thousand interesting things compete for our attention to the Word of God. I confess that after fifty years of loving and reading and memorizing Scripture, I can be lured away from appointed times in the Word by something as insignificant as a new computer device. The illusory pleasure of newness can temporarily trump the far superior benefits of keeping my appointment with the Word of God.

“This is evidence in me of what Paul calls indwelling sin (Rom. 7:17,20,23). It is part of the remaining corruption lingering after the death of the old self (Rom. 6:6). I am not proud of it. It grieves me. At times it frightens me . . . I know this sinful inclination must be fought to the death . . .

“One of the ways we can fight against the inclinations that lure us from the Word of God to computers or television or any other substitute pleasure is to remind ourselves often of the immeasurable and superior benefits of the Word of God in our lives. We must put the evidence before us that reading, pondering, memorizing, and studying the Bible will yield more joy in this life and the next than all the things that lure us from it.” (John Piper, When I Don’t Desire God, pp. 96-97)

I love God’s Word and read it (most) every day, but I also can find myself distracted by the most inconsequential things. I need to remind myself often of the “immeasurable and superior benefits” of God’s Word in my life. How do you make God’s Word a priority in your life?

Operation World, by Patrick Johnstone, is an amazing book resource that provides demographic and geographical information for every nation in the world, as well as specific prayer requests and answers to prayer. It is arranged in calendar format so that you can pray for the whole world in the course of a year. I have found it helpful in the past both as a source of information and as a guide to prayer for the nations. Our family has also used the children’s version called You Can Change the World in our family prayer times.

So I was very excited to learn that Operation World has put together a daily web page called Operation World – Pray Today. Each day you get information and prayer requests pertaining to a different part of the world. (For example, today’s focus nation is Brunei in Southeast Asia). I encourage you to check it out and make it a part of your regular prayer life.

A big thanks to Justin Taylor over at Between Two Worlds for bringing this to my attention on his blog today.