LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Biography Assignment: Analysis of Shadowlands Film (1993)
Submitted to
Dr. Chris Hulshof
THEO 324 (002)
Theology of Suffering & Disability
By Kelly Budd
October 31, 2021
Shadowlands, 1993.
Summary of the Film
Richard Attenborough’s 1993 film details the life, love, and ultimate loss ofShadowlands
theologian and author C.S. Lewis. When the movie begins, Lewis is already in the peak of his
ministry career, having many best-selling books and holding very prestigious positions as pastor,
professor at Oxford, and mentor. One of his most frequently preached message is on the
controversial, age-old question of why God allows pain. He argues that “Pain is God’s
megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” He preaches that, while God does not cause pain and
suffering, He utilizes it as a wake-up call to draw us closer to Him. Throughout the duration of
the film, he continues to preach this message. Constantly heckled by his friends, Lewis has never
known romantic love. This all changes when he meets Helen Joy Gresham, a Jewish-American
poet who is an avid fan of Lewis, especially his Chronicles of Narnia series, which she reads to
her son, Douglas. After a few visits to see Lewis, Gresham reveals that she has divorced her
abusive husband and has move to London. Being quite good friends by this point, Lewis and
Gresham decide to get married so as to grant her citizenship. They keep their marriage a secret,
obviously, all the while remaining platonic friends. However, this all changes when Gresham is
diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1956. Throughout her ordeal, Lewis finds if difficult to preach
his message of hope amidst pain and also begins to question his true feelings towards his platonic
wife and discovers that he has fallen madly in love with her. They are married again in her
