Change station
Schedule
November 22, 2025
The Friendship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien
C.S. Lewis dedicated his book, The Screwtape Letters, to his friend J.R.R. Tolkien, and Tolkien dedicated his Lord of the Rings to the Inklings, the Oxford literary group they were both a part of. These two literary giants formed a friendship that changed the world, and each other. Ed Stetzer talks with playwright, Dean Batali, whose play, Lewis and Tolkien, explores their friendship and the eternal themes that defined their work: faith, myth, sacrifice, and the power of story on Ed Stetzer Live.
IN THIS EPISODE
Dean Batali
Dean Batali is an experienced head writer for popular TV shows with over twenty years of experience in the industry. He is a regular speaker and teacher at film festivals, at media conferences, and in college classrooms. Dean started out writing musicals at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, and wrote and performed for Taproot Theatre in Seattle. Recent works include the one-man plays Charles Dickens: Speaking of Scrooge and George Washington: A General’s Prayer. Dean also co-wrote the book Watching TV Religiously, which examines television from a spiritual perspective.
Stay Connected
Ed Stetzer
Ed Stetzer, Ph.D., is Dean of the Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. He has planted, revitalized, and pastored churches; trained pastors and church planters on six continents; earned two master’s degrees and two doctorates; and he has written hundreds of articles and a dozen books. He is Regional Director for Lausanne North America, is the Editor-in-Chief of Outreach Magazine, and regularly writes for news outlets such as USA Today and CNN. He serves at his local church, Mariners Church, as a teaching pastor. Ed and his wife Donna have been married for more than 35 years and are the parents of three daughters.
Ed Stetzer Live
Discover new ways to show and share the love of Jesus to a broken and a hurting world. Join Ed Stetzer in an engaging discussion of todays cultural trends.