View source for C. S. Lewis

{{Short description|British writer, lay theologian, and scholar (1898–1963)}}
{{for|the Anglo-Irish poet|Cecil Day-Lewis}}
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{{Pp-move-indef}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=October 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|FBA|size=100%}}
| name             = C. S. Lewis
| image            = C.s.lewis3.JPG <!-- FAIR USE of C.s.lewis3.JPG: see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:C.s.lewis3.JPG for rationale -->
| alt              = Monochrome head-and-left-shoulder photo portrait of 50-year-old Lewis
| caption          = Lewis in 1947
| pseudonym        = Clive Hamilton, N. W. Clerk
| birth_name       = Clive Staples Lewis
| birth_date       = {{birth date|df=y|1898|11|29}}
| birth_place      = [[Belfast]], Ireland <!-- not "Northern Ireland", because Northern Ireland did not exist at the time -->
| death_date       = {{death date and age|df=y|1963|11|22|1898|11|29}}
| death_place      = [[Oxford]], England
| resting_place    = [[Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry]]
| occupation       = Novelist, scholar, broadcaster
| nationality      = <!-- Leave blank until ongoing disputes have been resolved and Consensus reached, see talk page -->
| citizenship      = <!-- Leave blank until ongoing disputes have been resolved and Consensus reached, see talk page -->
| education        = [[University College, Oxford]]
| genre            = [[Christian apologetics]], fantasy, science fiction, children's literature
| notableworks     = {{ubli|''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]''|''[[Mere Christianity]]''|''[[The Allegory of Love]]''|''[[The Screwtape Letters]]''|''[[The Abolition of Man]]''|''[[The Space Trilogy]]''|''[[Till We Have Faces]]''|''[[Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life|Surprised by Joy]]''}}
| spouse           = {{marriage|[[Joy Davidman]]|1956|1960|reason=died}}
| children         = 2 step-sons, including [[Douglas Gresham]]
| relatives        = [[Warren Lewis]]<br>(brother)
{{Infobox military person
   |embed        = yes
   |embed_title  = Military service
   |allegiance   = [[United Kingdom]]
   |branch       = [[British Army]]
   |serviceyears = 1917–18<br>1940–44
   |unit         = {{ubli|[[Officers' Training Corps|Oxford University Training Corps]]|[[Somerset Light Infantry]]|[[Home Guard (United Kingdom)|Oxford Home Guard]]}}
   |rank         = [[Second Lieutenant]]
   |battles      = 
'''[[First World War]]'''
*[[Battle of Cambrai (1917)|First Battle of Cambrai]]
*[[Operation Michael]]
*[[Battle of the Lys (1918)|Battle of Lys]] (WIA)
'''[[Second World War]]'''
  }}
}}
'''Clive Staples Lewis''' (29 November 1898&nbsp;– 22 November 1963) was a <!--Please reach consensus on Lewis's nationality on the Talk page before altering the following-->British writer, literary scholar, and [[Anglican]] [[lay theologian]]. He held academic positions in English literature at both [[Magdalen College, Oxford]] (1925–1954), and [[Magdalene College, Cambridge]] (1954–1963). He is best known as the author of ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'', but he is also noted for his other works of fiction, such as ''[[The Screwtape Letters]]'' and ''[[The Space Trilogy]]'', and for his non-fiction [[Christian apologetics]], including ''[[Mere Christianity]]'', ''[[Miracles (book)|Miracles]]'', and ''[[The Problem of Pain]].''

Lewis was a close friend of [[J.&nbsp;R.&nbsp;R. Tolkien]], author of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. Both men served on the English faculty at Oxford University and were active in the informal Oxford literary group known as the [[Inklings]]. According to Lewis's 1955 memoir ''[[Surprised by Joy]]'', he was baptized in the [[Church of Ireland]] but fell away from his faith during adolescence. Lewis returned to [[Anglicanism]] at the age of 32, owing to the influence of Tolkien and other friends, and he became an "ordinary layman of the [[Church of England]]".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=C.S. |title=Mere Christianity |date=1952 |publisher=Harper Collins |location=New York |page=viii |isbn=9780061947438 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OF-YSMKCVwMC}}</ref> Lewis's faith profoundly affected his work, and his wartime radio broadcasts on the subject of Christianity brought him wide acclaim.

Lewis wrote more than 30 books which have been translated into more than 30 languages and have sold millions of copies. The books that make up ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' have sold the most and have been popularized on stage, TV, radio, and cinema. His philosophical writings are widely cited by Christian scholars from many denominations.

In 1956, Lewis married American writer [[Joy Davidman]]; she died of cancer four years later at the age of 45. Lewis died on 22 November 1963 from kidney failure, at age 64. In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of his death, Lewis was honoured with a memorial in [[Poets' Corner]] in [[Westminster Abbey]].

==Life==

===Childhood===
[[File:Little Lea.JPG|thumb|Little Lea, home of the Lewis family from 1905 to 1930]]
Clive Staples Lewis was born in [[Belfast]] in [[Ulster]], Ireland (before [[Partition of Ireland|partition]])<!-- not "Northern Ireland, because Northern Ireland did not exist at the time -->, on 29 November 1898.<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=34512|title=Lewis, Clive Staples (1898–1963)|orig-year=2004|year=2008|last=Bennett|first=Jack Arthur Walter|last2=Plaskitt|first2=Emma Lisa}}</ref> His father was Albert James Lewis (1863–1929), a solicitor whose father Richard Lewis had come to Ireland from [[Wales]] during the mid-19th century. Lewis's mother was Florence Augusta Lewis {{nee}} Hamilton (1862–1908), known as Flora, the daughter of Thomas Hamilton, a [[Church of Ireland]] priest, and the great-granddaughter of both Bishop [[Hugh Hamilton (bishop)|Hugh Hamilton]] and [[John Staples]]. She was the first female mathematics graduate to study at [[Queen’s College Belfast]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=McCartney |first=Mark |title=The Lion, the Witch and the Graduate |journal=Mathematics Today |publication-date=2024 |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=58–60}}</ref> Lewis had an elder brother, [[Warren Lewis|Warren Hamilton Lewis]] (known as "Warnie").<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cslewis.org/resource/chronocsl/ |title=The Life of C.S. Lewis Timeline |work=C.S. Lewis Foundation |access-date=11 March 2017 |archive-date=16 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180516172911/http://www.cslewis.org/resource/chronocsl/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He was baptized on 29 January 1899 by his maternal grandfather in [[St Mark's Church, Dundela]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.patrickcomerford.com/2014/02/a-personalised-tour-of-church-and.html|title=A personalised tour of the church and rectory that inspired CS Lewis and Aslan the Lion|access-date=28 February 2020|archive-date=28 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200228051352/http://www.patrickcomerford.com/2014/02/a-personalised-tour-of-church-and.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

When his dog Jacksie was fatally struck by a horse-drawn carriage,<ref>{{cite book |last=Gresham |first=Douglas |title=Jack's Life: The Life of C.S. Lewis |publisher=Broadman & Holman Publishers |year=2005 |isbn=0-8054-3246-9 |location=Nashville, Tennessee |pages=2}}</ref> the four-year-old Lewis adopted the name Jacksie. At first, he would answer to no other name, but later accepted Jack, the name by which he was known to friends and family for the rest of his life.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ten Boys Who Used Their Talents |last=Howat |first=Irene |publisher=Christian Focus Publications Ltd |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-84550-146-4 |location=Great Britain |page=22}}</ref> When he was seven, his family moved into "Little Lea", the family home of his childhood, in the [[Strandtown]] area of [[Belfast|East Belfast]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cslewisinstitute.org/Surprised_by_Belfast_Significant_Sites_in_the_Land_and_Life_of_CS_Lewis_Part_I_Little_Lea_FullArticle |title=Surprised by Belfast: Significant Sites in the Land and Life of C.S. Lewis, Part 1, Little Lea |last=Smith |first=Sandy |date=18 February 2016 |website=C.S. Lewis Institute |access-date=7 March 2017 |archive-date=1 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701145722/http://www.cslewisinstitute.org/Surprised_by_Belfast_Significant_Sites_in_the_Land_and_Life_of_CS_Lewis_Part_I_Little_Lea_FullArticle |url-status=live }}</ref>

As a boy, Lewis was fascinated with [[anthropomorphic]] animals; he fell in love with [[Beatrix Potter]]'s stories and often wrote and illustrated his own animal tales. Along with his brother Warnie, he created the world of [[Boxen (C. S. Lewis)|Boxen]], a fantasy land inhabited and run by animals. Lewis loved to read from an early age. His father's house was filled with books; he later wrote that finding something to read was as easy as walking into a field and "finding a new blade of grass".{{sfn|Lewis|1966b|p=10}}

{{Quote box|align=right|quote=<poem>
The New House is almost a major character in my story.
I am the product of long corridors, empty sunlit rooms,
upstair indoor silences, attics explored in solitude,
distant noises of gurgling cisterns and pipes,
and the noise of wind under the tiles. Also, of endless books.</poem>
|source=—''[[Surprised by Joy]]''}}

Lewis was schooled by private tutors until age nine, when his mother died in 1908 from cancer. His father then sent him to England to live and study at [[Wynyard School]] in [[Watford]], [[Hertfordshire]]. Lewis's brother had enrolled there three years previously. Not long after, the school was closed due to a lack of pupils. Lewis then attended [[Campbell College]] in the east of Belfast about a mile from his home, but left after a few months due to [[Respiratory disease|respiratory problems]].

He was then sent back to England to the health-resort town of [[Malvern, Worcestershire|Malvern]], [[Worcestershire]], where he attended the [[Preparatory school (United Kingdom)|preparatory school]] Cherbourg House, which Lewis referred to as "[[Chartres]]" in his [[autobiography]]. It was during this time that he abandoned the Christianity he was taught as a child and became an [[Atheism|atheist]]. During this time he also developed a fascination with European [[myth]]ology and the [[occult]].{{sfn|Lewis|1966b|p=56}}

In September 1913, Lewis enrolled at [[Malvern College]], where he remained until the following June. He found the school socially competitive,{{sfn|Lewis|1966a|p=107}} and some of the fellow pupils of his house, such as [[Donald Hardman]], had mixed feelings about him.  Hardman later recalled: 

<blockquote>He was a bit of a rebel; he had a wonderful sense of humour and was a past master of mimicry. I think he took his work seriously, but nothing else; never took any interest in games and never played any so for as I can remember unless he had to. ... I met him in Oxford after the war and noticed he had changed, but was staggered to find him the author of ''The Screwtape Letters''.  When I knew him I can only describe him as a riotously amusing atheist.  He really was pretty foul mouthed about it.<ref name="Sayer1">{{cite book |last=Sayer|first=George |author-link=George Sayer (biographer) |date=1988 |title=Jack: C. S. Lewis and His Times |url= |location=San Francisco |publisher=[[Harper & Row]] |page=42 |isbn=0-06-067072-X}}</ref></blockquote>  

After leaving Malvern, he studied privately with [[William T. Kirkpatrick]], his father's old tutor and former headmaster of [[Lurgan College]].<ref name="Lewis">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/surprisedbyjoysh00lewi/page/128 |title=Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life |last=Lewis |first=C.S. |date=1955 |publisher=[[Harcourt Brace Jovanovich]] |isbn=978-0-15-687011-5 |location=New York City |pages=[https://archive.org/details/surprisedbyjoysh00lewi/page/128 128–186]}}</ref>

As a teenager, Lewis was wonderstruck by the songs and legends of what he called ''Northernness'', the [[Norse mythology|ancient literature of Scandinavia]] preserved in the [[Icelandic sagas]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis |last=Bloom |first=Harold |publisher=Chelsea House Publishers |year=2006 |isbn=978-0791093191 |location=New York |page=196}}</ref> These legends intensified an inner longing that he would later call "joy". He also grew to love nature; its beauty reminded him of the stories of the North, and the stories of the North reminded him of the beauties of nature. His teenage writings moved away from the tales of Boxen, and he began experimenting with different art forms such as [[epic poetry]] and [[opera]] to try to capture his new-found interest in [[Norse mythology]] and the natural world.

