Clive Staples Lewis

C.S. Lewis

On this day in 1963, (the day more often remembered for the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy) C. S. Lewis died.  An Irish-born British novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist, Lewis was one of the intellectual giants and one of the most thought-provoking and influential Christian writers of the twentieth century. I first read his work as a college student but continue to find insight and inspiration from his articulate view of God's interaction in the world and in our lives.

More recently a new generation has become acquainted with his work through the movie serialization of The Chronicles of Narnia. Among his other enduring works are The Screwtape Letters, and The Space Trilogy.  Close friends with J. R. R. Tolkien (of Lord of the Rings fame), Lewis was a leading figure in the English faculty at Oxford University and in the informal Oxford literary group known as the "Inklings."  

According to his memoir Surprised by Joy, Lewis had been baptized in the Church of Ireland at birth, but fell away from his faith during his adolescence. Owing to the influence of Tolkien and other friends, at the age of 32 Lewis returned to Christianity, becoming "a very ordinary layman of the Church of England."  His conversion had a profound effect on his work, and his wartime radio broadcasts on the subject of Christianity brought him great notoriety.

In 1956, he married the American writer Joy Gresham, 17 years his junior, who died only four years later at the age of 45. That relationship is chronicled in a tender movie entitled Shadowlands. The story follows Lewis as he meets an American fan, Joy, whom he befriends and eventually marries. The story deals with his struggle with deep personal pain and grief: Lewis, who once intellectualized that one should endure suffering with patience, soon found that such simple answers no longer applied when his dear Joy became afflicted with and succumbed to cancer.

Lewis' works 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.

If you are looking for a great gift for a young, inquiring mind, consider the works of CS Lewis!