C. S. Lewis and Christianity: Faith, Reason, and Imagination

By Neil McBride, Founder and CEO of Downtown Angels

A Reluctant Convert

C.S. Lewis’s conversion to Christianity is not the story of a sudden epiphany or emotional revival but of a long, reluctant, and deeply intellectual journey marked by tragedy, searching, and, ultimately, surrender. His spiritual journey from atheism to Christian faith is among the most compelling testimonies in modern Christian history precisely because of the honesty and rigour with which he engaged every step of the way.

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From Faith to Atheism

Born into a Protestant family in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1898, Lewis was introduced to Christianity as a cultural and traditional framework more than a living faith. His mother, Flora, was a devout Anglican, but her death from cancer when Lewis was just nine years old devastated the young boy and began to unravel any simple notion he held of a good and loving God.

At the same time, Lewis’s father, though intellectually curious, grew emotionally distant after Flora’s death. The loss of maternal comfort and the alienation from his father led Lewis to withdraw inward. As a teenager, he became enamoured with Norse mythology, classical literature, and philosophical inquiry. These interests, while rich and imaginative, slowly displaced traditional Christian doctrine in his mind. To Lewis, Christianity came to seem like just another myth, no more real than the tales of Odin or Zeus.

By the time he entered boarding school and later Oxford University, Lewis had become a committed atheist. He viewed the universe as a cold, indifferent place without purpose or design, governed only by blind forces and human instinct. He considered religious belief a relic of the past, emotionally appealing but intellectually hollow.

“I was at this time living, like so many Atheists or Antitheists, in a whirl of contradictions. I maintained that God did not exist. I was also angry with God for not existing.”

C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy

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An Uncomfortable Awakening

Despite his scepticism, Lewis remained deeply curious about the nature of meaning, morality, and beauty. Even in his rejection of God, he found himself haunted by moments of intense longing and fleeting experiences of joy, wonder, and beauty that seemed to point beyond the material world—these moments, which he would later call Sehnsucht, a German word for deep, yearning desire planted the seeds of spiritual restlessness in his heart.

While teaching at Oxford in the 1920s, Lewis began to encounter a circle of friends who were not only devout Christians but also formidable intellectuals. Among them were J.R.R. Tolkien, a philologist and devout Roman Catholic, and Hugo Dyson, a literary scholar. These men did not fit the stereotype of the anti-intellectual believer. They were men of thought, imagination, and deep conviction, and they challenged Lewis’s assumptions with reason, myth, and moral vision.

Tolkien, in particular, played a crucial role in Lewis’s return to faith. During a famous late-night walk in Addison’s Walk in Magdalen College in 1931, Tolkien and Dyson helped Lewis see that the story of Christianity, far from being just another myth, was the “true myth,” the myth that happened in history. Tolkien argued that all mythologies were echoes or foreshadowings of the Gospel story and that Christ was the fulfilment of all human storytelling and desire.

This idea struck Lewis powerfully. For years, he had believed that myths were beautiful but false and that Christianity was historical but dry. What Tolkien helped him see was that Christianity was both a myth grounded in historical reality and a story that satisfied both the imagination and the intellect.

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The Reluctant Surrender

This revelation did not immediately produce belief, but it began to erode Lewis’s resistance. In Surprised by Joy, Lewis recounts how he gradually abandoned his atheism, first believing in some divine reality or intelligence and then, eventually, in the personal God of Christianity.

“In the Trinity Term of 1929, 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.”

Lewis’s conversion was not emotional in the way many evangelical conversions are. A crisis, a dramatic event, or a charismatic preacher did not prompt it. Rather, it was intellectual surrender, the collapse of a lifetime of arguments against the existence of God. He did not want Christianity to be true; he found, to his surprise and dismay, that it was. In his own words, God closed in on him, not as a tyrant or a deceiver, but as the Hound of Heaven.

