C.S. Lewis: Profile of Christian Apologist & Christian Novelist C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis was an author, scholar of English literature and Christian apologist. The son of a lawyer, Lewis grew up in Ireland at a time when northern Ireland was not torn by the bitter strife which would eventually come to characterize its religious situation. Early on he developed a love for reading and learning. He rejected Christianity at an early age, deciding that Christian myths were inferior to others in the world and that the Christian god, if it existed, is a sadist. Read More...
Many fans are aware of that C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were close friends. Tolkien helped convert Lewis to Christianity, whereas Lewis encouraged Tolkien to expand his fictional writing; both taught at Oxford, both were interested in literature, and both wrote fictional books which propagated basic Christian themes and principles. At the same time, though, they also had serious disagreements — in particular, over the quality of Lewis’ Narnia books. Read More...
C.S. Lewis may be best known for his children’s books, in particular the Narnia series. When he first began this series he was already an accomplished author, but his publisher and friends argued against a move into children’s literature on the assumption that it would harm his reputation as an author of more serious philosophy and apologetics. That didn’t turn out to be the case. Read More...
Theology builds upon the insights and accomplishments of those who have come before, but Lewis doesn’t even appear to function as a minor plank in anyone’s platform. This combination of general popularity and professional dismissal is very curious — either the average believer knows something which the professionals have missed, or Lewis isn’t the apologist he is popularly believed to be. Read More...
One of the earliest arguments offered by C.S. Lewis for believing in the existence of God can be labeled the “Argument from Desire.” According to Lewis and other apologists, every desire is necessarily a desire for something, and every natural desire must have some object that will satisfy it. Since humans desire the joy and experience of God, therefore there must be a God that will satisfy our desires. Read More...
A very popular argument with Christian apologists, including C.S. Lewis, is the argument from morality. According to Lewis, the only valid morality that can exist is an objective one — all subjective conceptions of morality lead to ruin. Furthermore, an authentic objective morality must be grounded in a supernatural reality beyond our own world, thus he rejects all naturalistic conceptions of an objective morality as well. Does his argument succeed? Read More...
s Jesus really whom he is reported to have said he was? Was Jesus really the Son of God? C.S. Lewis believed so and also believed that he had a very good argument for convincing people to agree: if Jesus was not whom he claimed, then he must be a lunatic, a liar, or worse. He was certain that no one could seriously argue for or accept these alternatives and that left only his favored explanation. Read More...
C.S. Lewis is often described as an “apostle” to the skeptics — that he somehow has a special affinity for the arguments, sensibilities, and perspectives of religious doubters and can therefore more easily reach them than other apologists. He may appear to be directing his arguments to atheists, but the truth is that his arguments are primarily convincing to those who either already believe the conclusions or who are otherwise sympathetic to them. Read More...
Christian apologist C.S. Lewis had a curious relationship with faith. On the one hand, he couldn’t very well deny the importance of faith because it has been a core component of Christianity since the very beginning — both Jesus and Paul praise it as vital. At the same time, however, his overall goal was to provide a rational apologetic that justified acceptance of Christianity on intellectual grounds. This would make faith superfluous. Read More...
C.S. Lewis wanted to explain nature on the basis of his supernatural god; as a consequence, naturalistic explanations for nature represented a major threat — just as it does for contemporary apologists. Lewis argued against naturalism in a variety of contexts. It plays an important role not just in his discussions about morality, but also in his arguments about the nature of reason. Read More...