Any C.S. Lewis fans out there?

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I’m a big fan of C.S. Lewis. He was the first Christian author I read when I became a Christian, and still enjoy his writings even though he isn’t Catholic (I converted in '96). In any case, I find him more orthodox than many liberal Catholic writers I’ve come across. Anyone else on these boards who like Lewis?
 
I always wanted to start reading him but. . .

Which book would you recommend for the first writing??

Tom
 
I’ve read a few and really enjoyed them, I couldn’t help thinking as I was reading “surely this guy was a Catholic”. I found Mere Christianity to be particularly good. The Chronicles of Narnia were so so, I only got through three books.
 
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Poisson:
I’ve read a few and really enjoyed them, I couldn’t help thinking as I was reading “surely this guy was a Catholic”. I found Mere Christianity to be particularly good. The Chronicles of Narnia were so so, I only got through three books.
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he’s a great author… last I heard, even though his leanings and urgings were catholic… he never converted… what a loss…
:confused:
 
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tmak:
I always wanted to start reading him but. . .

Which book would you recommend for the first writing??

Tom
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*Mere Christianity *would be a good start. He begins by arguing the case for the existence of God and then arguing the case for Christianity. In the last part of the book he discusses Christian morality. Other good books of his include Miracles and The Abolition of Man. Hope this helps! 🙂
 
space ghost:
he’s a great author… last I heard, even though his leanings and urgings were catholic… he never converted… what a loss…
:confused:
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Yes, his writings regarding purgatory, praying for the dead, and the Eucharist (he may not have believed in transubstantiation, but from his writings it appeared he considered it more than a memorial supper) made him sound very Catholic. I think his aversion to converting may have had to do with his Irish Protestant background. I know he also had an aversion to the Catholic doctrine of honoring the saints (he preferred to “pray with the saints” than pray to them), so this may also have been a stumbling block.:hmmm:
 
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RNRobert:
I think his aversion to converting may have had to do with his Irish Protestant background. I know he also had an aversion to the Catholic doctrine of honoring the saints (he preferred to “pray with the saints” than pray to them), so this may also have been a stumbling block.:hmmm:
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I always figured his stumbling block may have had something to do with his marriage to a divorced woman. Perhaps she was not free to be married in a Catholic Church. I’m only speculating though.
 
I’ve read Chronicles of Narnia and have enjoyed them very much. They are children’s stories though so they aren’t deep theologically.

I haven’t read anything else by Lewis but would like to some day.

Here’s my shameless plug for a web site that is following closely to the upcoming movie on The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe which is the first story in the Chronicles of Narnia:

narniaweb.com/

I like this site very much. It was the first web community I joined (which I still participate in). This being the second site I have been hanging around at.
 
I just read Mere Christianity, which I thought was just great! I highly recommend it!
 
Don’t forget The Screwtape Letters! This was the first book I read by C.S. Lewis and my introduction to spiritual warfare. Although as Catholics we know Satan exists, it is useful to remember what his goals are.

Ellen
 
Hello all!

I admit that I have not taken the time to read all of the posts, so let me apologize ahead of time if I end up repeating questions or information!

I am a senior at the University of North Dakota involved with FOCUS (the Fellowship of Catholic University Students). One of the missionaries that serves our campus helped to start a C.S. Lewis book club. We call ourselves the Neo-Inklings, though I’m not sure that we live up to that title! We were an ecumenical group, mostly comprised of Catholics and Evagelical Protestants. As was stated earlier, his ideas are VERY Catholic, which made for some wonderful discussions, especially as regards liturgy and the faith and works debate. We met on Saturday afternoons for a couple of hours and worked our way through Mere Christianity and The Great Divorce. Next semester, in addition to reading Lewis, we intend to begin bringing our own writing to share with the group - SO MUCH FUN!!! One of the young men in our group, raised in the Assembly of God tradition, began attending daily mass and is taking steps to join the church in the near future! God is so good!

The question often came up, at least among the Catholic Students, that if Lewis was so Catholic in his beliefs, why did he never convert to Catholocism? A professor at Ave Maria, Joseph Pierce, wrote a book called “C.S. Lewis and the Catholic Church” which, sadly, I have not yet read. In this work, Pierce begins offers his insight into this question.

I’ve heard it said that Lewis saw himself as the “mere Christian” - someone that was accesible to those from all different backgrounds - perhaps he thought he would alienate certain people by converting to Catholicism? Any other ideas?

Under the Mercy,

Miss Elizabeth Bennet
 
You might be interested to know that there was a similar thread in early June:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=2243

I am going to copy and paste my reply from there below, because upon second reading, it is still exactly what I want to say here! :d
I heartily recommend The Space Trilogy (Out Of The Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength). I just finished reading the first two (the third is next). Amazing!

In Out Of The Silent Planet, our hero travels to a planet that has never experienced The Fall. In Perelandra, our hero travels to a planet where The Fall is nearly at hand as the Devil makes his temptation attempt.

These books got me thinking about Original Sin in ways that I had never contemplated before. Perelandra is the more heavily theological of the two.

One of these days (after I read the third book) I need to start a thread to discuss these, as I am dying to talk about them with other Catholics!
 
I think it is most interesting that a Catholic, Tolkien, finally convinced him to make the plunge.

Tolkien convinced him that Jesus was a myth, but the True Myth of all ages. The Myth that became Truth.

Lewis is responsible for my own understanding of how to peer through biblical lens as opposed to secular lens. Lewis was definitely used by God.