By 1931, after embracing theism, Lewis had come to believe in Jesus Christ specifically. He came to believe that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus were not only historically plausible but cosmically essential — the answer to all human longing, suffering, and estrangement from God. In this final step of faith, he accepted Christ not just as a divine teacher or moral example but as Saviour and Lord.

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Joy Rediscovered

The title of Lewis’s spiritual autobiography, Surprised by Joy, captures the unexpected nature of his journey. He had always longed for something more — a beauty behind beauty, a truth behind truth — and he came to believe that this longing was not merely psychological but spiritual in origin.

“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

In Christ, Lewis found the answer to this longing. His conversion did not end his intellectual pursuits; instead, it enriched them. He became one of the most eloquent defenders of Christianity in the 20th century — not through dogma or condemnation, but through reason, imagination, and love.

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Apologist of Mere Christianity

After his reluctant but profound conversion to Christianity, C.S. Lewis emerged as one of the most respected and influential Christian apologists of the 20th century  not as a clergyman or theologian in the traditional sense, but as a gifted writer, speaker, and lay intellectual. He brought to his defence of the Christian faith a rare combination of academic rigour, literary clarity, and spiritual warmth. His work was not aimed merely at preaching to the converted but at engaging sceptics, doubters, and seekers — people like his former self.

Among his many theological writings, none has proven more enduring or widely read than Mere Christianity. First published as a book in 1952, Mere Christianity began life in a very different format — as a series of informal yet thoughtful radio broadcasts aired by the BBC between 1941 and 1944, during the darkest days of World War II. At a time when Britain was enduring nightly bombings, staggering casualties, and moral uncertainty, Lewis’s calm, reasoned voice became a source of guidance and reassurance for millions.

Christianity on the Airwaves

Lewis was initially reluctant to accept the BBC’s invitation to speak on Christian themes, fearing his lack of theological credentials might discredit the message. But he soon recognized that his role was not to preach as a minister but to speak plainly and persuasively about the core of Christian belief. His talks quickly gained a large following, and letters poured in from listeners who felt that Lewis had spoken directly to their fears, questions, and hopes.

The broadcasts were later compiled and edited into a single volume, divided into four sections:

1. Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe

2. What Christians Believe

3. Christian Behavior

4. Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity

Each section builds logically upon the previous one, beginning with the question of objective morality and concluding with a sophisticated yet accessible explanation of the Christian understanding of God and spiritual transformation.

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The Vision Behind ‘Mere Christianity’

The phrase mere Christianity reflects Lewis’s goal of presenting the foundational truths shared across all major Christian traditions — Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant. Lewis intentionally avoided denominational debates about baptism, church government, or eschatology. Instead, he likened Christian doctrine to a great hall with many rooms; he aimed to bring readers into the hall (Christian faith itself) and let them later decide, prayerfully and thoughtfully, which room (denomination) to enter.

“It is at the centre of the hall that one must begin. That is what I meant by Mere Christianity.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

This ecumenical approach was a key factor in making the book so accessible and influential. Rather than focusing on what divided Christians, Lewis emphasised what united them: belief in God as Creator, Jesus Christ as Saviour, and the call to live a transformed life rooted in love, humility, and obedience.

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Moral Law and the Argument for God

Lewis begins Mere Christianity not with the Bible or religious experience but with a strikingly philosophical premise: that all human beings, regardless of culture or background, have an innate sense of right and wrong. This “Moral Law” — a term he uses frequently — points beyond biology or social convention to something transcendent.

He argues that while we all fall short of this moral standard, we still believe it exists. This, he claims, is strong evidence that the universe is not merely a collection of atoms in motion, but the creation of a moral Lawgiver. In other words, the existence of an objective moral standard strongly implies the existence of God.

“A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

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The Trilemma: Lord, Liar, or Lunatic

One of the most famous and debated arguments in Mere Christianity is Lewis’s trilemma concerning the identity of Jesus. Lewis confronts the widespread belief that Jesus was merely a great moral teacher, but not divine. He argues that this view is logically inconsistent with Jesus’s claims about himself.

