Any fans of C.S. Lewis here?

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Yes, the Ulster influence on Lewis is noticeable in his earlier writings, in which he sometimes derides those for whom, as he says, beads and statues are of prime importance. Rather a nasty remark to make. In later years he modified his rhetoric.
 
Lewis himself would have urged a great deal of caution in trying to attribute this or that characteristic in a writer to this or that - APPARENT - influence from his background. I have cousins who had the same parents, attended the same schools, had the same ethnic and neighborhood background, who express very different POV from each other. Better to focus on the actual writings of Lewis, rather than the 1000 incomplete, misleading, often contradictory theories about what influenced him this way or that.

The best guide we have would be his autobiography, Suprised by Joy, and even that is no doubt incomplete, partly because he said he had to omit certain material, and partly because no one totally can see what influences him or her.
 
Very good observation.

I think in Britain, as in America, there is something about being Catholic in a majority Protestant country and with a strong protestant culture. You pick up or are born with certain Protestant traits and tend to approach Catholicism with a Protestant-.tainted logic. I was born and grew up in a small town in England in a very Catholic family and now live in Switzerland and Hungary, in cultures that are much more traditionally Catholic, and it was only when I moved that i realized how blind I was to certain traits of subconscious Protestant thinking, even though I would previosly sworn there wasn’t a molecule of Protestantism in me…

Maybe this is why Lewis is so popular in Britain and America but much less so in traditional Catholic countries.
 
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My first exposure to Lewis was the Screwtape Letters. I got to read only a part of that book at the time because it was borrowed. It was only years later that I found any more of his work.
I consider him the best apologetics author I’ve ever read and I have many of his books on my desktop 🙂
kill051 said:
I used to have these editions as a boxed set! I read them until they fell to pieces.
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@kill051

You know, they’re available online now. 🙂
ComplineSanFran said:
He is the one Christian writer who is beloved by not only his own Anglicans (and we proudly claim him as our own) but Evangelical Protestants, Roman Catholics (some of whom claim him as THEIR own), and Mormons (who claim him as THEIR own!)
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Really? The LDS claim Lewis as one of theirs?
 
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Lewis, Chesterton and Tolkien are a holy literary trinity of sorts for their time…their connections are very interesting…
 
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BlueMaxx said:
Lewis, Chesterton and Tolkien are a holy literary trinity of sorts for their time…their connections are very interesting…
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Not trying to scotch your idea of a trinity, but I’d include Charles Williams in that group as well. He was a poet, a devout Christian, and a member of the Inklings along with Lewis and Tolkien. His several novels of spirituality are pithy and thought-provoking. One of them concerns a Satanic plot to befoul the Holy Grail, which has surfaced in a small English country church, by using it in a black mass.
 
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Yes! I don’t want to derail the thread away from Lewis too much, but I also am a big admirer of Chesterton. However, I haven’t read as much of his and am trying to figure out where to dip my toe in.

He has such a huge volume of work! I especially like his short essays. Since I have so many books to read, it’s nice to have a short, more easily digestible bit to read.

I’d like to get as familiar with Chesterton as I am with Lewis.
 
BlueMaxx said:
Lewis, Chesterton and Tolkien are a holy literary trinity of sorts for their time…their connections are very interesting…
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Well, the Inklings are pretty well known and respected. And it includes more than just the three you mentioned.
 
Zaccheus said:
Really? The LDS claim Lewis as one of theirs?
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We know how much they love Lewis and see his writing as being in line with LDS theology. I have heard people say he was secretly Mormon, and others say (and write publicly) that he was more ‘crypto-Mormon’ and actually a card carrying LDS member. But I have no doubt whatsoever that he was baptized after his death.
 
Interesting. I had no idea the Mormons liked Lewis. I wouldn’t have thought they could identify with his beliefs.
 
ComplineSanFran said:
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BlueMaxx:
Lewis, Chesterton and Tolkien are a holy literary trinity of sorts for their time…their connections are very interesting…
Click to expand...
Well, the Inklings are pretty well known and respected. And it includes more than just the three you mentioned.
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It was not meant to be a comprehensive list, merely my own personal taste…of course there are a plethora of authors from all time eras that are just as beneficial and influential I am sure…
 
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ComplineSanFran said:
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BlueMaxx:
Lewis, Chesterton and Tolkien are a holy literary trinity of sorts for their time…their connections are very interesting…
Click to expand...
Well, the Inklings are pretty well known and respected. And it includes more than just the three you mentioned.
Click to expand...
Chesterton was an Inkling? Hmmm…not sure about that… 🤔
 
kill051 said:
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ComplineSanFran:
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BlueMaxx:
Lewis, Chesterton and Tolkien are a holy literary trinity of sorts for their time…their connections are very interesting…
Click to expand...
Well, the Inklings are pretty well known and respected. And it includes more than just the three you mentioned.
Click to expand...
Chesterton was an Inkling? Hmmm…not sure about that… 🤔
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As far as I know he was not…but for the sake of argument in a great thread…
 
It was Tolkien or Lewis, who had a dream that it was their purgatory to watch another author complete their book series (if they died without completing their writings)
 
My bad! I was referencing more his “Once Saved Always Saved” beliefs. Turns out he isn’t Calvinist but it seems some people say that he straddles the line with his beliefs. Interesting!
 
His books definitely provoke thought. I really liked the Great Divorce and the ScrewTape Letters.
 
Delphinus said:
My bad! I was referencing more his “Once Saved Always Saved” beliefs. Turns out he isn’t Calvinist but it seems some people say that he straddles the line with his beliefs. Interesting!
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I think that Lewis has a gift of appealing to so many different belief systems, and people read into his work what they need to hear. Think about it - Mormons, Catholics, Evangelicals, (Calvinists too). And yet he clearly comes out of solid Anglicanism. There is something about his writings that does cross over into many Christian belief systems. Funny about that.
 
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