My favorites are Mere Christianity and the Screwtape Letters; I also enjoyed the myriad of essays found in God in the Dock.

Lewis and Tolkien were good friends and I think both complemented each other.

A favorite quote of Lewis (from memory, may not be exact):

“In science, we are reading the notes to a poem. In Christianity, we find the poem itself.”

K
 
I love his books, I find that his thinking was quite Catholic, unfortunately he had to let his puritanical predjudices get in the way. I heard a quote from him describing how great purgatory must be, i felt it was the best description of Purgatory. He says something like “Why would a soul want to go unclean before God? it is a great gift that he gives to us to allow us to clean ourselves.” Anyhow, Go Lewis!
 
Mere Christianity was absolutely instrumental in bringing me over the threshold of faith. It was the first logical defense of Christianity I had ever read and made me realize I wouldn’t have to check my brain at the door in order to believe (extensive experience with Fundamentalists had convinced me this was so).

In the intervening 5 years, I have purchased, read and re-read many of Lewis works. I am astounded that no one yet has mentioned probably his best book. ‘The Great Divorce’ is a short but very powerful work exploring heaven, hell and purgatory.

The best thing about Lewis? An offhand comment in one of his books about G.K. Chesterton which led to my discovering probably the greatest thinker of the 20th century (G.K. of course). Lewis stated that the The Everlasting Man was on of the main books influential in his own acceptance of faith. In any event, here’s my Lewis library(in no particular order)…

Mere Christianity(apologetics) - 5 stars
The Great Divorce(fictional apologetics) - 5 stars
The Joyful Christian(apologetics) - 3 stars
Till We Have Faces (fiction) - 4 stars
The Problem of Pain (apologetics) - 3 stars
The Four Loves (apologetics) - 4 stars
The Seeing Eye (apologetics) - 3 stars
A Grief Observed (spirituality) - 4 stars
The Space Trilogy (science fiction) - 5 stars
Chronicles of Narnia (children’s fictin) - 5 stars

…Obviously all categorizations and ratings are my humble opinion.
 
I would have to add: “Surpised by Joy”

an excerpt concerning his conversion experience:

“***You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, 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 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. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms…The hardness of God is kinder than the softeness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation.” ***
Sigh

K****
 
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LizzieBennet:
I’ve heard it said that Lewis saw himself as the “mere Christian” - someone that was accesible to those from all different backgrounds - perhaps he thought he would alienate certain people by converting to Catholicism? Any other ideas?
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I think that may be the reason Lewis was and is so popular with Christians across a wide variety of denominations. He focused on the core beliefs common to Catholic, Protestant and Anglican creeds and never attacked beliefs other denominations.

However, I do believe he gave the Catholic Church a backhanded compliment. In Christian Reflections (I have the abridged version called *The Seeing Eye) *there is a paper entitled “Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism.” He was addressing a group of Anglican seminarians and was criticizing liberal theologians. He told them that preaching a theology that denied the resurrection (or miracles in general) would result in one of two effects their parishioners:

“It will make him a Roman Catholic or an atheist. What you offer him he will not recognize as Christianity. If he holds to what he calls Christianity he will leave a church in which it is no longer taught and look for one where it is. If he agrees witrh your version he will no longer call himself a Christian and no longer come to church. In his crude, course way, he would respect you much more than you did the same.”
 
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SteveG:
In any event, here’s my Lewis library(in no particular order)…

Mere Christianity(apologetics) - 5 stars
The Great Divorce(fictional apologetics) - 5 stars
The Joyful Christian(apologetics) - 3 stars
Till We Have Faces (fiction) - 4 stars
The Problem of Pain (apologetics) - 3 stars
The Four Loves (apologetics) - 4 stars
The Seeing Eye (apologetics) - 3 stars
A Grief Observed (spirituality) - 4 stars
The Space Trilogy (science fiction) - 5 stars
Chronicles of Narnia (children’s fictin) - 5 stars

…Obviously all categorizations and ratings are my humble opinion.
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In addition to those, I also have:

*God in the Dock: *A collection of essays and speeches. One paper, “Priestesses in the church,” ought to be read by anyone who supports female ordination. It was written 30 years before the Episcopalian and Anglican churches started ordaining woman. Lewis said that “the Church of England would be torn in shreds by such an operation.” Considering the state of the Anglican/Episcopalian communion today, I would have to regard that statement as truly prophetic.
Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on prayer: Letters to a ficticious friend about prayer
*Of other worlds: *Some essays on writing, and some of his short stories.
*The Abolition of Man: *How education shapes man’s morality (considering the sorry state of education and morality today, I’d say the book is as relevant as ever).
*The Weight of Glory: *A collection of essays
*Letters to an American Lady: *A collection of letters written by Lewis to an American convert to Catholicism, to whom he provided financial aid.
Miracles: A book defending the rationality of miracles
 
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kallen:
I would have to add: “Surpised by Joy”

an excerpt concerning his conversion experience:

“***You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, 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 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. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms…The hardness of God is kinder than the softeness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation.” ***
Sigh

K****
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Yeah. That’s one of my favourite bits from CS Lewis. I’ve only read Surprised by Joy and The Screwtape Letters. I thought it was amazing how he captured in print the essence of the reluctant conversion experience. I remember wondering, as I was reading these works, whether or not those who were never atheists would ‘understand’ what he’s getting at?
 
My two favorites:

Mere Christianity
The Great Divorce

also read Screwtape letters and Miracles both wonderful books. Miracles was the toughest read.
 
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