“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 — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell.”

The logical conclusion, Lewis contends, is that we must either accept Jesus as the Son of God or reject him entirely. To call him merely a teacher or prophet is intellectually dishonest.

Though critics have challenged the trilemma over the years, it remains one of the most widely cited defences of the divinity of Christ. Its power lies not in complicated theology but in forcing the reader to confront the radical nature of Jesus’s claims — and the logical consequences of accepting or rejecting them.

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Christian Behaviour and Practical Ethics

In the third section of Mere Christianity, Lewis transitions from belief to behaviour, exploring how Christian doctrine should inform everyday life. He explores virtues such as faith, hope, charity, chastity, and humility, stressing that Christianity is not merely about believing the right things but about becoming a certain kind of person.

He makes a compelling case for moral transformation, arguing that the Christian life is about spiritual formation — the process by which a human being becomes more like Christ. This, for Lewis, is not a superficial improvement, but a radical reworking of the soul.

“The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

He also confronts issues such as pride (which he calls “the great sin”), sexual morality, forgiveness, and the challenges of Christian love. His treatment of these topics is marked by candor, wit, and profound insight.

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Christian Allegory and Imaginative Theology

C.S. Lewis believed that the imagination was not merely a vehicle for escapism or entertainment, but a vital faculty in understanding and experiencing divine truth. For Lewis, theology was not confined to propositions and doctrines; it was also about beauty, story, longing, and myth. These dimensions of human experience — especially the imaginative ones — pointed toward something greater than themselves. As he once wrote, “Reason is the natural organ of truth, but imagination is the organ of meaning.”

In contrast to some approaches to Christianity that emphasised doctrine alone or reduced the faith to moralism, Lewis argued that Christianity was the ultimate myth — the “true myth.” By this, he did not mean that Christianity was false or fanciful, but that it fulfilled the deep yearnings expressed in all mythologies. Where other myths pointed toward redemption, resurrection, and the struggle between good and evil, Christianity alone presented those themes as historical and incarnate.

This idea permeated his fiction, particularly The Chronicles of Narnia and The Space Trilogy, which together serve as powerful examples of “imaginative theology” — a mode of Christian expression that uses storytelling to make eternal truths vivid, compelling, and emotionally real.

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The Chronicles of Narnia: Story as Suppositional Theology

Published between 1950 and 1956, The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels aimed primarily at children but rich in symbolic and theological depth. The most well-known volume, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, introduces readers to the magical land of Narnia — a world under the curse of a never-ending winter, awaiting deliverance.

At the heart of Narnia is Aslan, a powerful lion who serves as the Christ figure of the series. Aslan is majestic and terrifying, yet deeply loving and merciful. His self-sacrifice to save the traitorous Edmund mirrors the crucifixion of Jesus, and his subsequent resurrection points to the central miracle of the Christian faith.

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Lewis depicts Aslan willingly giving his life in place of Edmund, fulfilling the “Deep Magic” that governs Narnia. But Aslan, knowing a deeper magic, rises again, conquering death and defeating the White Witch, a Satan-like figure who symbolises evil and tyranny.

“When a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.”

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Throughout the series, Lewis continues to explore Christian themes in subtle yet powerful ways:

• Prince Caspian reflects the idea of returning to faith after apostasy.

• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader shows the journey of spiritual growth, temptation, and transformation.

• The Silver Chair explores faith in the face of doubt and deception.

• The Last Battle is a vivid depiction of judgment, the end of the world, and eternal life in a renewed creation.

Yet Lewis insisted the books were not strict allegories. Unlike Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, which maps specific characters and events to abstract theological ideas, Narnia was not meant to be decoded piece by piece. Instead, Lewis coined the term “suppositional theology” to describe his method. He explained, “I’m not saying ‘This is what Christ is like.’ I’m saying, ‘Suppose there were a world like Narnia and it needed saving — what might the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection look like there?’”