Studying with Kirkpatrick ("The Great Knock", as Lewis afterward called him) instilled in him a love of [[Greek literature]] and [[Greek mythology|mythology]] and sharpened his debate and reasoning skills. In 1916, Lewis was awarded a scholarship at [[University College, Oxford]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cslewis.com/us/about-cs-lewis |title=About C.S. Lewis |publisher=CSLewis.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406171245/https://www.cslewis.com/us/about-cs-lewis |archive-date=6 April 2016 |access-date=4 February 2016}}</ref>

==="My Irish life"<!--Note to editors: Lewis described this as "My Irish Life" see the bottom of this section for the title's meaning-->===
[[File:CSLewisPlaque.jpg|thumb|Plaque on a park-bench in [[Bangor, County Down]]]]
Lewis experienced a certain [[Culture shock|cultural shock]] on first arriving in England: "No Englishman will be able to understand my first impressions of England," Lewis wrote in ''[[Surprised by Joy]]''. "The strange [[Regional accents of English speakers|English accents]] with which I was surrounded seemed like the voices of demons. But what was worst was the English landscape&nbsp;... I have made up the quarrel since; but at that moment I conceived a hatred for England which took many years to heal."{{sfn|Lewis|1966b|p=24}}

From boyhood, Lewis had immersed himself in [[Norse mythology|Norse]] and [[Greek mythology|Greek]] mythology, and later in [[Irish mythology]] and [[Early Irish literature|literature]]. He also expressed an interest in the [[Irish language]],<ref>{{Cite book |title=Beyond the Shadowlands: C. S. Lewis on Heaven and Hell |last=Martindale |first=Wayne |publisher=Crossway |year=2005 |isbn=978-1581345131 |page=52}}</ref>{{sfn|Lewis|1984|p=118}} though there is not much evidence that he laboured to learn it. He developed a particular fondness for [[W. B. Yeats]], in part because of Yeats's use of Ireland's [[Celtic mythology|Celtic heritage]] in poetry. In a letter to a friend, Lewis wrote, "I have here discovered an author exactly after my own heart, whom I am sure you would delight in, W. B. Yeats. He writes plays and poems of rare spirit and beauty about our old Irish mythology."{{sfn|Lewis|2000|p=59}}

In 1921, Lewis met Yeats twice, since Yeats had moved to Oxford.{{sfn|Lewis|2004|pp= 564–65}} Lewis was surprised to find his English peers indifferent to Yeats and the [[Celtic Revival]] movement, and wrote: "I am often surprised to find how utterly ignored Yeats is among the men I have met: perhaps his appeal is purely Irish&nbsp;– if so, then thank the gods that I am Irish."<ref name="On Yeats">Yeats's appeal wasn't exclusively Irish; he was also a major "magical opponent" of famed English occultist [[Aleister Crowley]], as noted extensively throughout Lawrence Sutin's [https://archive.org/details/dowhatthouwiltli0000suti/page/69 <!-- quote=aleister crowley yeats. --> ''Do what thou wilt: a life of Aleister Crowley'']. New York: MacMillan (St. Martins). cf. pp. 56–78.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/magicalworldofal00king |title=The Magical World of Aleister Crowley |last=King |first=Francis |publisher=Coward, McCann & Geoghegan |year=1978 |isbn=978-0-698-10884-4 |location=New York}}</ref> Early in his career, Lewis considered sending his work to the major [[Dublin]] publishers, writing: "If I do ever send my stuff to a publisher, I think I shall try [[George Roberts (publisher)|Maunsel]], those Dublin people, and so tack myself definitely onto the Irish school."{{sfn|Lewis|2000|p=59}}

After his [[conversion to Christianity]], his interests gravitated towards [[Christian theology]] and away from [[Ancient Celtic religion|pagan Celtic mysticism]] (as opposed to [[Celtic Christianity|Celtic Christian mysticism]]).<ref name="Thomas">{{Cite book |title=Simply C. S. Lewis: A Beginner's Guide to the Life and Works of C. S. Lewis |last=Peters |first=Thomas C. |publisher=Crossway Books |year=1997 |isbn=978-0891079484 |page=[https://archive.org/details/simplycslewisbeg0000pete/page/70 70] |url=https://archive.org/details/simplycslewisbeg0000pete/page/70 }}</ref>

Lewis occasionally expressed a somewhat [[tongue-in-cheek]] [[chauvinism]] towards the English. Describing an encounter with a fellow Irishman, he wrote: "Like all [[Irish people]] who meet in England, we ended by criticisms on the invincible flippancy and dullness of the [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] race. After all, there is no doubt, ''ami'', that the Irish are the only people: with all their faults, I would not gladly live or die among another folk."{{sfn|Lewis|2004|p= 310}} Throughout his life, he sought out the company of other Irish people living in England{{sfn|Clare|2010|pp=21–22}} and visited Northern Ireland regularly. In 1958 he spent his honeymoon there at the Old Inn, [[Crawfordsburn]],{{sfn|The Old Inn|2007|p=}} which he called "my Irish life".{{sfn|Lewis|1993|p=93}}

Various critics have suggested that it was Lewis's dismay over the [[Partition of Ireland|sectarian conflict]] in his native Belfast which led him to eventually adopt such an [[Ecumenism|ecumenical]] brand of Christianity.{{sfn|Wilson|1991|p=xi}} As one critic has said, Lewis "repeatedly extolled the virtues of all branches of the Christian faith, emphasising a need for unity among Christians around what the [[Catholic Church in the United Kingdom|Catholic]] writer {{nowrap|G. K. Chesterton}} called 'Mere Christianity', the core doctrinal beliefs that all [[Christian denomination|denominations]] share".{{sfn|Clare|2010|p=24}}

Paul Stevens of the [[University of Toronto]] wrote an opinion that "Lewis' mere Christianity<!-- not a book title --> masked many of the political prejudices of an old-fashioned [[Ulster Protestants|Ulster Protestant]], a native of middle-class Belfast for whom British withdrawal from Northern Ireland even in the 1950s and 1960s was unthinkable."<ref>Paul Stevens, review of "Reforming Empire: Protestant Colonialism and Conscience in British Literature" by Christopher Hodgkins, ''[[Modern Philology]]'', Vol. 103, Issue 1 (August 2005), pp. 137–38, citing Humphrey Carpenter, ''The Inklings'' (London: Allen & Unwin, 1978), pp. 50–52, 206–207.</ref>

===First World War and Oxford University===
[[File:Undergraduates of University College, Trinity Term 1917.jpg|thumb|260px|The undergraduates of University College, [[Trinity term]] 1917. C. S. Lewis standing on the right-hand side of the back row.]]
Lewis entered Oxford in the 1917 summer term, studying at [[University College, Oxford|University College]], and shortly after, he joined the [[Officers' Training Corps]] at the university as his "most promising route into the army".<ref name="Joy">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/surprisedbyjoysh00lewi/page/186 |title=Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |date=1955 |publisher=Harvest Books |isbn=978-0-15-687011-5 |location=Orlando, FL |pages=[https://archive.org/details/surprisedbyjoysh00lewi/page/186 186–88]}}</ref> From there, he was drafted into a Cadet Battalion for training.<ref name=Joy /><ref name=Sayer /> After his training, he was [[commissioned officer|commissioned]] into the 3rd Battalion of the [[Somerset Light Infantry]] of the [[British Army]] as a [[Second Lieutenant]], and was later transferred to the 1st Battalion of the regiment, then serving in France (he would not remain with the 3rd Battalion as it moved to Northern Ireland). Within months of entering Oxford, he was shipped by the British Army to France to fight in the [[First World War]].<ref name="Lewis" />

On his 19th birthday (29 November 1917), Lewis arrived at the front line in the [[River Somme|Somme]] Valley in France, where he experienced [[trench warfare]] for the first time.<ref name=Joy /><ref name="Sayer">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/jacklifeofcslewi0000saye/page/122 |title=Jack: A Life of C. S. Lewis |last=Sayer |first=George |date=1994 |publisher=Crossway Books |isbn=978-0-89107-761-9 |edition=2nd |location=Wheaton, IL |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jacklifeofcslewi0000saye/page/122 122–130]}}</ref><ref name="secret" /> On 15 April 1918, as 1st Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry assaulted the village of Riez du Vinage in the midst of the German spring offensive, Lewis was wounded and two of his colleagues were killed by a [[Friendly fire|British]] [[Shell (projectile)|shell]] falling short of its target.<ref name="secret">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/secretcountryofc00anne |title=The Secret Country of C. S. Lewis |last=Arnott |first=Anne |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. |year=1975 |page=73 |isbn=978-0802834683}}</ref> He was depressed and homesick during his convalescence and, upon his recovery in October, he was assigned to duty in [[Andover, Hampshire|Andover]], England. He was [[demobilized]] in December 1918 and soon restarted his studies.<ref name="Edwards2007One">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8OskozFVBMYC&pg=PA134 |title=C.S. Lewis: An examined life |first=Bruce L. |last=Edwards |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-275-99117-3 |pages=134–135 |access-date=9 December 2018 |archive-date=7 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307131821/https://books.google.com/books?id=8OskozFVBMYC |url-status=live |ref=none}}</ref> In a later letter, Lewis stated that his experience of the horrors of war, along with the loss of his mother and unhappiness in school, were the basis of his pessimism and atheism.<ref>{{Cite book |title=C.S. Lewis and Human Suffering: Light Among the Shadows |last=Conn |first=Marie |publisher=HiddenSpring |year=2008 |isbn=9781587680441 |location=Mahwah, NJ |page=21}}</ref>

After Lewis returned to Oxford University, he received a [[British undergraduate degree classification|First]] in [[Honour Moderations]] (Greek and [[Latin literature]]) in 1920, a First in [[Literae Humaniores|Greats]] (Philosophy and Ancient History) in 1922, and a [[British undergraduate degree classification|First]] in [[English studies|English]] in 1923. In 1924 he became a Philosophy tutor at [[University College, Oxford|University College]] and, in 1925, was elected a [[Fellow]] and Tutor in English Literature at [[Magdalen College, Oxford|Magdalen College]], where he served for 29 years until 1954.<ref name="Edwards2007Two">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8OskozFVBMYC&pg=PA197 |title=C.S. Lewis: An examined life |first=Bruce L. |last=Edwards |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-275-99117-3 |pages=150–151, 197–199 |access-date=9 December 2018 |archive-date=7 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307131821/https://books.google.com/books?id=8OskozFVBMYC |url-status=live |ref=none }}</ref>

===Janie Moore===
During his army training, Lewis shared a room with another cadet, Edward Courtnay Francis "Paddy" Moore (1898–1918). Maureen Moore, Paddy's sister, said that the two made a mutual pact{{sfn|Edwards|2007|p=133}} that if either died during the war, the survivor would take care of both of their families. Paddy was killed in action in 1918 and Lewis kept his promise. Paddy had earlier introduced Lewis to his mother, Janie King Moore, and a friendship quickly sprang up between Lewis, who was 18 when they met, and Janie, who was 45. The friendship with Moore was particularly important to Lewis while he was recovering from his wounds in hospital, as his father did not visit him.

Lewis lived with and cared for Moore until she was hospitalized in the late 1940s. He routinely introduced her as his mother, referred to her as such in letters, and developed a deeply affectionate friendship with her. Lewis's own mother had died when he was a child, while his father was distant, demanding, and eccentric.

Speculation regarding their relationship resurfaced with the 1990 publication of [[A. N. Wilson]]'s biography of Lewis. Wilson (who never met Lewis) attempted to make a case for their having been lovers for a time. Wilson's biography was not the first to address the question of Lewis's relationship with Moore. [[George Sayer (biographer)|George Sayer]] knew Lewis for 29 years, and he had sought to shed light on the relationship during the period of 14 years before Lewis's conversion to Christianity. In his biography ''Jack: A Life of C. S. Lewis'', he wrote:

{{blockquote |Were they lovers? [[Owen Barfield]], who knew Jack well in the 1920s, once said that he thought the likelihood was "fifty-fifty". Although she was twenty-six years older than Jack, she was still a handsome woman, and he was certainly infatuated with her. But it seems very odd, if they were lovers, that he would call her "mother". We know, too, that they did not share the same bedroom. It seems most likely that he was bound to her by the promise he had given to Paddy and that his promise was reinforced by his love for her as his second mother.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Jack: A Life of C. S. Lewis |last=Sayer |first=George |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |year=1997 |isbn=978-0340690680 |location=London |page=154}}</ref>}}

Later Sayer changed his mind. In the introduction to the 1997 edition of his biography of Lewis he wrote:

{{blockquote |I have had to alter my opinion of Lewis's relationship with Mrs. Moore. In chapter eight of this book I wrote that I was uncertain about whether they were lovers. Now after conversations with Mrs. Moore's daughter, Maureen, and a consideration of the way in which their bedrooms were arranged at The Kilns, I am quite certain that they were.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.impalapublications.com/blog/index.php?/archives/5185-C.S.-Lewis-and-Mrs-Janie-Moore,-by-James-OFee.html |title=C.S. Lewis and Mrs. Janie Moore, by James O'Fee |publisher=impalapublications.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170622015143/http://www.impalapublications.com/blog/index.php?%2Farchives%2F5185-C.S.-Lewis-and-Mrs-Janie-Moore%2C-by-James-OFee.html |archive-date=22 June 2017 |access-date=16 June 2019}}</ref>}}

However, the romantic nature of the relationship is doubted by other writers; for example, Philip Zaleski and Carol Zaleski write in ''The Fellowship'' that

{{blockquote |When—or whether—Lewis commenced an affair with Mrs. Moore remains unclear.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Fellowship |last=Zaleski |first=Philip and Carol |publisher=Farrar, Straus, and Giroux |year=2015 |isbn=978-0374154097 |location=New York |page=79}}</ref>}}

Lewis spoke well of Mrs. Moore throughout his life, saying to his friend George Sayer, "She was generous and taught me to be generous, too." In December 1917, Lewis wrote in a letter to his childhood friend Arthur Greeves that Janie and Greeves were "the two people who matter most to me in the world".

In 1930, Lewis moved into [[The Kilns]] with his brother Warnie, Mrs. Moore, and her daughter [[Maureen Dunbar|Maureen]]. The Kilns was a house in the district of [[Headington Quarry]] on the outskirts of Oxford, now part of the suburb of [[Risinghurst]]. They all contributed financially to the purchase of the house, which eventually passed to Maureen, who by then was [[Maureen Dunbar|Dame Maureen Dunbar]], when Warren died in 1973.

Moore had [[dementia]] in her later years and was eventually moved into a [[nursing home]], where she died in 1951. Lewis visited her every day in this home until her death.

===Return to Christianity===
Lewis was raised in a religious family that attended the [[Church of Ireland]]. He became an atheist at age 15, though he later described his young self as being paradoxically "very angry with God for not existing" and "equally angry with him for creating a world".{{sfn|Lewis|1966b|p=115}} His early separation from Christianity began when he started to view his religion as a chore and a duty; around this time, he also gained an interest in the occult, as his studies expanded to include such topics.<ref>''The Critic'', Volume 32, Thomas More Association, 1973. Original from the [[University of Michigan]].</ref> Lewis quoted [[Lucretius]] (''De rerum natura'', 5.198–9) as having one of the [[Argument from poor design|strongest arguments]] for atheism:{{sfn|Lewis|1966b|p=65}}

<blockquote><poem>{{lang|lt|Nequaquam nobis divinitus esse paratam}}
{{lang|lt|Naturam rerum; tanta stat praedita culpa}}</poem></blockquote>

which he translated poetically as follows:

<blockquote><poem>Had God designed the world, it would not be
A world so frail and faulty as we see.</poem></blockquote>

(This is a highly poetic, rather than a literal translation. A more literal translation, by William Ellery Leonard,{{sfn|Lucretius|1916}} reads: "That in no wise the nature of all things / For us was fashioned by a power divine – / So great the faults it stands encumbered with.")

