CS Lewis: A towering intellect who knew how to explain the Christian faith in simple terms
by J John, Christian Today:
I am one of many people who have found both wisdom and wit from the writings of C.S. Lewis. Clive Staples Lewis – known always as ‘Jack’ to his friends – was born in Northern Ireland in 1898 and grew up in a house overflowing with books.
He was sent to England to be educated where he left his family’s formal Christianity to become a professing atheist. After a time on the frontline during the First World War, he began an academic career in English Language at Oxford University which was in effect to last all his life. Even when he was made a professor at Cambridge, Lewis still returned to Oxford for weekends.
As a young man, Lewis found himself increasingly unhappy with his atheism. With a vivid imagination enriched by extensive reading, he found himself longing for something more satisfying than anything atheism could offer. Conversations about God with many Christian friends, including J.R.R. Tolkien, gradually convinced him that religion could be true and, in 1929, Lewis became a reluctant believer in God, moving within months to a full acceptance of Christianity.
Without neglecting his increasingly acclaimed academic career, Lewis started defending and promoting his new-found faith. The result was a wide variety of books which were all brilliantly written, well-argued and thoroughly accessible.
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