This approach allowed Lewis to present Christian truths not as dry doctrine, but as part of a living story — one that could awaken desire, moral vision, and wonder in the reader’s heart. In this way, Narnia became not just a fantasy world, but a mirror to our own — one where the gospel shines through imagination.

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The Space Trilogy: Cosmic Theology and Spiritual Warfare

While Narnia was intended for younger audiences, Lewis’s Space Trilogy, consisting of Out of the Silent Planet (1938), Perelandra (1943), and That Hideous Strength (1945), is more ambitious in scope and philosophical in tone. In these books, Lewis combines science fiction, metaphysics, and theology to explore cosmic themes of sin, salvation, and the nature of good and evil.

The trilogy follows the adventures of Elwin Ransom, a Cambridge philologist (modelled partly on Lewis himself), who is taken on a journey through the heavens and encounters a universe that is spiritually alive and ordered by divine will. Unlike the purely physical universe imagined by materialist science, Lewis’s cosmos is filled with eldila — angelic beings who serve the purposes of Maleldil, the God of the universe.

Out of the Silent Planet

The first book introduces Malacandra (Mars), a planet where three intelligent species live in harmony under divine guidance. Ransom comes to understand that Earth (known in the cosmos as “Thulcandra” or “the silent planet”) is unique in its spiritual rebellion — it alone has fallen under the influence of a dark archon, the “Bent One” (a Satan figure). The silence of Earth signifies its spiritual isolation from the rest of the universe.

Lewis uses this framework to critique the arrogance of human imperialism and scientific pride, while presenting a vision of a universe that is deeply moral and hierarchical in the best sense — a cosmos governed by spiritual truths rather than human desires.

Perelandra

In the second book, Ransom is sent to Perelandra (Venus), a newly created, unfallen world where he must prevent its Eve-like figure from succumbing to temptation. The story echoes the Garden of Eden, but with a redemptive twist. Here, Ransom is a Christ-like champion who engages in spiritual and physical battle with a demonic presence seeking to corrupt the planet’s innocence.

Perelandra is a profound meditation on free will, obedience, and the cosmic battle between good and evil. Lewis imagines what might have happened if, in another world, the Fall could have been prevented — and what it means to choose obedience not out of fear or law, but out of joy and trust.

“The whole distinction between things accidental and things designed… has disappeared in Perelandra. Everything is fit for you. But also everything is necessary.”

Perelandra

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That Hideous Strength

The final book shifts from cosmic exploration to a dystopian vision of Earth. It takes place in post-war Britain and explores the rise of a scientific, technocratic elite bent on remaking humanity through control and manipulation. The National Institute for Co-ordinated Experiments (N.I.C.E.) serves as the antagonist, representing a fusion of materialism, totalitarianism, and demonic influence.

Here, Lewis portrays modernity’s descent into spiritual blindness, where science becomes an idol, morality is dismissed as subjective, and truth is bent to the will of power. The story becomes a spiritual thriller, blending Arthurian legend, angelology, and social critique.

That Hideous Strength is often considered the most challenging of the trilogy, but also one of Lewis’s most prophetic works. It presents a vision of spiritual resistance in an age of dehumanisation and invites readers to consider the costs of abandoning divine order for human control.

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Imagination as a Path to Truth

Lewis’s genius lay in his conviction that the imagination was not opposed to reason, but rather a companion to it. He believed that our deepest longings — for beauty, justice, truth, and love — were not evolutionary accidents but signposts pointing us toward God. His fictional worlds helped readers “breathe the air” of another reality — one in which God’s truth is not only known but felt, experienced, and lived.

In this sense, Lewis’s use of Christian allegory was never didactic or simplistic. Instead, he sought to awaken what he called the baptised imagination — the ability to see the world through the lens of divine truth. Whether through the sacrificial majesty of Aslan or the cosmic harmony of Malacandra, Lewis invited his readers to glimpse eternity through the power of story.