Lewis's interest in the works of the Scottish writer [[George MacDonald]] was part of what turned him from atheism. This can be seen particularly well through this passage in Lewis's ''[[The Great Divorce]]'', chapter nine, when the semi-autobiographical [[Protagonist|main character]] meets MacDonald in [[Heaven]]:

{{blockquote |...&nbsp;I tried, trembling, to tell this man all that his writings had done for me. I tried to tell how a certain frosty afternoon at [[Leatherhead railway station|Leatherhead Station]] when I had first bought a copy of ''[[Phantastes]]'' (being then about sixteen years old) had been to me what the first sight of [[Beatrice Portinari|Beatrice]] had been to [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]]: ''Here begins the new life''. I started to confess how long that Life had delayed in the region of imagination merely: how slowly and reluctantly I had come to admit that his Christendom had more than an accidental connexion with it, how hard I had tried not to see the true name of the quality which first met me in his books is Holiness.{{sfn|Lewis|2002b|pp=66–67}}}}

He eventually returned to Christianity, having been influenced by arguments with his Oxford colleague and friend [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], whom he seems to have met for the first time on 11 May 1926, as well as the book ''[[The Everlasting Man]]'' by [[G. K. Chesterton]]. Lewis vigorously resisted conversion, noting that he was brought into Christianity like a [[Parable of the Prodigal Son|prodigal]], "kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance to escape".{{sfn|Lewis|1966b|p=229}} He described his last struggle in ''[[Surprised by Joy]]'':

{{blockquote |You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen [College, Oxford], night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929{{efn|[[Alister McGrath]] sees the 1929 date as an error, and dates it to 1930. {{cite book |last1=McGrath |first1=Alister |author1-link=Alister McGrath |title=C. S. Lewis—A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet |date=2013 |publisher=[[Tyndale House]] |page=146 |isbn=9781414382524 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Z-sjP6E8lsC&pg=PA146 |access-date=9 August 2023}} }} I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.{{sfn|Lewis|1966b|pp=228, 229}}}}

After his conversion to [[theism]] in 1929, Lewis converted to Christianity in 1931, following a long discussion during a late-night walk along [[Addison's Walk]] with close friends Tolkien and [[Hugo Dyson]]. He records making a specific commitment to Christian belief while on his way to the zoo with his brother. He became a member of the [[Church of England]]&nbsp;– somewhat to the disappointment of Tolkien, who had hoped that he would join the Catholic Church.{{sfn|Carpenter|2006}}{{Rp|needed=yes|date=March 2012}}

Lewis was a committed [[Church of England|Anglican]] who upheld a largely orthodox [[Anglican doctrine|Anglican theology]], though in his [[apologetics|apologetic]] writings, he made an effort to avoid espousing any one denomination. In his later writings, some believe that he proposed ideas such as purification of [[venial sin]]s after death in [[purgatory]] (''[[The Great Divorce]]'' and ''[[Letters to Malcolm]]'') and [[mortal sin]] (''[[The Screwtape Letters]]''), which are generally considered to be Roman Catholic teachings, although they are also widely held in Anglicanism (particularly in [[high church]] [[Anglo-Catholic]] circles). Regardless, Lewis considered himself an entirely orthodox Anglican to the end of his life, reflecting that he had initially attended church only to receive [[Eucharist|communion]] and had been repelled by the hymns and the poor quality of the sermons. He later came to consider himself honoured by worshipping with men of faith who came in shabby clothes and work boots and who sang all the verses to all the hymns.{{sfn|Wilson|2002|p=147}}

===Second World War===
After the outbreak of the [[Second World War]] in 1939, the Lewises took [[Evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II|child evacuees from London]] and other cities into [[The Kilns]].<ref name="tst">{{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis: The Story Teller |last=Bingham |first=Derick |publisher=[[Christian Focus Publications]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-85792-487-9 |series=Trailblazers |pages=[https://archive.org/details/cslewisshiverofw0000bing/page/102 102-104] |url=https://archive.org/details/cslewisshiverofw0000bing }}</ref> Lewis was only 40 when the war began, and he tried to re-enter military service, offering to instruct cadets; however, his offer was not accepted. He rejected the recruiting office's suggestion of writing columns for the [[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Information]] in the press, as he did not want to "write lies"<ref name="tst2">{{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis: The Story Teller |last=Bingham |first=Derick |publisher=CF4Kids |year=2004 |isbn=978-1857924879 |series=Trailblazers |page=[https://archive.org/details/cslewisshiverofw0000bing/page/105 105] |url=https://archive.org/details/cslewisshiverofw0000bing}}</ref> to deceive the enemy. He later served in the local [[Home Guard (United Kingdom)|Home Guard]] in Oxford.<ref name=tst2 />

From 1941 to 1943, Lewis spoke on religious programmes broadcast by [[BBC|the BBC]] from London while the city was under periodic [[The Blitz|air raids]].<ref name="tst3">{{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis: The Story Teller |last=Bingham |first=Derick |year=2004 |isbn=978-1857924879 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/cslewisshiverofw0000bing/page/111 109-111] |publisher=Christian Focus |url=https://archive.org/details/cslewisshiverofw0000bing }}</ref> These broadcasts were appreciated by civilians and servicemen at that stage. For example, [[Donald Hardman|Air Chief Marshal Sir Donald Hardman]] wrote:

:"The war, the whole of life, everything tended to seem pointless. We needed, many of us, a key to the meaning of the universe. Lewis provided just that."<ref name="tst4">{{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis: The Story Teller |last=Bingham |first=Derick |year=2004 |isbn=978-1857924879 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cslewisshiverofw0000bing/page/111 111] |publisher=Christian Focus |url=https://archive.org/details/cslewisshiverofw0000bing }}</ref>

The youthful [[Alistair Cooke]] was less impressed, and in 1944 described "the alarming vogue of Mr. C.S. Lewis" as an example of how wartime tends to "spawn so many quack religions and Messiahs".<ref>"Mr. Anthony at Oxford", ''New Republic'', 110 (24 April 1944): 579.</ref> The broadcasts were anthologized in ''Mere Christianity''. From 1941, Lewis was occupied at his summer holiday weekends visiting [[Royal Air Force|R.A.F.]] stations to speak on his faith, invited by [[Chaplain-in-Chief]] [[Maurice Edwards]].<ref name="tst5">{{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis: The Story Teller |last=Bingham |first=Derick |year=2004 |isbn=978-1857924879 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cslewisshiverofw0000bing/page/112 112] |publisher=Christian Focus |url=https://archive.org/details/cslewisshiverofw0000bing }}</ref>

It was also during the same wartime period that Lewis was invited to become first President of the [[Socratic Club|Oxford Socratic Club]] in January 1942,<ref name="tst6">{{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis: The Story Teller |last=Bingham |first=Derick |year=2004 |isbn=978-1857924879 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cslewisshiverofw0000bing/page/114 114] |publisher=Christian Focus |url=https://archive.org/details/cslewisshiverofw0000bing }}</ref> a position that he enthusiastically held until he resigned on appointment to [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge University]] in 1954.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/cs-lewis-50-years-after-his-death-a-new-scholarship-will-honour-his-literary-career |title=CS Lewis: 50 years after his death a new scholarship will honour his literary career |date=8 November 2013 |publisher=University of Cambridge |access-date=3 December 2019 |archive-date=3 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203183601/https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/cs-lewis-50-years-after-his-death-a-new-scholarship-will-honour-his-literary-career |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Honour declined===
Lewis was named on the last list of honours by [[George VI]] in December 1951 as a [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) but declined so as to avoid association with any political issues.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cslewis.org/resources/chronocsl.html |title=Chronology of the Life of C.S. Lewis |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206021046/http://www.cslewis.org/resources/chronocsl.html |archive-date=6 February 2012}}</ref><ref name="Letters of C.S. Lewis">{{Cite book |url=https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0156508710/heroesofhistory |title=Letters of C. S. Lewis |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |publisher=Mariner Books |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-15-650871-1 |editor-last=W. H. Lewis |location=New York |page=528 |editor2-last=Walter Hooper |access-date=30 August 2017 |archive-date=14 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314033853/https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0156508710/heroesofhistory |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Chair at Cambridge University===
In 1954, Lewis accepted the newly founded [[Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English (Cambridge)|chair in Mediaeval and Renaissance Literature]] at [[Magdalene College, Cambridge]], where he finished his career. He maintained a strong attachment to the city of [[Oxford]], keeping a home there and returning on weekends until his death in 1963.

===Joy Davidman===
{{Quote box
 |width = 20%
 |align = right
 |qalign = right
 |quote = She was my daughter and my mother, my pupil and my teacher, my subject and my sovereign; and always, holding all these in solution, my trusty comrade, friend, shipmate, fellow-soldier. My mistress; but at the same time all that any man friend (and I have good ones) has ever been to me. Perhaps more.
 |source = C. S. Lewis<ref name="washtimes">{{Cite news |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/16/books-out-my-bone-letters-joy-davidman/ |title=BOOKS: 'Out of My Bone: The Letters of Joy Davidman' |last=Person |first=James E. Jr. |date=16 August 2009 |work=[[The Washington Times]] |access-date=8 December 2011 |archive-date=11 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111101154/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/16/books-out-my-bone-letters-joy-davidman/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}

In later life, Lewis corresponded with [[Joy Gresham|Joy Davidman Gresham]], an American writer of [[American Jews|Jewish background]], a former [[Communist Party USA|Communist]], and a convert from atheism to Christianity. She was separated from her alcoholic and abusive husband, novelist [[William Lindsay Gresham|William L. Gresham]], and came to England with her two sons, David and [[Douglas Gresham|Douglas]].{{sfn|Haven|2006}} Lewis at first regarded her as an agreeable intellectual companion and personal friend, and it was on this level that he agreed to enter into a [[civil marriage]] contract with her so that she could continue to live in the UK.{{sfn|Hooper|Green|2002|p=268}} They were married at the [[register office]], 42 [[St Giles', Oxford]], on 23 April 1956.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LWK59Z68ZGoC&pg=PA79 |title=C. S. Lewis: A Complete Guide to His Life and Works |last=Hooper |first=Walter |date=23 June 1998 |isbn=9780060638801 |page=79 |publisher=Zondervan |access-date=3 December 2011 |archive-date=31 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231124331/http://books.google.com/books?id=LWK59Z68ZGoC&pg=PA79 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/stgiles/tour/west/42.html |title=No. 42 |date=7 December 2011 |website=St Giles', Oxford |access-date=9 October 2013 |archive-date=16 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016124557/http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/stgiles/tour/west/42.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Lewis's brother Warren wrote: "For Jack the attraction was at first undoubtedly intellectual. Joy was the only woman whom he had met&nbsp;... who had a brain which matched his own in suppleness, in width of interest, and in analytical grasp, and above all in humour and a sense of fun."{{sfn|Haven|2006}} After complaining of a painful hip, she was diagnosed with terminal [[bone cancer]], and the relationship developed to the point that they sought a Christian marriage. Since she was divorced, this was not straightforward in the [[Marriage in England and Wales|Church of England]] at the time, but a friend, the Rev. Peter Bide, performed the ceremony at her bed in the [[Churchill Hospital]] on 21 March 1957.<ref>Schultz and West (eds), ''The C. S. Lewis Reader's Encyclopedia'' (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1988), p. 249.</ref>

Gresham's cancer soon went into [[Remission (medicine)|remission]], and the couple lived together as a family with [[Warren Lewis]] until 1960, when her cancer recurred. She died on 13 July 1960. Earlier that year, the couple took a brief holiday in Greece and the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]]; Lewis was fond of walking but not of travel, and this marked his only crossing of the [[English Channel]] after 1918. Lewis's book ''[[A Grief Observed]]'' describes his experience of bereavement in such a raw and personal fashion that he originally released it under the pseudonym N. W. Clerk to keep readers from associating the book with him. Ironically, many friends recommended the book to Lewis as a method for dealing with his own grief. After Lewis's death, his authorship was made public by [[Faber and Faber|Faber]], with the permission of the [[Literary estate|executors]].{{sfn|Lewis|1961|loc=jacket notes}}

Lewis had adopted Gresham's two sons and continued to raise them after her death. [[Douglas Gresham]] is a Christian like Lewis and his mother,<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/books/at-home-in-narnia/2005/12/03/1133422143366.html?page=fullpage |title=At home in Narnia |date=3 December 2005 |work=The Age |location=Melbourne, Australia |page=2 |access-date=4 May 2009 |archive-date=3 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090803000509/http://www.theage.com.au/news/books/at-home-in-narnia/2005/12/03/1133422143366.html?page=fullpage |url-status=live }}</ref> while David Gresham turned to his mother's ancestral faith, becoming [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]] in his beliefs. His mother's writings had featured the Jews in an unsympathetic manner, particularly on ''[[shechita]]'' (ritual slaughter). David informed Lewis that he was going to become a ''[[shohet]]'', a ritual slaughterer, to present this type of Jewish religious [[Official|functionary]] to the world in a more favourable light. In a 2005 interview, Douglas Gresham acknowledged that he and his brother were not close, although they had corresponded via email.<ref name="theage.com.au">{{Cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/books/at-home-in-narnia/2005/12/03/1133422143366.html?page=4 |title=At home in Narnia |date=3 December 2005 |work=The Age |location=Melbourne, Australia |page=4 |access-date=4 May 2009 |archive-date=29 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829072433/http://www.theage.com.au/news/books/at-home-in-narnia/2005/12/03/1133422143366.html?page=4 |url-status=live }}</ref> 

David died on 25 December 2014.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48600470 | jstor=48600470 | title=David Gresham (1944–2014) | last1=Santamaria | first1=Abigail | journal=VII: Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center | date=2015 | volume=32 | pages=11–13 }}</ref> In 2020, Douglas revealed that his brother had died at a Swiss [[mental hospital]], and that when David was a young man he had been diagnosed with [[paranoid schizophrenia]].<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2020/09/c-s-lewis-and-his-stepsons | work=First Things | title = C.S. Lewis and His Stepsons | date=3 September 2020}}</ref>

===Illness and death===
[[File:20210418 C.S. Lewis grave-1.jpg|thumb|upright|Lewis's grave at [[Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry]]]]
In early June 1961, Lewis became infected with recurrent [[nephritis]] which progressed to chronic low-grade [[sepsis]]. His illness caused him to miss the autumn term at Cambridge, though his health gradually began improving in 1962 and he returned that April. His health continued to improve and, according to his friend [[George Sayer (biographer)|George Sayer]], Lewis was fully himself by early 1963.

