C. S. Lewis

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And yet he managed to release a new book just a little bit ago! Image and Imagination is a collection of his book reviews, with a few other pieces, including one that had never before been printed.

It is difficult to understand why a figure whose writing is so accessible and whose works are so easy to obtain should be continuously misrepresented by those who should know better; but just today I read an article in the Guardian which included remarks from A.N. Wilson, A.S. Byatt, and Philip Pullman which were both ridiculous and untrue. It's somewhere in between frustrating and amusing to see someone critique Shadowlands for its inaccuracy and yet make an elementary mistake himself, in asserting that Lewis didn't care about accurate texts.
 
And Aldous Huxley also died 50 years ago tomorrow.

And let's not forget Dallas police officer J. D. Tippet, who was murdered by Oswald during his short-lived attempt to flee the scene.
 
Yep, a great author indeed. I don't accurately know his faith but he seems to be a great christian whose influence is strong on the world.
 
No question about greatness; but I doubt the influence. While he cogently and forcefully argued for much that was right, I think he is mentioned more than he is read, read more than he is understood, and deployed least of all. For instance, in spite of his own strong views and clear expressions on the matter, Anglo-Saxon is no longer required for English students at Oxford; the personal heresy remains strong in criticism; and his own works are subjected to many of the same asinine procedures that he opposed during his lifetime.

For a receptive reader, there might be no one better at easing the stings and griefs that our imaginative apprehension of certain things gives us - he's uniquely able to put those things in a different light that restores ease to the soul. And he is endlessly rereadable.
 
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py3ak said:
I think he is mentioned more than he is read, read more than he is understood
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Yep, i agree. Even for me, it's the case. Actually, I just read a little of "The Screwtape Letters", the "Narnia saga" and his philosophic treaty about "demoncraty" that remains a wonderful reading about the badness of our occidentals democracies.
 
In the 1980s I had read Mere Christianity and The Problem of Pain, and got a lot out of them. I had a friend who, recovering from addiction in a 12 step program for substance abuse, had gravitated to Eastern 'religion,' but was not open to Christianity. I sent a copy of Mere Christianity to him. That and prayer opened his mind and he became a Christian. He was only in his mid 30s but a melanoma that had apparently been cured 5 or 6 years before returned and he passed away at that youthful age. Knowing he was a believer was a comfort for him, his family and friends.
 
I grew up reading Narnia and would heartily concur with those who say Lewis is rereadable. It also worth noting that yesterday (the anniversary) a memorial to Lewis was unveiled in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey.
 
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Harley, can you please explicit your point of view ? I would be glad to read what you think about Lewis because listening to the video you sent is a bit difficult for me.
 
The video he linked to is a recording of Lewis himself, Timothée, and what he's reading is a chapter from Mere Christianity
 
Of course, although very much worth reading, Lewis was not orthodox in a number of ways. Not having studied him closely I wouldn't know in how many ways we wouldn't see eye to eye with him doctrinally.

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Sure, there are some things wrong with Lewis' theology - and he denied being a theologian. Yet I truly praise God for and greatly appreciate many of his writings. They were very instrumental in bringing me back to God at one point in my life. I fully expect to meet him someday in Glory.
 
Peairtach said:
Of course, although very much worth reading, Lewis was not orthodox in a number of ways. Not having studied him closely I wouldn't know in how many ways we wouldn't see eye to eye with him doctrinally.

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He is probably at his absolute weakest with regard to the doctrine of Scripture, and of course that often results in a lack of doctrinal definition, notoriously with regard to the divisions inside Christianity. No one should go to C.S. Lewis to find out what the Scriptures principally teach. But someone who does go to Lewis for that information is not reading him very attentively in the first place. I personally find him indispensable, but that doesn't mean he is a substitute for Turretin.
 
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