Category Archives: Lewis Biography

Was C.S. Lewis Wrong about His Own Conversion?

Posted on May 9, 2013 by

C.S. Lewis’ conversion to Christianity is one of the 21st century’s classic spiritual stories. And the moment of his final, reluctant yielding to a belief in God has been often repeated: “You must picture me alone in that room in … Continue reading →

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On the Shoulders of Giants: C.S. Lewis’ Preface to “The Allegory of Love” (1935)

Posted on May 3, 2013 by

I’ve talked before about the value of reading the prefaces and introductions to books. It’s amazing how much we miss when we skip them. I’m a big fan of the fore-matter. C.S. Lewis’ preface to The Allegory of Love (1936) … Continue reading →

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Shaking Off the Ailments of a Troublesome Term

Posted on April 17, 2013 by

C.S. Lewis begins a March 31, 1928 letter to his father: “I have succeeded, at last, in shaking off the ailments of one of the most troublesome terms I have yet had.” As I read that line I immediately understood … Continue reading →

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“Habemas Papem!” C.S. Lewis on Catholicism

Posted on March 14, 2013 by

Today’s election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina as Pope Francis I has any of us with even the slimmest connection to Roman Catholicism tapping on our iPhones or opening up TweetDeck. It has been a wonderful clash of … Continue reading →

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Be Careful What You Read… C.S. Lewis’ Literary Encounter with George MacDonald

Posted on March 4, 2013 by

Perhaps one of C.S. Lewis’ more famous—or infamous—quotations is this: “A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading” (Surprised by Joy, 182). Hidden in this 20th century tweet is the idea … Continue reading →

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A Ham of Note in the History of Literature

Posted on January 29, 2013 by

I suppose there is a tendency to imagine C.S. Lewis as an introspective, brooding sort of fellow. A friend of mine recently pointed out that this image may be because of Anthony Hopkins’ interpretation of Lewis in Shadowlands–a performance that … Continue reading →

Posted in Lewis Biography, Memorable Quotes | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Why I’m Not Writing a C.S. Lewis Birthday Post

Posted on November 29, 2012 by

He’s dead. Well, that’s the main reason I’m not writing a special happy birthday post for C.S. Lewis. True, if he were alive, we would be celebrating his eleventy-fourth birthday, which would be exceptional indeed. But he isn’t alive. He … Continue reading →

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Marching as to War: C.S. Lewis on His Way to the Front Line

Posted on November 12, 2012 by

As I began to read C.S. Lewis’ wartime letters in 1917-1918 (The Collected Letters, vol. 1), I was struck by the casual tone of his experience. On Remembrance Day in Canada, we consider the weight of the soldiers’ sacrifices for … Continue reading →

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A Tribute to a Mentor

Posted on October 4, 2012 by

No one was more formative to the thinking of the young C.S. Lewis than William Thompson Kirkpatrick. Lovingly dubbed “The Great Knock” by the Lewis family, Kirkpatrick absolutely transformed Lewis’ way of thinking and set him on his academic trajectory. … Continue reading →

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Hitlerian Haunting in Screwtapian Logic

Posted on October 2, 2012 by

One of the fun things about working in The Screwtape Letters manuscript history–as I have been doing for the last few months–is that the story of Screwtape has so many interesting twists and turns. The Screwtape Letters was the book … Continue reading →

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