On 15 July that year, Lewis fell ill and was admitted to the hospital; he had a heart attack at 5:00&nbsp;pm the next day and lapsed into a coma, but unexpectedly woke the following day at 2:00&nbsp;pm. After he was discharged from the hospital, Lewis returned to the Kilns, though he was too ill to return to work. As a result, he resigned from his post at Cambridge in August 1963.

Lewis's condition continued to decline, and he was diagnosed with [[end-stage kidney failure]] in mid-November. He collapsed in his bedroom at 5:30&nbsp;pm on 22 November, at age 64, and died a few minutes later.<ref>{{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis – A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet |last=McGrath |first=Alister |publisher=Tyndale House Publishers, Inc |year=2013 |page=358}}</ref> He is buried in the churchyard of [[Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry|Holy Trinity Church]], [[Headington]], Oxford.{{sfn|FoHTC}} His brother [[Warren Lewis|Warren]] died on 9 April 1973 and was buried in the same grave.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://cslewis.drzeus.net/multimedia/ |title=Picture Album |website=Into the Wardrobe |publisher=Dr Zeus |access-date=7 October 2010 |archive-date=27 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527054913/http://cslewis.drzeus.net/multimedia/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Media coverage of Lewis's death was largely overshadowed by news of the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]], which occurred on the same day (approximately 55 minutes following Lewis's collapse), as did the death of English writer [[Aldous Huxley]], author of ''[[Brave New World]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/ultimateislandon0000rudd |title=Ultimate Island: On the Nature of British Science Fiction |last=Ruddick |first=Nicholas |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0313273735 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ultimateislandon0000rudd/page/28 28] |url-access=registration}}</ref> This coincidence was the inspiration for [[Peter Kreeft]]'s book ''[[Between Heaven and Hell (novel)|Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C. S. Lewis, & Aldous Huxley]]''.{{sfn|Kreeft|1982}} Lewis is commemorated on 22 November in the [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church)|church calendar]] of the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Grossman |first=Cathy Lynn |date=27 January 2006 |title=Parish to push sainthood for Thurgood Marshall |work=USA Today |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2006-01-26-marshall-sainthood_x.htm |url-status=live |access-date=28 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100831072608/http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2006-01-26-marshall-sainthood_x.htm |archive-date=31 August 2010}}</ref>

==Career==

===Scholar===
[[File:Magdalen College Oxford 20040613.jpg|thumb|Magdalen College, Oxford]]
[[File:MagdaleneCollegeCam.jpg|thumb|Magdalene College, Cambridge]]

Lewis began his academic career as an undergraduate student at [[Oxford University]], where he won a triple first, the highest honours in three areas of study.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Question of God: C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life |last=Nicholi |first=Armand |publisher=Free Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0743247856 |page=4}}</ref> He was then elected a Fellow of [[Magdalen College, Oxford]], where he worked for nearly thirty years, from 1925 to 1954.<ref name="WWW">{{Cite book |title=Who Was Who |date=1 December 2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |chapter=Lewis, Clive Staples |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U48011 |isbn=978-0-19-954089-1 |chapter-url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-48011 |access-date=8 April 2018 |archive-date=9 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180409043654/http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-48011 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1954, he was awarded the newly founded [[Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English (Cambridge)|chair of Mediaeval and Renaissance Literature]] at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge University]], and was elected a fellow of [[Magdalene College, Cambridge|Magdalene College]].<ref name="WWW" /> Concerning his appointed academic field, he argued that there was no such thing as an [[English Renaissance]].<ref name="ohel" /><ref>{{Cite book |title=Selected Literary Essays |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |date=1969 |editor-last=Hooper |editor-first=Walter |page=[https://archive.org/details/selectedliterary0000lewi/page/2 2] |chapter=De Descriptione Temporum |orig-year=1955 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/selectedliterary0000lewi |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref> Much of his scholarly work concentrated on the [[Late Middle Ages|later Middle Ages]], especially its use of allegory. His ''[[The Allegory of Love]]'' (1936) helped reinvigorate the serious study of late medieval narratives such as the ''[[Roman de la Rose]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Allegory of Love |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |orig-year=1936 |year=1977 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK}}</ref>

[[File:Eagle and Child.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[The Eagle and Child]] pub in Oxford where the Inklings met on Tuesday mornings in 1939]]

Lewis was commissioned to write the volume ''English Literature in the Sixteenth Century (Excluding Drama)'' for the Oxford History of English Literature.<ref name="ohel">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/englishliteratur00lewi |title=English Literature in the Sixteenth Century: excluding drama |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |year=1954 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=London |url-access=registration}}</ref> His book ''A Preface to Paradise Lost''<ref>{{cite book |title=A Preface to "Paradise Lost": Being the Ballard Matthews Lectures, Delivered at University College, North Wales, 1941 |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |orig-year=1942 |year=1961 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=London |ref=none}}</ref> is still cited as a criticism of that work. His last [[academia|academic work]], ''[[The Discarded Image]]: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature'' (1964), is a summary of the medieval world view, a reference to the "discarded image" of the cosmos.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1994 |location=Cambridge, England |orig-year=1964}}</ref>

Lewis was a prolific writer, and his circle of literary friends became an informal discussion society known as the "[[Inklings]]", including [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], [[Nevill Coghill]], [[Lord David Cecil]], [[Charles Williams (British writer)|Charles Williams]], [[Owen Barfield]], and his brother [[Warren Lewis]]. Glyer points to December 1929 as the Inklings' beginning date.{{sfn|Glyer|2007|p=}} Lewis's friendship with Coghill and Tolkien grew during their time as members of the Kolbítar, an Old Norse reading group that Tolkien founded and which ended around the time of the inception of the Inklings.{{sfn|Lazo|2004|pp=191–226}} At Oxford, he was the tutor of poet [[John Betjeman]], critic [[Kenneth Tynan]], mystic [[Bede Griffiths]], novelist [[Roger Lancelyn Green]] and Sufi scholar [[Martin Lings]], among many other undergraduates. The religious and conservative Betjeman detested Lewis, whereas the [[anti-establishment]] Tynan retained a lifelong admiration for him.{{sfn|Tonkin|2005}}{{Rp | needed = yes|date=March 2012}}

Of Tolkien, Lewis writes in ''[[Surprised by Joy]]'':

{{blockquote |When I began teaching for the English Faculty, I made two other friends, both Christians (these queer people seemed now to pop up on every side) who were later to give me much help in getting over the last stile. They were HVV Dyson&nbsp;... and JRR Tolkien. Friendship with the latter marked the breakdown of two old prejudices. At my first coming into the world I had been (implicitly) warned never to trust a [[Papist]], and at my first coming into the English Faculty (explicitly) never to trust a [[philology|philologist]]. Tolkien was both.{{sfn|Lewis|1966b|p=216}}}}

===Novelist===
In addition to his scholarly work, Lewis wrote several popular novels, including the science fiction ''[[Space Trilogy]]'' for adults and the [[Narnia]] fantasies for children. Most deal implicitly with Christian themes such as sin, humanity's [[Fall of Man|fall from grace]], and redemption.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shumaker |first=Wayne |year=1955 |title=The Cosmic Trilogy of C. S. Lewis |journal=The Hudson Review |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=240–254 |doi=10.2307/3847687 |issn=0018-702X |jstor=3847687}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F7emDwAAQBAJ&q=%22cs+lewis%22++christian+fiction&pg=PP1 |title=C.S. Lewis and Christian Postmodernism: Word, Image, and Beyond |last=Yuasa |first=Kyoko |date=25 May 2017 |publisher=Lutterworth Press |isbn=978-0-7188-4608-4 |access-date=9 November 2020 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102146/https://books.google.com/books?id=F7emDwAAQBAJ&q=%22cs+lewis%22++christian+fiction&pg=PP1 |url-status=live }}</ref>

His first novel after becoming a Christian was ''[[The Pilgrim's Regress]]'' (1933), which depicted his journey to Christianity in the allegorical style of [[John Bunyan]]'s ''[[The Pilgrim's Progress]]''. The book was poorly received by critics at the time,<ref name="Thomas" /> although David [[Martyn Lloyd-Jones]], one of Lewis's contemporaries at Oxford, gave him much-valued encouragement. Asked by Lloyd-Jones when he would write another book, Lewis replied, "When I understand the meaning of prayer."{{sfn|Murray|1990}}{{Rp | needed = yes|date=March 2012}}

The ''[[Space Trilogy]]'' (also called the ''Cosmic Trilogy'' or ''Ransom Trilogy'') dealt with what Lewis saw as the dehumanizing trends in contemporary science fiction. The first book, ''[[Out of the Silent Planet]]'', was apparently written following a conversation with his friend J. R. R. Tolkien about these trends. Lewis agreed to write a "space travel" story and Tolkien a "time travel" one, but Tolkien never completed "[[The Lost Road and Other Writings|The Lost Road]]", linking his [[Middle-earth]] to the modern world. Lewis's main character [[Elwin Ransom]] is based in part on Tolkien, a fact to which Tolkien alludes in his letters.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9eLCAgAAQBAJ |title=The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien |last=Tolkien |first=J. R. R. |date=21 February 2014 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-544-36379-3 |page=45 |access-date=5 September 2020 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102146/https://books.google.com/books?id=9eLCAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The second novel, ''[[Perelandra]]'', depicts a new [[Garden of Eden]] on the planet Venus, a new [[Adam and Eve]], and a new "serpent figure" to tempt Eve. The story can be seen as an account of what might have happened if the terrestrial Adam had defeated the serpent and avoided the [[Fall of Man]], with Ransom intervening in the novel to "ransom" the new Adam and Eve from the deceptions of the enemy. The third novel, ''[[That Hideous Strength]]'', develops the theme of nihilistic science threatening traditional human values, embodied in Arthurian legend.{{Citation needed|date=November 2016}}

Many ideas in the trilogy, particularly opposition to dehumanization as portrayed in the third book, are presented more formally in ''[[The Abolition of Man]]'', based on a series of lectures by Lewis at [[Durham University]] in 1943. Lewis stayed in Durham, where he says he was overwhelmed by the magnificence of [[Durham Cathedral|the cathedral]]. ''That Hideous Strength'' is in fact set in the environs of "Edgestow" university, a small English university like Durham, though Lewis disclaims any other resemblance between the two.{{sfn|Lewis|1945|page=7}}

[[Walter Hooper]], Lewis's literary executor, discovered a fragment of another science-fiction novel apparently written by Lewis called ''[[The Dark Tower (1977 novel)|The Dark Tower]]''. Ransom appears in the story but it is not clear whether the book was intended as part of the same series of novels. The manuscript was eventually published in 1977, though Lewis scholar [[Kathryn Lindskoog]] doubts its authenticity.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-09-01-vw-30166-story.html |title=Literary Sleuth : Scholar Kathryn Lindskoog of Orange, author of 'Fakes, Frauds and Other Malarkey,' opened a can of worms by claiming a C.S. Lewis hoax |last=Washburn |first=Jim |date=1 September 1993 |access-date=18 January 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118162322/http://articles.latimes.com/1993-09-01/news/vw-30166_1_lewis-hoax/2 |archive-date=18 January 2018}}</ref>

[[File:Mourne mountains.jpg|thumb|[[Mourne Mountains|The Mountains of Mourne]] inspired Lewis to write ''The Chronicles of Narnia''. About them, Lewis wrote "I have seen landscapes&nbsp;... which, under a particular light, make me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge."<ref name="The great British weekend: The Mourne Mountains">{{Cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-great-british-weekend-the-mourne-mountains-zjb7lpkn9zw |title=The great British weekend The Mourne Mountains |last=Knight |first=Jane |date=12 September 2009 |work=The Times |access-date=28 April 2010 |location=London}}</ref>]]

''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'', considered a classic of children's literature, is a series of seven fantasy novels. Written between 1949 and 1954 and illustrated by [[Pauline Baynes]], the series is Lewis's most popular work, having sold over 100 million copies in 41 languages {{Harvard citation|Kelly|2006|pp=}} {{Harvard citation|Guthmann|2005|pp=}}. It has been adapted several times, complete or in part, for radio, television, stage and [[The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)|cinema]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.narniaweb.com/movies/adaptations/ |title=Other Narnia Adaptations |website=NarniaWeb {{!}} Netflix's Narnia Movies |date=26 May 2018 |access-date=3 December 2019 |archive-date=10 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810043802/https://www.narniaweb.com/movies/adaptations/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1956, the final novel in the series, ''[[The Last Battle]]'', won the [[Carnegie Medal (literary award)|Carnegie Medal]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Eccleshare |first=Julia |date=13 June 2016 |title=Eighty years of children's books: the best Carnegie medal winners |url=https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2016/jun/13/carnegie-medal-winners-1936 |access-date=31 October 2024 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

The books contain Christian ideas intended to be easily accessible to young readers. In addition to Christian themes, Lewis also borrows characters from [[Greek mythology|Greek]] and [[Roman mythology]], as well as traditional British and Irish fairy tales.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2eo4B--jyqoC&q=roman+mythology+chronicles+of+narnia&pg=PR1 |title=The Magical Worlds of Narnia: The Symbols, Myths, and Fascinating Facts Behind The Chronicles |last=Colbert |first=David |date=2005 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-425-20563-1 |access-date=9 November 2020 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102147/https://books.google.com/books?id=2eo4B--jyqoC&q=roman+mythology+chronicles+of+narnia&pg=PR1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Costello|first=Alicia D.|date=2009|url=http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=69|title=Examining Mythology in 'The Chronicles of Narnia' by C.S. Lewis|journal=Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse|volume=1|issue=11}}</ref>

Lewis's last novel, ''[[Till We Have Faces]]'', a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, was published in 1956.<ref name="britannica.com">{{cite web |last1=Schakel |first1=Peter |title=Till We Have Faces: A Novel by CS Lewis |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Till-We-Have-Faces |website=Brittannica |access-date=19 March 2022}}</ref> Although Lewis called it "far and away my best book", it was not as well-reviewed as his previous work.<ref name="britannica.com"/>

====Other works====
Lewis wrote several works on [[Heaven]] and [[Hell]]. One of these, ''[[The Great Divorce]]'', is a short novella in which a few residents of Hell take a bus ride to Heaven, where they are met by people who dwell there. The proposition is that they can stay if they choose, in which case they can call the place where they had come from "[[Purgatory]]", instead of "Hell", but many find it not to their taste. The title is a reference to [[William Blake]]'s ''[[The Marriage of Heaven and Hell]]'', a concept that Lewis found a "disastrous error". This work deliberately echoes two other more famous works with a similar theme: the ''[[Divine Comedy]]'' of [[Dante Alighieri]], and Bunyan's ''[[The Pilgrim's Progress]]''.

