C S Lewis Mini Biography

This is a short biography of the life of C S Lewis (known to his friends as ‘Jack’); for those interested two other books would be a great read: 1. His own autobiography ‘Surprised by Joy’ and 2. Jack: A Life of C S Lewis by George Sayer and Lyle W. Dorsett

You will be able to tell I am a bit of a ‘homer’ on C S Lewis. He, more than any other person besides our Lord, is the reason I am a Christian. At a time in my life when I had just finished a course in philosophy and lost my faith, it was a year of reading ‘Mere Christianity’ and other Lewis books that brought me back to faith. No other writer has influenced my life so greatly. A survey found that ‘Mere Christianity’ was considered the #1 Christian book of the 20^th century by a wide margin.

As we begin a 6 month long chat-trek through Mere Christianity (MC from now on) it would help to have a little biographical information. This is just from memory and necessarily short, but I hope it will help you to get more out of #MKBiblechat and your own reading.

Lewis was of English heritage but born and raised in Ireland, which in itself is a tremendously influential and important biographical fact. His one sibling was an older brother Warren, with whom he was to be close throughout his life. The loss of his mother at an early age to cancer forever changed his life. His father never recovered and became an extremely remote figure. The two boys led a close and emotionally rich life driven by their reading and imaginations.

In his teens Lewis, though brought up in a Christian family, was to lose his faith. He read widely and deeply as his home was filled with books—good books, classics mostly. Lewis’ education was at boarding schools, some good and others hopeless, but it was the influence of a man he called “The Knock”, who demanded intellectual rigor and depth, that turned Lewis to what we might call “bookish” pursuits.

Clearly, Lewis was a genius of a rare kind. He could recite pages and pages of books rote word perfect years after a single reading. He studied and became a Medieval Literature scholar and taught at both Oxford and Cambridge. He never pursued a doctorate, possibly for the same reason Einstein did not (Einstein says it was because no one was qualified to give him one).

At the age of 32 Lewis became a Christian through the influence of reading George MacDonald, G K Chesterton and talks and his close friendship with J R R Tolkien (of Lord of the Rings fame). There were other influences, but these were primary.

Lewis wrote perhaps his most popular book at the time, Screwtape Letters, and immediately became well known throughout the Christian world, but it was his series of radio lectures on what became ‘Mere Christianity’ that established him as a brilliant apologist and Christian writer.

Other writings include ‘God in the Dock’, ‘The Weight of Glory’, ‘Surprised by Joy’, ‘A Grief Observed’, ‘The Problem of Pain’, ‘The World’s Last Night’ and MANY others, virtually all worth the reading. His most famous work was, of course, ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’, with which we are all familiar.

Lewis was to marry an American Jewish Christian divorcee named Joy Davidman late in his life. This story is a fascinating one, but too long to deal with here. She died of cancer a few years later.

Lewis himself died on the same day John F Kennedy was assassinated, a week short of his 65^th birthday. It is sad to me what he might have written had he lived, but our  sovereign God is “in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.” (Psalm 115:3) I cannot emphasize enough what you are missing if you have not read Lewis. He has quite literally changed my life.

When a friend was leaving him after a visit, the friend said, “Goodbye.” Lewis thought a moment and then yelled after the friend, “Christians NEVER say goodbye.” How true, and typical of Lewis.

Join us Wednesday nights for a chat thru Mere Christianity, chapter by chapter. You won’t be disappointed. 10pm EST. God’s richest blessings.

Below is a list of the 10 books Lewis himself stated had the most influence on his life:

1. Phantastes by George MacDonald.
2.The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton.
3. The Aeneid by Virgil.
4. The Temple by George Herbert.
5. The Prelude by William Wordsworth.
6. The Idea of the Holy by Rudolf Otto. 
7. The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius. 
8. Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell.
9. Descent into Hell by Charles Williams. 
10. Theism and Humanism by Arthur James Balfour.