St. Clive Staples Lewis, Apologist

All over the world today, people are commemorating the forty-eighth anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. But JFK's death overshadowed that of another and, I believe, far more consequential man who died on the very same day: Clive Staples Lewis.

C.S. Lewis was born in my own ancestral home, Belfast, on November 29, 1898. Known all his life to his friends as "Jack-" a name he gave himself in memory of a beloved neighborhood dog- Lewis became an atheist at the age of fifteen, He entered University College, Oxford, in 1916, taking a hiatus from his studies to serve in World War I. When his best friend, Paddy Moore, was killed in battle, Lewis kept a promise to look after Moore's family.

In 1925, Lewis joined the faculty at Oxford, and in 1931 he was converted to Christianity through the influence of his friend and colleague J.R.R. Tolkien and the writings of G.K. Chesterton.

While at Oxford, Lewis was a key member of a literary group called "The Inklings" which met sometimes at his rooms at Oxford and sometimes at a local pub. In 1956 he married an American divorcee, Joy Davidman Gresham. Their courtship and Joy's subsequent death of bone cancer were chronicled in William Nichols' televison play Shadowlands, later made into a stage play and ultimately a feature film starring Anthony Hopkins as Lewis and Deborah Winger as Joy. Its original title was I Call It Joy.

Though famous as a literary critic, he is best known as an author and lay theologian. His seven-part The Chronicles of Narnia is a beloved children's classic, and has been made into numerous television and theatrical films down through the years. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe- technically the second installment in the series, though published first- is especially popular, serving as an introduction for countless readers to the Pevensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, who- along with countless other children from London and other British cities- are sent to the country for safety's sake during the Blitz. There, in the home of Professor Kirke (the Scottish equivalent of "church"), they gain entrance into the magical kingdom of Narnia, and participate in the re-conquest of the land by its rightful king- Aslan the Lion, who represents Christ- from the evil White Witch, who has held the land in thrall with the help of the wolves who serve as her secret police.

Almost as influential are his books on theodicy, apologetics, and other areas of practical theology. Among his best-known works of this kind are Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain, The Screwtape Letters, and The Great Divorce.  He also wrote a partial autobiography entitled Surprised by Joy,  and a collection of meditations on his experience of mourning his wife's death, A Grief Observed.

Beloved of Christians in all denominations, Lewis is doubtless one of the greatest literary figures and greatest minds of the 20th Century. 

"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints."-- Psalm 116:15, ESV

HT: C.S. Lewis.com