“What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects — with their Christianity latent.”

C.S. Lewis

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Suffering and Faith: A Grief Observed

C.S. Lewis’s Christian faith was profoundly tested by one of the most devastating personal tragedies imaginable: the illness and death of his beloved wife, Joy Davidman. Their relationship was a late but deep love story, beginning as a close friendship and eventually culminating in marriage. However, their happiness was painfully cut short when Joy was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Lewis’s experience of grief and loss is laid bare in A Grief Observed, a short but deeply powerful book originally published under a pseudonym in 1961. Unlike Lewis’s earlier, more intellectual and systematic treatments of suffering, such as in The Problem of Pain, A Grief Observed is raw, confessional, and emotionally immediate. It reads like a journal of a man wrestling with heartbreak, anger, doubt, and the silence of God.

In the pages of A Grief Observed, Lewis does not shy away from questioning God’s goodness or even His existence. He writes candidly about feeling abandoned, betrayed, and confused. For readers, this vulnerability is striking, given Lewis’s reputation as a brilliant apologist and defender of faith. His honest struggle makes the work profoundly relatable to anyone who has grappled with loss.

“Is anything worth doing because it is right? Or is it all right because it is worth doing?”

A Grief Observed

Lewis also questions the nature of God’s silence in suffering. He confesses the painful paradox of crying out to God and yet feeling unheard, a spiritual desolation that many Christians know intimately. But even in his darkest moments, Lewis does not completely abandon faith. Instead, he clings to it, wrestles with it, and eventually reaches a more mature, nuanced understanding of God’s presence in suffering.

By the end of the book, Lewis’s faith is not triumphant in the traditional sense; it is more tempered, honest, and deeply human. He affirms that pain, loss, and doubt are not signs of a failed faith, but rather often part of its path.

“You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.”

C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

A Grief Observed stands as a testament to the reality that faith can endure even through the worst storms, not because it offers easy answers, but because it offers a relationship with a God who walks with us in our darkest hours.

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Key Christian Themes in Lewis’s Work

C.S. Lewis’s body of work is unified by a set of profound Christian themes that recur across his apologetics, fiction, and poetry. These themes reflect both the intellectual framework and the spiritual heart of his faith, revealing why his writings continue to resonate with readers of all ages and backgrounds.

Moral Law

One of Lewis’s most enduring contributions to Christian apologetics is his argument for the existence of a universal Moral Law. Lewis observed that across cultures and epochs, humans share an innate sense of right and wrong — a conscience that judges actions as good or evil. This moral intuition, he argued, cannot be satisfactorily explained by naturalistic or evolutionary theories alone.

Instead, Lewis maintained that the Moral Law points beyond humanity to a moral Lawgiver — God Himself. This argument is central to Mere Christianity and appears in various forms throughout Lewis’s work, serving as a foundational piece of his case for Christianity’s truth.

“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.”

Mere Christianity

This Moral Law also sets a standard that humans inevitably fail to meet, which Lewis believed underscored the need for redemption through Christ.

Joy and Desire

Lewis famously spoke of a profound, restless longing in the human heart that he called Sehnsucht — a German word meaning “longing” or “yearning.” For Lewis, this longing was a hint that human desires are not mere illusions but pointers to a greater reality beyond this world.

He argued that people often try to satisfy this longing with transient pleasures — fame, wealth, power, or relationships — but these attempts fall short. Only God can fulfill the deepest desires of the soul.

This idea permeates much of Lewis’s writing, especially in Surprised by Joy, his spiritual autobiography, and in his fiction, where characters often experience a yearning for “something more” that leads them toward a deeper understanding of God.

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”

Mere Christianity

Pride and Humility

Lewis identified pride as “the great sin,” the root from which all other vices flow. In Mere Christianity, he describes pride as an anti-God state of mind — a self-centeredness that opposes the humility required by the Christian life.