Another short work, ''[[The Screwtape Letters]]'', which he dedicated to J. R. R. Tolkien, consists of letters of advice from senior [[demon]] Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood on the best ways to tempt a particular human and secure his [[Damnation#Religious|damnation]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Screwtape-Letters |title=The Screwtape Letters {{!}} novel by Lewis |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=14 November 2019 |archive-date=2 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190902190549/https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Screwtape-Letters |url-status=live }}</ref> Lewis's last novel was ''[[Till We Have Faces]]'', which he thought of as his most mature and masterly work of fiction but which was never a popular success. It is a retelling of the myth of [[Cupid and Psyche]] from the unusual perspective of Psyche's sister. It is deeply concerned with religious ideas, but the setting is entirely [[paganism|pagan]], and the connections with specific Christian beliefs are left implicit.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Till-We-Have-Faces |title=Till We Have Faces {{!}} novel by Lewis |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=14 November 2019 |archive-date=2 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190902181253/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Till-We-Have-Faces |url-status=live }}</ref>

Before Lewis's conversion to Christianity, he published two books: ''[[Spirits in Bondage]]'', a collection of poems, and ''[[Dymer (poem)|Dymer]]'', a single [[narrative poetry|narrative poem]]. Both were published under the pen name Clive Hamilton. Other narrative poems have since been published posthumously, including ''Launcelot'', ''The Nameless Isle'', and ''[[The Queen of Drum]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Narrative Poems. |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |date=1969 |publisher=Fount Paperbacks |edition=Walter Hooper |location=London}}</ref>

He also wrote ''[[The Four Loves]]'', which rhetorically explains four categories of love: [[philia|friendship]], [[Eros (concept)|eros]], [[storge|affection]], and [[agape|charity]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/fourloves00lewi |title=The Four Loves. |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |date=1960 |publisher=Harcourt |location=New York |isbn=9780156329309 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

In 2009, a partial draft was discovered of ''[[Language and Human Nature]]'', which Lewis had begun co-writing with J. R. R. Tolkien, but which was never completed.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.txstate.edu/news/news_releases/news_archive/2009/07/CSLewis070809.html |title=Beebe discovers unpublished C.S. Lewis manuscript : University News Service : Texas State University |date=8 July 2009 |publisher=Texas State University |access-date=10 March 2010 |archive-date=2 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602064824/http://www.txstate.edu/news/news_releases/news_archive/2009/07/CSLewis070809.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2024 an original poem was discovered in a collection of documents in Special Collections at the [[University of Leeds]].<ref name=":0">{{cite news |date=28 April 2024 |title=CS Lewis poem unearthed in University of Leeds collection |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-68890548 |access-date=2 May 2024 |work=BBC News }}</ref> Its Old English title, "Mód Þrýþe Ne Wæg", is not easily translated into modern English and references the epic poem ''[[Beowulf]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Leeds |first=University of |date=22 April 2024 |title=Uncovering a CS Lewis poem in Special Collections |url=https://www.leeds.ac.uk/news-arts-culture/news/article/5553/uncovering-a-cs-lewis-poem-in-special-collections |access-date=2 May 2024 |website=www.leeds.ac.uk }}</ref> The poem was addressed to professor of English [[E. V. Gordon|Eric Valentine Gordon]] and his wife Dr Ida Gordon.<ref name=":0" /> It was written under the pen name Nat Whilk, meaning "someone" in Old English.<ref name=":0" />

===Christian apologist===
Lewis is also regarded by many as one of the most influential [[Christian apologetics|Christian apologists]] of his time, in addition to his career as an English professor and an author of fiction. ''[[Mere Christianity]]'' was voted best book of the 20th century by ''[[Christianity Today]]'' in 2000.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=24 April 2000 |title=Books of the Century 
|magazine=[[Christianity Today]]
|url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/april24/5.92.html |volume=44 |issue=5 |page=92 |access-date=7 October 2010 |archive-date=3 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203084913/http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/april24/5.92.html |url-status=live }}{{subscription required}}</ref> He has been called "The Apostle to the Skeptics" due to his approach to religious belief as a sceptic, and his following conversion.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qANAQAAMAAJ |title=C. S. Lewis: Apostle to the Skeptics |last=Walsh |first=Chad |year=1949 |publisher=Norwood Editions |isbn=9780883057797 |access-date=5 September 2020 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102147/https://books.google.com/books?id=3qANAQAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Lewis was very interested in presenting an [[argument from reason]] against [[metaphysical naturalism]] and for the [[existence of God]]. ''Mere Christianity'', ''[[The Problem of Pain]]'', and ''[[Miracles (book)|Miracles]]'' were all concerned, to one degree or another, with refuting popular objections to Christianity, such as the question, "How could a good God allow pain to exist in the world?" He also became a popular lecturer and broadcaster, and some of his writing originated as scripts for radio talks or lectures (including much of ''Mere Christianity'').{{sfn|Lewis|1997|page=}}{{Rp | needed = yes|date=March 2012}}

According to George Sayer, losing a 1948 debate with [[G. E. M. Anscombe|Elizabeth Anscombe]], also a Christian, led Lewis to re-evaluate his role as an apologist, and his future works concentrated on devotional literature and children's books.<ref name="rilstone-refuted">{{Cite web |url=http://www.aslan.demon.co.uk/cslfaq.htm#_Toc5085891 |title=Were Lewis's proofs of the existence of God from 'Miracles' refuted by Elizabeth Anscombe? |last=Rilstone |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Rilstone |website=Frequently Asked Questions |publisher=Alt.books.cs-lewis |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021202084439/http://www.aslan.demon.co.uk/cslfaq.htm#_Toc5085891 |archive-date=2 December 2002}}</ref> Anscombe had a completely different recollection of the debate's outcome and its emotional effect on Lewis.<ref name=rilstone-refuted /> Victor Reppert also disputes Sayer, listing some of Lewis's post-1948 apologetic publications, including the second and revised edition of his ''Miracles'' in 1960, in which Lewis addressed Anscombe's criticism.<ref name="Reppert 2005 https://books.google.com/books?id=hn1gaNlri1cC&pg=PA266 266">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/chroniclesofnarn00bass/page/ |title=The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy: The Lion, the Witch, and the Worldview |last=Reppert |first=Victor |publisher=[[Open Court Publishing Company]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-8126-9588-5 |editor-last=Gregory Bassham and Jerry L. Walls |location=[[LaSalle, Illinois|La Salle]], Illinois |page=[https://archive.org/details/chroniclesofnarn00bass/page/ 266 ] [https://books.google.com/books?id=hn1gaNlri1cC&pg=PA266] |chapter=The Green Witch and the Great Debate: Freeing Narnia from the Spell of the Lewis-Anscombe Legend |oclc=60557454 |author-link=Victor Reppert |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hn1gaNlri1cC&pg=PA260}}</ref> Noteworthy too is Roger Teichman's suggestion in ''The Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe'' that the intellectual impact of Anscombe's paper on Lewis's philosophical self-confidence should not be over-rated: "...&nbsp;it seems unlikely that he felt as irretrievably crushed as some of his acquaintances have made out; the episode is probably an inflated legend, in the same category as the affair of [[Wittgenstein's Poker]]. Certainly, Anscombe herself believed that Lewis's argument, though flawed, was getting at something very important; she thought that this came out more in the improved version of it that Lewis presented in a subsequent edition of ''Miracles''&nbsp;– though that version also had 'much to criticize in it'."<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe |last=Teichman |first=Roger |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0199299331 |page=3}}</ref>

Lewis wrote an autobiography titled ''Surprised by Joy'', which places special emphasis on his own conversion.<ref name="Lewis" /> He also wrote many essays and public speeches on Christian belief, many of which were collected in ''[[God in the Dock]]'' and ''[[The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=loE7BAAAQBAJ |title=God in the Dock |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |date=15 September 2014 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-0-8028-7183-1 |access-date=5 September 2020 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102148/https://books.google.com/books?id=loE7BAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WNTT_8NW_qwC&q=the+weight+of+glory |title=Weight of Glory |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |date=20 March 2001 |publisher=Zondervan |isbn=978-0-06-065320-0 |access-date=9 November 2020 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102148/https://books.google.com/books?id=WNTT_8NW_qwC&q=the+weight+of+glory |url-status=live }}</ref>

His most famous works, the ''Chronicles of Narnia'', contain many strong Christian messages and are often considered [[allegory]]. Lewis, an expert on the subject of allegory, maintained that the books were not allegory, and preferred to call the Christian aspects of them "[[supposition]]al". As Lewis wrote in a letter to a Mrs. Hook in December 1958:

{{blockquote|If Aslan represented the immaterial Deity in the same way in which Giant Despair <nowiki>[</nowiki>a character in ''[[The Pilgrim's Progress]]''<nowiki>]</nowiki> represents despair, he would be an allegorical figure. In reality, he is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question, "What might Christ become like, if there really were a world like Narnia and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?" This is not allegory at all.{{sfn|Martindale|Root|1990|pp=}}}}

Prior to his conversion, Lewis used the word "Moslem" to refer to Muslims, adherents of Islam; following his conversion, however, he started using "[[Mohammedan]]s" and described Islam as a Christian heresy rather than an independent religion.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=30-03-042-f&readcode=&readtherest=true#therest |title=Not Merely Islam |last=Imam |first=Jacob Fareed |date=May–June 2017 |work=[[Touchstone (magazine)|Touchstone]] |access-date=23 May 2022 }}</ref>

===="Trilemma"====
{{Main|Lewis's trilemma}}
In a much-cited passage from ''Mere Christianity'', Lewis challenged the view that Jesus was a great moral teacher but not God. He argued that Jesus made several implicit claims to divinity, which would logically exclude that claim:

{{blockquote|I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic&nbsp;– on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg&nbsp;– or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.{{sfn|Lewis|1997|p=43}}}}

Although this argument is sometimes called "Lewis's trilemma", Lewis did not invent it but rather developed and popularized it. It has also been used by Christian apologist [[Josh McDowell]] in his book ''More Than a Carpenter''.<ref>{{Harvard citation|McDowell|2001}}</ref> It has been widely repeated in Christian apologetic literature but largely ignored by professional theologians and biblical scholars.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The incarnation: an interdisciplinary symposium on the incarnation of the Son of God |last=Davis |first=Stephen T. |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-927577-9 |editor-last=Stephen T. Davis, Daniel Kendall and Gerald O'Collins |location=Oxford |pages=222–223 |chapter=Was Jesus Mad, Bad, or God? |oclc=56656427 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xLtu0IwjK5oC |access-date=16 October 2015 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102202/https://books.google.com/books?id=xLtu0IwjK5oC |url-status=live }}</ref>

Lewis's Christian apologetics, and this argument in particular, have been criticized. Philosopher John Beversluis described Lewis's arguments as "textually careless and theologically unreliable",<ref>{{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis and the Search for Rational Religion |last=Beversluis |first=John |publisher=[[W. B. Eerdmans]] |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-8028-0046-6 |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan}}</ref> and this particular argument as logically unsound and an example of a [[false dilemma]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis and the Search for Rational Religion |last=Beversluis |first=John |publisher=[[Prometheus Books]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-59102-531-3 |location=Buffalo, New York |page=132 |oclc=85899079 |orig-year=1985}}</ref> The [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] New Testament scholar [[N. T. Wright]] criticizes Lewis for failing to recognize the significance of Jesus's Jewish identity and setting&nbsp;– an oversight which "at best, drastically short-circuits the argument" and which lays Lewis open to criticism that his argument "doesn't work as history, and it backfires dangerously when historical critics question his reading of the gospels", although he argues that this "doesn't undermine the eventual claim".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Wright |first=N. T. |author-link=N. T. Wright |date=March 2007 |title=Simply Lewis: Reflections on a Master Apologist After 60 Years |url=http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=20-02-028-f |magazine=[[Touchstone (magazine)|Touchstone]] |volume=20 |issue=2 |access-date=11 February 2009 |archive-date=31 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531004731/https://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=20-02-028-f |url-status=live }}</ref>

