The Stories of C.S. Lewis (4 Chapels)

Be Thou My Vision, the Sanctified Imagination of C.S. Lewis
      • 9:30 AM Monday, December 2, 2013, Chase Gymnasium 

Selections from Screwtape
     • 9:30 AM Wednesday, December 4, 2013, Chase Gymnasium 

The Great Divorce
     • 7:00 PM Wednesday, December 4, 2013, Calvary Chapel

The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe
     • 9:30 AM Friday, December 6, 2013, Chase Gymnasium 

C.S. Lewis

Clive Staples Lewis—known to his friends and family as “Jack”— was born in Belfast in 1898, and educated at home and at boarding schools in Britain. After his mother died when he was almost ten, “Jack” grew closer to his brother Warren, who was two years his senior.

Lewis studied English and philosophy at Oxford and served in the military. He became a university man who taught (mostly English literature) at Oxford’s Magdalen college for much of his life. Later in life he was appointed to a professorship at Cambridge. As a member of the Oxford faculty, Lewis developed a strong reputation in English literary criticism and a much larger reputation as a witty and imaginative writer of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction works on Christian faith.

Long a lover of adventure stories, he wrote three widely read novels (The Space Trilogy) about interplanetary travel. These space travel narratives were also about redemption, partly inspired by Lewis’s reading of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven tales for children inspired by Lewis’s interest in myth and fairy tale. Written with an underlying Christian theme, the Chronicles have been enjoyed by children and adults for generations.

How did Lewis, who was essentially a professor of English literature, become such an influential writer? C.S. Lewis was raised on books. Wide reading shaped his thought from childhood onwards. He had a vivid imagination and a broad education in ancient and medieval literature.

Friendship was vital to Lewis. Together with his brother Warren, a former military man and a writer, C.S. Lewis took part in a literary circle known as “The Inklings.” Over decades this group met to share their works in progress. Such works as Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were first read at the Inklings. Many of these scholars and writers had a common view of literature and faith.

Author of more than 70 titles, including works of science fiction, fantasy, poetry, letters, autobiography and Christian apologetics, Lewis’s book sales are reported to be more than 2 million annually making him one of the most influential writers on Christian faith of the twentieth century.  –explorefaith.org