Modern witnesses

C. S. Lewis

1898 to 1963 · Britain

C. S. Lewis (1898 to 1963) was a British scholar and writer who, after years as a convinced atheist, became one of the twentieth century’s most beloved Christian voices. An Oxford and Cambridge professor of literature, he explained the faith with rare clarity in Mere Christianity, imagined it for children in The Chronicles of Narnia, and turned temptation inside out in The Screwtape Letters. His books have introduced millions to Christ.

Life and context

Lewis was born in Belfast in 1898, lost his mother young, and became an atheist in his teens. He served and was wounded in the First World War, then taught literature at Oxford. There he befriended J. R. R. Tolkien, whose long conversations helped draw him back toward faith; Lewis came to believe in God in 1929 and in Jesus Christ around 1931. During the Second World War he gave BBC radio talks explaining Christianity to a nation at war, later gathered as Mere Christianity. He married Joy Davidman late in life, and her death from cancer moved him to write A Grief Observed. He died on November 22, 1963, the same day as John F. Kennedy.

What he taught and wrote

Lewis wrote as a layman for ordinary people. Mere Christianity (1952) lays out the reasonable core of the faith; The Screwtape Letters (1942) exposes temptation through a senior devil’s advice; The Problem of Pain and Miracles wrestle with hard questions; Surprised by Joy tells of his conversion. In the seven Chronicles of Narnia (1950 to 1956), the great lion Aslan, who lays down his life and rises again, pictures Christ.

What his witness points us to

Lewis argued that the deep longing no earthly thing satisfies is itself a signpost toward God. He points past reason and imagination alike to the living Christ, and would insist that his books are only doors: the point is to walk through them to Jesus himself.

Frequently asked questions

Who was C. S. Lewis?

C. S. Lewis (1898 to 1963) was a British literary scholar at Oxford and Cambridge and a former atheist who became a leading Christian writer, author of Mere Christianity and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Is Aslan supposed to be Jesus?

Yes, in effect. Lewis said Aslan, the lion of Narnia who dies and rises again, is what Christ might be like in another world. Aslan is a picture, or supposal, of Jesus.

What did C. S. Lewis write?

His best-known works include Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Problem of Pain, Miracles, Surprised by Joy, A Grief Observed, and the seven Chronicles of Narnia.