Lewis used a similar argument in ''[[The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe]]'', when [[Digory Kirke|the old Professor]] advises his young guests that their sister's claims of a magical world must logically be taken as either lies, madness, or truth.<ref name="Reppert 2005 https://books.google.com/books?id=hn1gaNlri1cC&pg=PA266 266" />

====Universal morality====
One of the main theses in Lewis's apologia is that there is a common morality known throughout humanity, which he calls "[[natural law]]". In the first five chapters of ''Mere Christianity'', Lewis discusses the idea that people have a standard of behaviour to which they expect people to adhere. Lewis claims that people all over the earth know what this law is and when they break it. He goes on to claim that there must be someone or something behind such a universal set of principles.{{sfn|Lindskoog|2001|p=144}}

{{blockquote|These then are the two points that I wanted to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in.{{sfn|Lewis|1997|p=21}}}}

Lewis also portrays Universal Morality in his works of fiction. In ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' he describes Universal Morality as the "deep magic" which everyone knew.{{sfn|Lindskoog|2001|p=146}}

In the second chapter of ''Mere Christianity'', Lewis recognizes that "many people find it difficult to understand what this Law of Human Nature&nbsp;... is." And he responds first to the idea "that the Moral Law is simply our herd instinct" and second to the idea "that the Moral Law is simply a social convention". In responding to the second idea Lewis notes that people often complain that one set of moral ideas is better than another, but that this actually argues for there existing some "Real Morality" to which they are comparing other moralities. Finally, he notes that sometimes differences in moral codes are exaggerated by people who confuse differences in beliefs about morality with differences in beliefs about facts:

{{blockquote |I have met people who exaggerate the differences, because they have not distinguished between differences of morality and differences of belief about facts. For example, one man said to me, "Three hundred years ago people in England were putting witches to death. Was that what you call the Rule of Human Nature or Right Conduct?" But surely the reason we do not execute witches is that we do not believe there are such things. If we did&nbsp;– if we really thought that there were people going about who had sold themselves to the devil and received supernatural powers from him in return and were using these powers to kill their neighbours or drive them mad or bring bad weather, surely we would all agree that if anyone deserved the death penalty, then these filthy [[quisling]]s did. There is no difference of moral principle here: the difference is simply about matter of fact. It may be a great advance in knowledge not to believe in witches: there is no moral advance in not executing them when you do not think they are there. You would not call a man humane for ceasing to set mousetraps if he did so because he believed there were no mice in the house.{{sfn|Lewis|1997|p=26}}}}

Lewis also had fairly progressive views on the topic of "animal morality", in particular the suffering of animals, as is evidenced by several of his essays: most notably, ''On Vivisection''<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.irishantivivisection.org/cslewis.html |title=Vivisection by CS<!--sic--> Lewis |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |publisher=Irish Anti-Vivisection Society |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516055451/http://www.irishantivivisection.org/cslewis.html |archive-date=16 May 2008 |access-date=2 August 2009}}</ref> and "On the Pains of Animals".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Linzey |first=Andrew |date=Winter 1998 |title=C. S. Lewis's theology of animals |url=https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-26637068/c-s-lewis-s-theology-of-animals |magazine=[[Anglican Theological Review]] |access-date=1 April 2009 |archive-date=22 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922045243/https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-26637068/c-s-lewis-s-theology-of-animals |url-status=live }}{{subscription required}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/people/cslewis_1.shtml |title=C.S. Lewis: Animal theology |access-date=1 April 2009 |publisher=BBC |archive-date=30 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171030131929/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/people/cslewis_1.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Political views==
{{Further|The Abolition of Man}}
Lewis eschewed political involvement and partisan politics, took little interest in transitory political issues, and  held many politicians in disdain. He refused a knighthood for fear that his detractors might then use it to accuse him of holding a political viewpoint, and he saw his role as a Christian apologist. His worldview was Christian, but he also did not believe in establishment of Christian parties. He avoided the political sphere, although he was not ignorant of it.<ref name="Dyer and Watson 2016">{{cite book |last1=Dyer |first1=Justin Buckley |last2=Watson |first2=Micah Joel |title=C.S. Lewis on politics and the natural law |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |edition=kindle|location=New York |isbn=978-1107108240}}</ref>{{rp|loc=238}} He did not see himself as a political philosopher, but his work, ''The Abolition of Man'' (1943) defends objective value and the concept of natural law. Lewis referred to this work as almost his own favourite, although he felt it had been largely ignored.<ref name="Michelson">{{Cite journal |last=Michelson |first=Paul E. |date=25 September 2008 |title=The Abolition of Man in Retrospect |url=https://pillars.taylor.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1149&context=inklings_forever |journal=Inklings Forever: Published Colloquium Proceedings 1997–2016 |volume=6 |issue=14}}</ref>{{rp|3}} ''The Abolition of Man'' was not presented as something new. Instead, he paid attention to ideas, with the intent of recovering them. In ''The Abolition of Man'', "Lewis offered the postmodern world a vision of reality that could make sense of our lived moral experiences, and he put forth a powerful defense of natural law as a necessary basis for "the very idea of a rule which is not tyranny or an obedience which is not slavery".{{R|Dyer and Watson 2016|loc=4876}}

==Legacy==
[[File:Statue of C.S. Lewis, Belfast.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Ross Wilson (artist)|Ross Wilson]]'s statue of Professor Kirke (Digory) in front of the wardrobe from ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' in East Belfast]]

Lewis continues to attract a wide readership. In 2008, ''[[The Times]]'' ranked him eleventh on their list of "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945".<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3127837.ece |title=The 50 greatest British writers since 1945 |date=5 January 2008 |work=The Times |access-date=1 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110425050801/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3127837.ece |archive-date=25 April 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Readers of his fiction are often unaware of what Lewis considered the Christian themes of his works. His Christian apologetics are read and quoted by members of many [[Christian denomination]]s.{{sfn|Pratt|1998}} In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of his death, Lewis joined some of Britain's greatest writers recognized at [[Poets' Corner]], [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9694561/CS-Lewis-Chronicles-of-Narnia-author-honoured-in-Poets-corner.html |title=CS<!--sic--> Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia author, honoured in Poets' corner |last=Peterkin |first=Tom |date=22 November 2012 |work=The Telegraph |access-date=24 February 2013 |archive-date=5 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205173259/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9694561/CS-Lewis-Chronicles-of-Narnia-author-honoured-in-Poets-corner.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The dedication service, at noon on 22 November 2013, included a reading from ''[[The Last Battle]]'' by [[Douglas Gresham]], younger stepson of Lewis. Flowers were laid by [[Walter Hooper]], trustee and literary advisor to the Lewis Estate. An address was delivered by former Archbishop of Canterbury [[Rowan Williams]].<ref name="memorial booklet">{{Cite book |title=A service to dedicate a memorial to C. S. Lewis, writer, scholar, apologist |publisher=Westminster Abbey |year=2013}}</ref>{{page needed|date=October 2016}} The floor stone inscription is a quotation from an address by Lewis:

{{blockquote|I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else.<ref name="memorial booklet" />}}

Lewis has been the subject of several biographies, a few of which were written by close friends, such as [[Roger Lancelyn Green]] and George Sayer.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QC3PMUQZrKsC |title=C.S. Lewis: A Biography |last1=Green |first1=Roger Lancelyn |last2=Hooper |first2=Walter |date=1994 |publisher=Harcourt Brace |isbn=978-0-15-623205-0 |access-date=5 September 2020 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102149/https://books.google.com/books?id=QC3PMUQZrKsC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uV7FwAEACAAJ&q=george+sayer+cs+lewis |title=Jack: A Life of C. S. Lewis |last=Sayer |first=George |date=2005 |publisher=Crossway Books |isbn=978-1-58134-739-5 |access-date=9 November 2020 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102149/https://books.google.com/books?id=uV7FwAEACAAJ&q=george+sayer+cs+lewis |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1985, the screenplay ''[[Shadowlands (TV Movie)|Shadowlands]]'' by [[William Nicholson (writer)|William Nicholson]] dramatized Lewis's life and relationship with Joy Davidman Gresham.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0jpbAAAACAAJ&q=shadowlands |title=Through the Shadowlands: The Love Story of C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman |last=Sibley |first=Brian |date=2005 |publisher=Revell |isbn=978-0-8007-3070-3 |access-date=9 November 2020 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102150/https://books.google.com/books?id=0jpbAAAACAAJ&q=shadowlands |url-status=live }}</ref> It was aired on British television starring [[Joss Ackland]] and [[Claire Bloom]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Television in 1986 {{!}} BAFTA Awards |url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1986/television/orig |website=awards.bafta.org |access-date=6 February 2022 |quote=Actress: Claire Bloom Shadowlands ... Single Drama: Shadowlands}}</ref> This was also staged as a theatre play starring [[Nigel Hawthorne]] in 1989<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/12/theater/review-theater-shadowlands-cs-lewis-and-his-life-s-love.html |title=Review/Theater; 'Shadowlands,' C.S. Lewis and His Life's Love |last=Rich |first=Frank |date=12 November 1990 |work=The New York Times |access-date=3 December 2019 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=3 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203183602/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/12/theater/review-theater-shadowlands-cs-lewis-and-his-life-s-love.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and made into the 1993 feature film ''[[Shadowlands (1993 film)|Shadowlands]]'' starring [[Anthony Hopkins]] and [[Debra Winger]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ebert |first1=Roger |title=Shadowlands movie review |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/shadowlands-1994 |website=RogerEbert.com |access-date=6 February 2022 }}</ref>

Many books have been inspired by Lewis, including ''[[A Severe Mercy]]'' by his correspondent and friend [[Sheldon Vanauken]]. ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' has been particularly influential. Modern children's literature has been more or less influenced by Lewis's series, such as [[Daniel Handler]]'s ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'', [[Eoin Colfer]]'s ''[[Artemis Fowl (series)|Artemis Fowl]]'', [[Philip Pullman]]'s ''[[His Dark Materials]]'', and [[J. K. Rowling]]'s ''[[Harry Potter]]''.{{sfn|Hilliard|2005|pp=}} Pullman is an [[atheism|atheist]] and is known to be sharply critical of C. S. Lewis's work,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.reason.com/news/show/124392.html |title=A Secular Fantasy&nbsp;– The flawed but fascinating fiction of Philip Pullman |last=Young |first=Cathy |date=March 2008 |website=Reason |publisher=Reason Foundation |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090903105700/http://reason.com/news/show/124392.html |archive-date=3 September 2009 |access-date=8 April 2009}}</ref> accusing Lewis of featuring religious propaganda, misogyny, racism, and emotional sadism in his books.{{sfn|BBC News|2005|p=}} However, he has also modestly praised ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' for being a "more serious" work of literature in comparison with Tolkien's "trivial" ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Vineyard |first1=Jennifer |title='His Dark Materials' Writer Philip Pullman Takes 'Narnia,' 'Lord Of The Rings' To Task |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1573211/his-dark-materials-writer-philip-pullman-takes-narnia-lord-of-the-rings-to-task/ |access-date=3 June 2020 |work=MTV News |date=31 October 2007 |archive-date=3 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603053455/http://www.mtv.com/news/1573211/his-dark-materials-writer-philip-pullman-takes-narnia-lord-of-the-rings-to-task/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Authors of adult fantasy literature such as [[Tim Powers]] have also testified to being influenced by Lewis's work.{{sfn|Edwards|2007|pp=305–307}}

Most of Lewis's posthumous work has been edited by his literary executor [[Walter Hooper]]. [[Kathryn Lindskoog]], an independent Lewis scholar, argued that Hooper's scholarship is not reliable and that he has made false statements and attributed forged works to Lewis.{{sfn|Lindskoog|2001}} Lewis's stepson, [[Douglas Gresham]], denies the forgery claims, saying that "[t]he whole controversy thing was engineered for very personal reasons&nbsp;... Her fanciful theories have been pretty thoroughly discredited."{{sfn|Gresham|2007}}

A bronze statue of Lewis's character Digory from ''[[The Magician's Nephew]]'' stands in Belfast's [[Holywood, County Down|Holywood]] Arches in front of the Holywood Road Library.{{sfn|BBC News|2004}}

Several C. S. Lewis Societies exist around the world, including one which was founded in Oxford in 1982. The C.S. Lewis Society at the University of Oxford meets at [[Pusey House, Oxford|Pusey House]] during term time to discuss papers on the life and works of Lewis and the other Inklings, and generally appreciate all things Lewisian.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://lewisinoxford.googlepages.com |title=Oxford University C. S. Lewis Society |publisher=lewisinoxford.googlepages.com |access-date=29 May 2021 |archive-date=17 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090617074528/http://lewisinoxford.googlepages.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Live-action film adaptations have been made of three of ''The Chronicles of Narnia: [[The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe|The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe]]'' (2005), ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian|Prince Caspian]]'' (2008) and ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader|The Voyage of the Dawn Treader]]'' (2010).

Lewis is featured as a main character in ''[[The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica]]'' series by [[James A. Owen]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y4L2Eo7hGjgC&q=here+there+be+dragons,+owen |title=Here There Be Dragons |last=Owen |first=James |date=2006 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9781416951377 |page=322 |access-date=27 May 2019 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102150/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y4L2Eo7hGjgC&q=here+there+be+dragons%2C+owen |url-status=live }}</ref> He is one of two characters in [[Mark St. Germain]]'s 2009 play ''Freud's Last Session'', which imagines a meeting between Lewis, aged 40, and [[Sigmund Freud]], aged 83, at Freud's house in Hampstead, London, in 1939, as the Second World War is about to break out.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tu95z2HrufQC |title=Freud's Last Session |last=Germain |first=Mark St |date=2010 |publisher=Dramatists Play Service, Inc. |isbn=978-0-8222-2493-8 |access-date=5 September 2020 |archive-date=17 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417210503/https://books.google.com/books?id=tu95z2HrufQC |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2023, [[Freud's Last Session]] was released as a movie starring [[Anthony Hopkins]] as Freud and [[Matthew Goode]] as Lewis. The movie had additional characters as well, including [[Anna Freud]], played by [[Liv Lisa Fries]].