For Lewis, humility was not simply thinking less of oneself but thinking of oneself less — a freeing of the soul to serve God and others. Pride, by contrast, leads to isolation, bitterness, and spiritual decay.

This theme also appears vividly in Lewis’s fiction. Characters who embrace humility, such as the Pevensie children in Narnia, are often those who grow in grace and wisdom, while prideful characters face downfall and destruction.

“Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.”

Mere Christianity

Free Will and Love

Lewis’s understanding of love is deeply connected to the concept of free will. He emphasised that authentic love must be freely chosen; it cannot be coerced or forced. This principle undergirds much of Lewis’s theology and apologetics.

In The Great Divorce, a fictional allegory about the afterlife, Lewis explores how souls choose either heaven or hell. The book suggests that God’s love respects human freedom to accept or reject salvation, even though rejecting it results in eternal separation.

This theme reflects the tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility — a mystery Lewis acknowledged but embraced as essential to genuine relationship with God.

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’”

The Great Divorce

The Reality of Evil

Lewis’s keen insight into the nature of evil is most famously articulated in The Screwtape Letters, a satirical and theological masterpiece. Written as a series of letters from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his nephew, Wormwood, the book exposes the subtle tactics of temptation and spiritual deception.

Lewis portrays evil not just as blatant wickedness but as a distortion of good, often operating through subtle lies, distractions, and half-truths. One of his most chilling observations is that the greatest triumph of the devil is convincing people that he does not exist.

The Screwtape Letters serves as both a warning and a guide to spiritual vigilance, emphasising the ongoing battle for the human soul and the importance of faith, prayer, and moral awareness.

“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

The Screwtape Letters

The Integration of Themes

What makes Lewis’s work particularly powerful is how these themes interconnect to form a coherent vision of Christian faith — one that is intellectually credible and emotionally compelling.

The Moral Law points to God’s justice; joy and desire reveal God’s invitation; humility and free will illustrate the ethical response; and the reality of evil underscores the spiritual struggle inherent in the human condition. Together, they invite readers into a lived faith, not as a set of abstractions, but as a transformative journey.

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Christian Influence and Legacy

C.S. Lewis’s impact on modern Christianity is nothing short of monumental. Across the decades since his death, his writings have transcended denominational boundaries, cultural shifts, and theological trends. From Protestants to Catholics, Orthodox believers to secular seekers, Lewis’s work continues to resonate with an extraordinary diversity of readers.

A Bridge Between Faith and Reason

One of Lewis’s greatest gifts was his ability to articulate Christianity in a way that was both intellectually rigorous and spiritually vibrant. At a time when many viewed faith and reason as incompatible, Lewis demonstrated that belief in God could withstand serious philosophical scrutiny while also engaging the heart and imagination.

His apologetics reasoned arguments for Christian belief invited sceptics to reconsider their doubts and believers to deepen their faith. Books like Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain, and The Screwtape Letters are now considered classics, studied not only for their theological insights but also for their clarity, wit, and literary style.

Evangelism and Spiritual Formation

Countless individuals worldwide testify that Lewis’s works played a pivotal role in their conversion to Christianity or spiritual renewal. His clear explanation of complex doctrines, combined with his honest exploration of doubt and longing, made the faith accessible to those wrestling with scepticism.

In addition to intellectual defence, Lewis’s writings often served as pastoral encouragement. His honesty about suffering in A Grief Observed and his imaginative portrayal of the spiritual life in The Chronicles of Narnia have brought comfort and inspiration to millions.

Renewing Christian Literature and Imagination

Lewis’s legacy also includes his transformative approach to Christian literature. By weaving theology into narrative and fantasy, he expanded the ways Christians could talk about God, morality, and salvation. His concept of “suppositional” theology — imagining how Christian truths might play out in different worlds — opened up new avenues for creativity in Christian art and storytelling.

