C.S. Lewis died on November 22, 1963, just shy of his 65th birthday on November 29th.

Today is the 51st anniversary of his death on the same day that President John F. Kennedy and writer Aldous Huxley died.

One of the projects we’ve been engaged in at the C.S. Lewis Foundation this past year is strategic planning. For us, 28 years after our founding, this means re-visiting and reflecting upon our founding vision and mission.

In doing so, we’ve highlighted and summarized our core values into the following:

• “Mere Christianity”
• The Good, the True, and the Beautiful
• Integration of Mind, Spirit, and Imagination
• Striving for excellence
• Education as a means to assist spiritual formation
• Hospitality
• Community

Can’t you see C.S. Lewis throughout that list? This is why we originally chose Lewis as a model and a namesake – we were looking at what we wanted to represent as an organization and found that Lewis fit.

In “Living the Legacy” of C.S. Lewis, we don’t seek to idolize the man or merely to memorialize him, but instead we see Lewis as a model of someone who lived as a Christian serving in higher education and who used his imagination and intellect in the service of Christ.  Among many other qualities, Lewis was ever-seeking, charitable, humble, and joyous. Most importantly, he pointed others toward Christ.

As individuals inspired by his writings and his life , and as an organization that endeavors to live his legacy, we remember him this day.