In 2021, ''[[The Most Reluctant Convert]]'', a [[biographical drama]] about Lewis's life and conversion, was released.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2021/11/c-s-lewis-most-reluctant-convert-box-office-1234867567/|title=C.S. Lewis Biopic 'The Most Reluctant Convert' Sees $1.2M+ Box Office For One Night Event, Adds Shows|last=Goldsmith|first=Jill|date=4 November 2021|work=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|access-date=26 May 2022}}</ref>

The [[CS Lewis Nature Reserve]], on ground owned by Lewis, lies behind his house, The Kilns.<ref>{{cite web |last=Dickieson |first=Brenton |date=6 November 2018 |title=An Afternoon on C.S. Lewis' Headington Hill – A Pilgrim in Narnia |url=https://apilgriminnarnia.com/2018/11/06/an-afternoon-on-headington-hill/ |access-date=24 January 2025 |website=apilgriminnarnia.com }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=C.S. Lewis Oxford Audio Tour Guide |url=https://cslewistour.uk/oxford/ |access-date=24 January 2025 |website=C.S. Lewis Tour Guide }}</ref> There is public access.<ref>{{cite web |title=CS Lewis Nature Reserve |url=https://www.bbowt.org.uk/nature-reserves/cs-lewis-nature-reserve |access-date=7 August 2024 |website=www.bbowt.org.uk }}</ref>
{{Clear}}

==Bibliography==
{{Main|C. S. Lewis bibliography}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Speculative fiction}}
* [[Courtly love]]
* [[Johan Huizinga]]
* [[Marion E. Wade Center]] at [[Wheaton College (Illinois)|Wheaton College]], has the world's largest collection of works by and about Lewis
* [[D. W. Robertson Jr.]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/3533797.stm |title=City that inspired Narnia fantasy |date=5 March 2004 |access-date=28 April 2010 |work=BBC News |ref={{sfnref|BBC News|2004}} |archive-date=9 July 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060709025231/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/3533797.stm |url-status=live }}
* {{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4347226.stm |title=Pullman attacks Narnia film plans |date=16 October 2005 |access-date=28 April 2010 |work=BBC News |ref={{sfnref|BBC News|2005}} |archive-date=23 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123105614/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4347226.stm |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |title=The Inklings of Oxford: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Their Friends |last=Carpenter |first=Humphrey |date=2006 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-00-774869-3 |orig-year=1978}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Clare |first=David |date=February 2010 |title=C. S. Lewis: An Irish Writer |journal=Irish Studies Review |volume=18 |pages=17–38 |doi=10.1080/09670880903533409 |number=1|s2cid=144348160 |url=https://dspace.mic.ul.ie/handle/10395/2941 |issn = 0967-0882 }}.
* {{Cite book |title=A Christian for all Christians: essays in honour of C. S. Lewis |last=Fiddes |first=Paul |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |year=1990 |isbn=978-0340513842 |editor-last=Andrew Walker |location=London |pages=132–55 |chapter=C. S. Lewis the myth-maker |author-link=Paul Fiddes |editor2-last=James Patrick}} [reprinted as {{Cite book |title=Rumours of Heaven: essays in celebration of C. S. Lewis |publisher=Eagle |year=1998 |isbn=978-0863472503 |location=Guildford}}]
* {{Cite web |url=http://www.friendsofholytrinity.org.uk/History1.html |title=History of the Building |publisher=Friends of Holy Trinity Church |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122052703/http://www.friendsofholytrinity.org.uk/History1.html |archive-date=22 January 2009 |ref={{harvid|FoHTC}} }}
* {{Cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Narnia-tries-to-appeal-to-the-religious-and-2589072.php |title='Narnia' tries to appeal to the religious and secular |last=Guthmann |first=Edward |date=11 December 2005 |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |access-date=20 October 2016 |archive-date=21 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021064000/http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Narnia-tries-to-appeal-to-the-religious-and-2589072.php |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/ESSAY-Lost-in-the-shadow-of-C-S-Lewis-fame-2524646.php |title=Lost in the shadow of C.S. Lewis' fame / Joy Davidman was a noted poet, a feisty Communist and a free spirit |last=Haven |first=Cynthia |date=1 January 2006 |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |access-date=20 October 2016 |archive-date=11 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160411010950/http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/ESSAY-Lost-in-the-shadow-of-C-S-Lewis-fame-2524646.php |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite news |url=http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051209/FEATURES/512090692/1376 |title=Hear the Roar |last=Hilliard |first=Juli Cragg |date=9 December 2005 |work=[[Sarasota Herald-Tribune]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805202127/http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20051209%2FFEATURES%2F512090692%2F1376 |archive-date=5 August 2009 }}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Kelly |first=Clint |date=Winter 2006 |title=Dear Mr. Lewis: The Narnia Author and His Young Readers |url=http://www.spu.edu/depts/uc/response/winter2k6/features/lewis.asp |magazine=Response |volume=29 |issue=1 |access-date=11 October 2006 |archive-date=9 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110309035139/http://www.spu.edu/depts/uc/response/winter2k6/features/lewis.asp |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |title=Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialogue Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C. S. Lewis & Aldous Huxley |title-link=Between Heaven and Hell (novel) |last=Kreeft |first=Peter |publisher=InterVarsity Press |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-87784-389-4 }}
* {{Cite book |title=Gathered Round Northern Fires: The Imaginative Impact of the Kolbítar. Tolkien and the Invention of Myth: A Reader |title-link=Tolkien and the Invention of Myth |last=Lazo |first=Andrew |publisher=[[University of Kentucky Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8131-2301-1 |editor-last=Chance |editor-first=Jane |editor-link=Jane Chance |location=Lexington, KY |pages=191–226 }}
* {{Cite book |title=That Hideous Strength |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |year=1945 |chapter=Preface |orig-year=1943}}.
* {{Cite book |title=The Great Divorce |title-link=The Great Divorce |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |publisher=Collins |year=2002b |isbn=978-0060652951 |location=London |orig-year=1946}}
* {{Cite book |title=Mere Christianity |title-link=Mere Christianity |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |publisher=Collins |year=1997 |isbn=978-0060652920 |location=London |orig-year=1952}}
* {{Cite book |title=A Grief Observed |title-link=A Grief Observed |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |publisher=Faber & Faber |year=1961 |location=London }}
* {{Cite book |title=Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |year=1966a }}
* {{Cite book |title=Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life |title-link=Surprised by Joy |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |publisher=Harvest Books |year=1966b |isbn=978-0-15-687011-5 |location=London |orig-year=1955}}.
* {{Cite book |title=Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life |title-link=Surprised by Joy |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |publisher=Harcourt |year=1984 |location=New York |orig-year=1966, 1955}}
* {{Cite book |title=All My Road Before Me: The Diary of C. S. Lewis 1922–27 |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1993 |editor-last=Hooper |editor-first=Walter |location=London }}
* {{Cite book |title=Collected Letters |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2000 |volume=1: Family Letters, 1905–1931 |location=London }}.
* {{Cite book |title=The Collected Letters |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-06-072763-5 |editor-last=Hooper |editor-first=Walter |volume=1: Family Letters, 1905–1931 |location=New York |orig-year=2000}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/sleuthingcslewis0000lind |title=Sleuthing C. S. Lewis: More Light In The Shadowlands |last=Lindskoog |first=Kathyrn |publisher=Mercer University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-86554-730-8 |url-access=registration }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:latinLit:phi0550.phi001.perseus-eng1:5.195-5.234 |title=De Rerum Natura |last=Lucretius |first=Titus |year=1916 |at=V:200–203 |translator-last=Leonard |translator-first=William Ellery |orig-year=Composed 1st century BCE |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225071213/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:latinLit:phi0550.phi001.perseus-eng1:5.195-5.234 |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |url=http://www.narniafans.com/?id=1235 |title=Behind The Wardrobe: An Interview Series with Douglas Gresham |last=Gresham |first=Douglas |publisher=Narnia Fans |year=2007 |access-date=28 May 2008 |archive-date=23 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080223233343/http://narniafans.com/?id=1235 |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |title=The Quotable Lewis |last1=Martindale |first1=Wayne |last2=Root |first2=Jerry |publisher=Tyndale House |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-8423-5115-7 }}
* {{Cite book |title=More Than a Carpenter |last=McDowell |first=Josh |publisher=Kingsway Publications |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-85476-906-3}}
* {{Cite book |title=David Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The Fight of Faith, 1939–1981 |last=Murray |first=Iain |publisher=The Banner of Truth Trust |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-85151-564-9 }}
* {{Cite book |url=http://www.theoldinn.com/about-us/history-of-the-old-inn/ |title=History of the Old Inn |year=2007 |ref={{harvid|The Old Inn|2007}} |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140213131036/http://www.theoldinn.com/about-us/history-of-the-old-inn/ |archive-date=13 February 2014 |url-status=dead }}
* {{Cite news |url=http://www.crlamppost.org/BYU.htm |title=LDS Scholars Salute Author C.S. Lewis at BYU Conference |last=Pratt |first=Alf |date=6 December 1998 |work=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]] |access-date=28 January 2007 |archive-date=7 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071007120657/http://www.crlamppost.org/BYU.htm |url-status=usurped }}
* {{Cite news |url=http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/features/article326179.ece |title=CS<!--sic--> Lewis: The literary lion of Narnia |last=Tonkin |first=Boyd |date=11 November 2005 |work=[[The Independent]] |access-date=28 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070430182311/http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/features/article326179.ece |archive-date=30 April 2007 |location=London }}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Aeschliman, Michael D. (1983). ''The Restitution of Man: C. S. Lewis and the Case Against Scientism.'' Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. {{ISBN|978-0-8028-1950-5}}
* {{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2005/dec/04/unitedkingdom.cslewis.booksforchildrenandteenagers |title=If you didn't find Narnia in your own wardrobe&nbsp;... |author=Anon. |date=4 December 2005 |work=The Guardian |access-date=5 May 2018 |issue=4–12 |location=London |archive-date=6 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180506173613/https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2005/dec/04/unitedkingdom.cslewis.booksforchildrenandteenagers |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |title=Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist |last=Barker |first=Dan |publisher=Freedom from Religion Foundation |year=1992 |isbn=978-1-877733-07-9 |location=Madison}}
* Beversluis, John (1985), ''C. S. Lewis and the Search for Rational Religion''. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans {{ISBN|0-8028-0046-7}}
* Bresland, Ronald W. (1999), ''The Backward Glance: C. S. Lewis and Ireland''. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies at [[Queen's University of Belfast]].
* Brown, Devin (2013), ''A Life Observed: A Spiritual Biography of C. S. Lewis''. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press {{ISBN|978-1587433351}}
* Christopher, Joe R. & [[Joan K. Ostling]] (1972), ''C. S. Lewis: An Annotated Checklist of Writings About Him and His Works''. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, n.d. {{ISBN|0-87338-138-6}}
* [[James Como|Como, James]] (1998), ''Branches to Heaven: The Geniuses of C. S. Lewis''. Spence
* Como, James (2006), ''Remembering C. S. Lewis'' (3rd edn. of ''C. S. Lewis at the Breakfast Table''). Ignatius Press
* Connolly, Sean (2007), ''Inklings of Heaven: C. S. Lewis and Eschatology''. Gracewing. {{ISBN|978-0-85244-659-1}}
* Coren, Michael (1994), ''The Man Who Created Narnia: The Story of C. S. Lewis''. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, reprint edition 1996 (First published 1994 in Canada by Lester Publishing Limited). {{ISBN|0-8028-3822-7}}
* [[Christopher Derrick|Derrick, Christopher]] (1981) ''C. S. Lewis and the Church of Rome: A Study in Proto-Ecumenism''. Ignatius Press. {{ISBN|978-99917-1-850-7}}
* {{Cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,1-100-1100513,00.html |title=Human nature: Universally acknowledged |last=Dodd |first=Celia |date=8 May 2004 |work=The Times |access-date=28 April 2010 |issue=5–08 |location=London |volume=2004 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529103443/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/ |url-status=dead }}
* Downing, David C. (1992), ''Planets in Peril: A Critical Study of C. S. Lewis's Ransom Trilogy''. Amherst: [[University of Massachusetts Press]]. {{ISBN|0-87023-997-X}}
* Downing, David C. (2002), ''The Most Reluctant Convert: C. S. Lewis's Journey to Faith''. InterVarsity. {{ISBN|0-8308-3271-8}}
* Downing, David C. (2005), ''Into the Region of Awe: Mysticism in C. S. Lewis''. InterVarsity. {{ISBN|0-8308-3284-X}}
* Downing, David C. (2005), ''Into the Wardrobe: C. S. Lewis and the Narnia Chronicles''. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. {{ISBN|0-7879-7890-6}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Drennan |first=Miriam |date=March 1999 |title=Back into the wardrobe with The Complete Chronicles of Narnia |url=http://www.bookpage.com/9903bp/douglas_gresham.html |magazine=BookPage |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205210612/http://bookpage.com/9903bp/douglas_gresham.html |archive-date=5 February 2009 |url-status=dead }}
* [[Colin Duriez|Duriez, Colin]] (2003), ''Tolkien and C. S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship''. Paulist Press {{ISBN|1-58768-026-2}}
* Duriez, Colin (2015), ''Bedeviled: Lewis, Tolkien and the Shadow of Evil''. InterVarsity Press {{ISBN|0-8308-3417-6}}
* Duriez, Colin & David Porter (2001), ''The Inklings Handbook: The Lives, Thought and Writings of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, and Their Friends''. London: Azure. {{ISBN|1-902694-13-9}}
* {{Cite book |title=A Rhetoric of Reading: C. S. Lewis's Defense of Western Literacy |last=Edwards |first=Bruce L. |publisher=Center for the Study of Christian Values in Literature |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-939555-01-7 |author-link=Bruce L. Edwards}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Taste of the Pineapple: Essays on C. S. Lewis as Reader, Critic, and Imaginative Writer |publisher=The Popular Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-87972-407-8 |editor-last=Edwards, Bruce L.}}
* Edwards, Bruce L. (2005), ''Further Up and Further In: Understanding C. S. Lewis's'' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Broadman and Holman. {{ISBN|0-8054-4070-4}}
* Edwards, Bruce L. (2005), ''Not a Tame Lion: The Spiritual World of Narnia''. Tyndale. {{ISBN|1-4143-0381-5}}
* {{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis: Life, Works, and Legacy |last=Edwards |first=Bruce L. |publisher=Praeger Perspectives |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-275-99116-6 |editor-last=Bruce L. Edwards }}
* [[Alastair Fowler|Fowler, Alastair]], "C. S. Lewis: Supervisor", ''Yale Review''; Vol. 91, No. 4 (October 2003).
* {{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk_news/story/0,3604,726739,00.html |title=Narnia books attacked as racist and sexist |last=Ezard |first=John |date=3 June 2002 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=28 April 2010 |location=London |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529103444/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/jun/03/gender.hayfestival2002 |url-status=live }}
* [[Helen Gardner (critic)|Gardner, Helen]] (1966) [https://web.archive.org/web/20110928233055/http://www.proc.britac.ac.uk/cgi-bin/somsid.cgi?page=51p417&session=3E&type=header "† Clive Staples Lewis, 1898–1963"]. Biographical memoir, in ''Proceedings of the British Academy'' 51 (1966), 417–28.
* Gibb, Jocelyn (ed.) (1965), ''Light on C. S. Lewis''. Geoffrey Bles, 1965, & Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976. {{ISBN|0-15-652000-1}}
* Gilbert, Douglas & [[Clyde Kilby]] (1973) ''C. S. Lewis: Images of His World''. Eerdmans, 1973 & 2005. {{ISBN|0-8028-2800-0}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community |last=Glyer |first=Diana |publisher=Kent State University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-87338-890-0 |location=Kent, Ohio |author-link=Diana Glyer}}
* {{Cite magazine |last=Gopnik |first=Adam |date=21 November 2005 |title=Prisoner of Narnia: How C. S. Lewis escaped |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/11/21/prisoner-of-narnia |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502013226/http://www.newyorker.com/critics/content/articles/051121crat_atlarge |archive-date=2 May 2014 |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |title=We Remember C. S. Lewis |publisher=Broadman & Holman |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8054-2299-3 |editor-last=Graham, David}}
* [[Douglas Gresham|Gresham, Douglas]] (1994), ''Lenten Lands: My Childhood with Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis''. HarperSanFrancisco. {{ISBN|0-06-063447-2}}
* Gresham, Douglas (2005), ''Jack's Life: A Memory of C. S. Lewis''. Broadman & Holman Publishers. {{ISBN|0-8054-3246-9}}
* [[William Griffin (author)|Griffin, William]] (2005), ''C. S. Lewis: The Authentic Voice'' (formerly ''C. S. Lewis: A Dramatic Life''). Lion. {{ISBN|0-7459-5208-9}}
* Hart, Dabney Adams (1984), ''Through the Open Door: A New Look at C. S. Lewis''. University of Alabama Press. {{ISBN|0-8173-0187-9}}
* [[Joel D. Heck|Heck, Joel D.]] (2006), ''Irrigating Deserts: C. S. Lewis on Education''. Concordia Publishing House. {{ISBN|0-7586-0044-5}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/theystandtogethe0000lewi |title=They stand together: The letters of C.S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves (1914–1963) |last=Hooper |first=Walter |publisher=Collins |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-00-215828-2 |location=London |author-link=Walter Hooper |url-access=registration }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/throughjoybeyond00hoop |title=Through Joy and Beyond: A Pictorial Biography of C. S. Lewis |last=Hooper |first=Walter |publisher=Macmillan |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-02-553670-8 |location=London }}
* {{Cite book |title=Letters of C. S. Lewis |publisher=Fount |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-00-627329-5 |editor-last=Hooper |editor-first=Walter |edition=expanded |type=paperback}}
* {{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis: A Companion and Guide |last=Hooper |first=Walter |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-00-627800-9 |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis: A Biography |last1=Hooper |first1=Walter |last2=Green |first2=Roger Lancelyn |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-00-628164-1 |orig-year=1974}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/narnianlifean00jaco |title=The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis |last=Jacobs |first=Alan |publisher=Harper |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-06-076690-0 |location=San Francisco }}
* Keefe, Carolyn (1979), ''C. S. Lewis: Speaker & Teacher''. Zondervan. {{ISBN|0-310-26781-1}}
* Kennedy, Jon (2008), ''The Everything Guide to C. S. Lewis and Narnia''. Adams Media. {{ISBN|1-59869-427-8}}
* Kennedy, Jon (2012), ''C. S. Lewis Themes and Threads''. Amazon Kindle ASIN B00ATSY3AQ
* [[Clyde S. Kilby|Kilby, Clyde S.]] (1964), ''The Christian World of C. S. Lewis''. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964, 1995. {{ISBN|0-8028-0871-9}}
* King, Don W. (2001), ''C. S. Lewis, Poet: The Legacy of His Poetic Impulse''. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. {{ISBN|0-87338-681-7}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Screwtape Letters |title-link=The Screwtape Letters |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |publisher=Collins |year=2002a |isbn=978-0-00-767240-0 |location=London |orig-year=1942}}
* {{Cite book |title=Letters of C. S. Lewis |publisher=Geoffrey Bles |year=1966 |isbn=978-0-00-242457-8 |editor-last=Lewis, W. H. |location=London}}
* Lindskoog, Kathryn (1994), ''Light in the Shadowlands: Protecting the Real C. S. Lewis''. Multnomah Pub. {{ISBN|0-88070-695-3}}
* Lowenberg, Susan (1993), ''C. S. Lewis: A Reference Guide, 1972–1988''. Hall & Co. {{ISBN|0-8161-1846-9}}
* Mardindale, Wayne & Jerry Root (1990), ''The Quotable Lewis''. Tyndale House Publishers. {{ISBN|0-8423-5115-9}}
* Martin, Thomas L. (ed.) (2000), ''Reading the Classics with C. S. Lewis''. Baker Academic. {{ISBN|1-84227-073-7}}
* [[Laura Miller (writer)|Miller, Laura]] (2008) "The Magician's Book", Little, Brown & Co. {{ISBN|978-0-316-01763-3}}
* [[David Mills (editor)|Mills, David]] (ed) (1998) ''The Pilgrim's Guide: C. S. Lewis and the Art of Witness''. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. {{ISBN|0-8028-4689-0}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Latin Letters of C. S. Lewis: C. S. Lewis & Don [[Giovanni Calabria]] |editor-last=Moynihan|editor-first=Martin |publisher=St. Augustine's Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-1-890-31834-5 |location=Indiana}}
* {{Cite book |title=A Theological Journey into Narnia: An Analysis of the Message Beneath the Text |last=Mühling |first=Markus |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |year=2005 |isbn=978-3-525-60423-6 |location=Göttingen}}
* {{Cite web |url=http://www.mrrena.com/2001/Lewis.shtml |title=In Lenten Lands |last=Neven |first=Tom |date=17 December 2001 |publisher=Le Penseur Réfléchit |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120721203945/http://www.mrrena.com/2001/Lewis.shtml |archive-date=21 July 2012 }}
* [[Joseph Pearce|Pearce, Joseph]] (1999), ''C. S. Lewis and the Catholic Church''. HarperCollins, 1999; then Ignatius Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0-89870-979-2}}
* Peters, Thomas C. (1998), ''Simply C. S. Lewis: A Beginner's Guide to His Life and Works''. Kingsway Publications. {{ISBN|0-85476-762-2}}
* Phillips, Justin (2003), ''C. S. Lewis at the BBC: Messages of Hope in the Darkness of War''. Marshall Pickering. {{ISBN|0-00-710437-5}}
* [[Harry Lee Poe|Poe, Harry Lee]] & Rebecca Whitten Poe (eds) (2006), ''C. S. Lewis Remembered: Collected Reflections of Students, Friends & Colleagues''. Zondervan. {{ISBN|978-0-310-26509-2}}
* Reppert, Victor (2003), ''C. S. Lewis's Dangerous Idea: In Defense of the Argument from Reason''. InterVarsity Press. {{ISBN|0-8308-2732-3}}
* [[George Sayer (biographer)|Sayer, George]] (1988), ''Jack: C. S. Lewis and His Times''. London: Macmillan. {{ISBN|0-333-43362-9}}
* Schakel, Peter J. (1984), ''[http://hope.edu/academic/english/schakel/tillwehavefaces/ Reason and Imagination in C. S. Lewis: A Study of "Till We Have Faces"] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20070108191515/http://www.hope.edu/academic/english/schakel/tillwehavefaces/ |date=8 January 2007 }}''. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. {{ISBN|0-8028-1998-2}}
* Schakel, Peter J. (2002), ''Imagination and the Arts in C. S. Lewis: Journeying to Narnia and Other Worlds''. University of Missouri Press. {{ISBN|0-8262-1407-X}}
* Schakel, Peter J. (ed.) (1977), ''The Longing for a Form: Essays on the Fiction of C. S. Lewis''. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. {{ISBN|0-87338-204-8}}
* Schakel, Peter J. & [[Charles A. Huttar]] (eds.) (1991), ''Word and Story in C. S. Lewis''. University of Missouri Press. {{ISBN|0-8262-0760-X}}
* Schofield, Stephen (1983), ''In Search of C. S. Lewis''. Bridge Logos Pub. {{ISBN|0-88270-544-X}}
* Schultz, Jeffrey D. & John G. West Jr. (eds) (1998), ''The C. S. Lewis Readers' Encyclopedia''. Zondervan Publishing House. {{ISBN|0-310-21538-2}}
* Schwartz, Sanford (2009), ''C. S. Lewis on the Final Frontier: Science and the Supernatural in the Space Trilogy''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-537472-8}}.
* Tennyson, G. B. (ed.) (1989), ''Owen Barfield on C. S. Lewis''. Wesleyan University Press {{ISBN|0-8195-5233-X}}
* {{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/religion/Story/0,2763,1657759,00.html |title=Narnia represents everything that is most hateful about religion |last=Toynbee |first=Polly |date=5 December 2005 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=28 April 2010 |location=London |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529103444/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/dec/05/cslewis.booksforchildrenandteenagers |url-status=live }}
* Wagner, Richard J. (2005) ''C. S. Lewis and Narnia for Dummies''. For Dummies. {{ISBN|0-7645-8381-6}}
* Walker, Andrew & Patrick James (eds.) (1998), ''Rumours of Heaven: Essays in Celebration of C. S. Lewis'', Guildford: Eagle. {{ISBN|0-86347-250-8}}
* Walsh, Chad (1949), ''C. S. Lewis: Apostle to the Skeptics''. London: Macmillan
* Walsh, Chad (1979), ''The Literary Legacy of C. S. Lewis''. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. {{ISBN|0-15-652785-5}}
* [[Michael Ward (scholar)|Ward, Michael]] (2008), ''Planet Narnia''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-531387-1}}
* Watson, George (ed.) (1992), ''Critical Essays on C. S. Lewis''. Menston: Scolar Press. {{ISBN|0-85967-853-9}}
* [[Michael White (author)|White, Michael]] (2005), ''C. S. Lewis: The Boy Who Chronicled Narnia''. Abacus. {{ISBN|0-349-11625-3}}
* Wielenberg, Erik J. (2007), ''God and the Reach of Reason''. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-70710-7}}
* {{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis: A Biography |last=Wilson |first=A. N. |publisher=W. W. Norton |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-393-32340-5 |author-link=A. N. Wilson |orig-year=1990}}
* {{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis: A Biography |last=Wilson |first=A. N. |publisher=Harper Perennial |year=1991 |location=London |orig-year=1990}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==