This approach influenced not only writers like J.R.R. Tolkien but also generations of Christian authors, filmmakers, and artists who saw imagination as a vital partner to faith.

Praise from Prominent Christian Leaders

Lewis’s influence is widely acknowledged by major Christian figures of the 20th and 21st centuries. For example:

• Chuck Colson, the founder of Prison Fellowship, credited Lewis with helping him understand the seriousness of sin and the power of grace.
• John Piper, a leading evangelical theologian, regularly references Lewis’s works for their theological depth and pastoral insight.
• N.T. Wright, a renowned New Testament scholar, has praised Lewis’s ability to communicate the gospel with intellectual clarity and heartfelt conviction.
• Even Pope Benedict XVI admired Lewis’s apologetics, acknowledging his profound impact on Christian thought and the revival of faith in a secular age.

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Lewis on Heaven and Eternity

Lewis’s conception of heaven and eternity is deeply rooted in biblical hope but is distinguished by its richness and imaginative depth. For Lewis, heaven was not an escape from reality but its fulfilment and transformation.

In The Last Battle, the final book of The Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis describes a “new” Narnia that the characters enter — a world more real and more beautiful than the one they left behind. This portrayal emphasises that heaven is not a distant, boring “cloud city” but a vibrant, consummated reality where joy and truth are fully realised.

“All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now, at last, they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

The Last Battle

Lewis also warned against simplistic or sentimental views of heaven and hell. His allegorical work, The Great Divorce, explores the choices souls make in the afterlife, emphasising the importance of free will. The book portrays heaven as a place where people can grow and change but also where the rejection of God’s grace leads to self-imposed separation — what we understand as hell.

One of Lewis’s most famous lines from The Great Divorce captures this stark choice:

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’”

This statement encapsulates Lewis’s belief that eternal destiny is ultimately about relationships and whether we freely submit our wills to God or insist on living apart from Him. Heaven is not simply a reward for good behaviour but a loving communion with God, while hell is the tragic consequence of persistent rejection.

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Legacy in Contemporary Christianity

Today, Lewis’s works continue to be widely read, taught and discussed in seminaries, churches, and homes worldwide. His unique ability to engage both the intellect and the heart ensures his place as one of the most influential Christian thinkers of the 20th century.

Beyond books, Lewis’s stories have been adapted into films, stage productions, and audio dramas, bringing his imaginative theology to new audiences. His message of hope, courage, and faith in a complex world remains as urgently relevant today as it was when he first delivered it.

In an era when many grapple with doubt, suffering, and the quest for meaning, Lewis’s legacy provides both a foundation for faith and a wellspring of inspiration, inviting readers not only to understand Christianity but also to live it with wonder and conviction.

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Conclusion: Lewis, as a Christian Thinker

C.S. Lewis remains one of the most significant Christian thinkers of the twentieth century. This rare figure bridged the gap between faith and intellect, story and doctrine, imagination and reason. His Christianity was never merely theoretical; it was deeply personal, shaped by both profound joy and profound suffering. Yet it was also rigorously defended through logic and eloquence, making the faith accessible and compelling to sceptics and believers alike.

Lewis’s writings continue to resonate because they provide a vocabulary for belief that is both humane and profound. He acknowledged the complexity of the human experience, including our doubts, longings, and failures, while pointing us toward a God who meets us there, offering us grace, truth, and hope.

In a world often fractured by religious zealotry on one hand and secular cynicism on the other, Lewis’s voice stands out for its clarity, warmth, and balance. He reminded readers that Christianity is not just true in an abstract sense but also beautiful and necessary—a narrative that fulfils our deepest desires and a moral framework that guides us toward flourishing.

Ultimately, Lewis invites us into a life of wonder, humility, and transformation. His legacy challenges us not simply to assent to Christian doctrines but to live them with passion, integrity, and joy. For Lewis, the story of Christianity is the truest story there is, and it is immensely worth living.