{{sisterlinks|d=y|s=Author:C. S. Lewis|n=no|b=no|wikt=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|species=no|commons=Category:C. S. Lewis}}
{{Spoken Wikipedia|En-CSLewis.ogg|date=20 November 2005}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/c-s-lewis}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=782| name=Clive Staples Lewis}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Lewis, C. S. (Clive Staples)|name=C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis|author=yes}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Clive Staples Lewis |sopt=tight}}
* {{Librivox author |id=1540}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170113045902/https://inklings-studies.org/ Journal of Inklings Studies] peer-reviewed journal on Lewis and his literary circle, based at Oxford
* [http://www.tyndale.ca/seminary/mtsmodular/reading-rooms/theology/lewis C. S. Lewis Reading Room] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190828103421/https://www.tyndale.ca/seminary/mtsmodular/reading-rooms/theology/lewis |date=28 August 2019 }}, with extensive links to online primary and secondary literature (Tyndale Seminary)
* [https://www.wheaton.edu/academics/academic-centers/wadecenter/authors/cs-lewis/ C. S. Lewis research collection] at The Marion E. Wade Center at [[Wheaton College (Illinois)|Wheaton College]]
* [https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lewis_c_s C. S. Lewis] at the ''[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction|Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]''
* [https://sf-encyclopedia.com/fe/lewis_c_s C. S. Lewis] at the ''[[The Encyclopedia of Fantasy|Encyclopedia of Fantasy]]''
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b086s76k BBC Radio 4 – Great Lives – Suzannah Lipscomb on CS Lewis – 3 January 2017] Step though the wardrobe on Great Lives as CS Lewis – creator of the Narnia Chronicles – is this week's choice
* {{isfdb name|301}}

{{C. S. Lewis}}
{{CSL Space Trilogy}}
{{Inklings}}
{{Narnia}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, C. S.}}
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