C s lewis biography history project

Kennedywhich occurred on the same day approximately 55 minutes following Lewis's collapseas did the death of English writer Aldous Huxleyauthor of Brave New World.

C s lewis biography history project

Kennedy, C. Lewis began his academic career as an undergraduate student at Oxford Universitywhere he won a triple first, the highest honours in three areas of study. His The Allegory of Love helped reinvigorate the serious study of late medieval narratives such as the Roman de la Rose. His last academic workThe Discarded Image : An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literatureis a summary of the medieval c s lewis biography history project view, a reference to the "discarded image" of the cosmos.

Lewis was a prolific writer, and his circle of literary friends became an informal discussion society known as the " Inklings ", including J. Glyer points to December as the Inklings' beginning date. The religious and conservative Betjeman detested Lewis, whereas the anti-establishment Tynan retained a lifelong admiration for him.

Of Tolkien, Lewis writes in Surprised by Joy :. When I began teaching for the English Faculty, I made two other friends, both Christians these queer people seemed now to pop up on every side who were later to give me much help in getting over the last stile. They were HVV Dyson Friendship with the latter marked the breakdown of two old prejudices.

At my first coming into the world I had been implicitly warned never to trust a Papistand at my first coming into the English Faculty explicitly never to trust a philologist. Tolkien was both. In addition to his scholarly work, Lewis wrote several popular novels, including the science fiction Space Trilogy for adults and the Narnia fantasies for children.

Most deal implicitly with Christian themes such as sin, humanity's fall from graceand redemption. His first novel after becoming a Christian was The Pilgrim's Regresswhich depicted his journey to Christianity in the allegorical style of John Bunyan 's The Pilgrim's Progress. The book was poorly received by critics at the time, [ 23 ] although David Martyn Lloyd-Jonesone of Lewis's contemporaries at Oxford, gave him much-valued encouragement.

Asked by Lloyd-Jones when he would write another book, Lewis replied, "When I understand the meaning of prayer. The Space Trilogy also called the Cosmic Trilogy or Ransom Trilogy dealt with what Lewis saw as the dehumanizing trends in contemporary science fiction. The first book, Out of the Silent Planetwas apparently written following a conversation with his friend J.

Tolkien about these trends. Lewis agreed to write a "space travel" story and Tolkien a "time travel" one, but Tolkien never completed " The Lost Road ", linking his Middle-earth to the modern world. Lewis's main character Elwin Ransom is based in part on Tolkien, a fact to which Tolkien alludes in his letters. The second novel, Perelandradepicts a new Garden of Eden on the planet Venus, a new Adam and Eveand a new "serpent figure" to tempt Eve.

The story can be seen as an account of what might have happened if the terrestrial Adam had defeated the serpent and avoided the Fall of Manwith Ransom intervening in the novel to "ransom" the new Adam and Eve from the deceptions of the enemy. The third novel, That Hideous Strengthdevelops the theme of nihilistic science threatening traditional human values, embodied in Arthurian legend.

Many ideas in the trilogy, particularly opposition to dehumanization as portrayed in the third book, are presented more formally in The Abolition of Manbased on a series of lectures by Lewis at Durham University in Lewis stayed in Durham, where he says he was overwhelmed by the magnificence of the cathedral. That Hideous Strength is in fact set in the environs of "Edgestow" university, a small English university like Durham, though Lewis disclaims any other resemblance between the two.

Walter HooperLewis's literary executor, discovered a fragment of another science-fiction novel apparently written by Lewis called The Dark Tower. Ransom appears in the story but it is not clear whether the book was intended as part of the same series of novels. The manuscript was eventually published inthough Lewis scholar Kathryn Lindskoog doubts its authenticity.

The Chronicles of Narniaconsidered a classic of children's literature, is a series of seven fantasy novels. Written between and and illustrated by Pauline Baynesthe series is Lewis's most popular work, having sold over million copies in 41 languages Kelly Guthmann It has been adapted several times, complete or in part, for radio, television, stage and cinema.

The books contain Christian ideas intended to be easily accessible to young c s lewises biography history project. In addition to Christian themes, Lewis also borrows characters from Greek and Roman mythologyas well as traditional British and Irish fairy tales. Lewis wrote several works on Heaven and Hell. One of these, The Great Divorceis a short novella in which a few residents of Hell take a bus ride to Heaven, where they are met by people who dwell there.

The proposition is that they can stay if they choose, in which case they can call the place where they had come from " Purgatory ", instead of "Hell", but many find it not to their taste. This work deliberately echoes two other more famous works with a similar theme: the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieriand Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.

Another short work, The Screwtape Letterswhich he dedicated to J. Tolkien, consists of letters of advice from senior demon Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood on the best ways to tempt a particular human and secure his damnation. It is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche from the unusual perspective of Psyche's sister. It is deeply concerned with religious ideas, but the setting is entirely paganand the connections with specific Christian beliefs are left implicit.

Before Lewis's conversion to Christianity, he published two books: Spirits in Bondagea collection of poems, and Dymera single narrative poem. Both were published under the pen name Clive Hamilton. He also wrote The Four Loveswhich rhetorically explains four categories of love: friendshiperosaffectionand charity. Ina partial draft was discovered of Language and Human Naturewhich Lewis had begun co-writing with J.

Tolkien, but which was never completed. In an original poem was discovered in a collection of documents in Special Collections at the University of Leeds. Lewis is also regarded by many as one of the most influential Christian apologists of his time, in addition to his career as an English professor and an author of fiction. Mere Christianity was voted best book of the 20th century by Christianity Today in Lewis was very interested in presenting an argument from reason against metaphysical naturalism and for the existence of God.

Mere ChristianityThe Problem of Painand Miracles were all concerned, to one degree or another, with refuting popular objections to Christianity, such as the question, "How could a good God allow pain to exist in the world? According to George Sayer, losing a debate with Elizabeth Anscombealso a Christian, led Lewis to re-evaluate his role as an apologist, and his future works concentrated on devotional literature and children's books.

Certainly, Anscombe herself believed that Lewis's argument, though flawed, was getting at something very important; she thought that this came out more in the improved version of it that Lewis presented in a subsequent edition of Miracles — though that version also had 'much to criticize in it'. Lewis wrote an autobiography titled Surprised by Joywhich places special emphasis on his own conversion.

His most famous works, the Chronicles of Narniacontain many strong Christian messages and are often considered allegory. Lewis, an expert on the subject of allegory, maintained that the books were not allegory, and preferred to call the Christian aspects of them " suppositional ". As Lewis wrote in a letter to a Mrs. Hook in December If Aslan represented the immaterial Deity in the same way in which Giant Despair [a character in The Pilgrim's Progress ] represents despair, he would be an allegorical figure.

In reality, he is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question, "What might Christ become like, if there really were a world like Narnia and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours? Prior to his conversion, Lewis used the word "Moslem" to refer to Muslims, adherents of Islam; following his conversion, however, he started using " Mohammedans " and described Islam as a Christian heresy rather than an independent religion.

In a much-cited passage from Mere ChristianityLewis challenged the view that Jesus was a great moral teacher but not God. He argued that Jesus made several implicit claims to divinity, which would logically exclude that claim:. I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.

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. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher.

He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. Although this argument is sometimes called "Lewis's trilemma", Lewis did not invent it but rather developed and popularized it. Lewis's Christian apologetics, and this argument in particular, have been criticized. Philosopher John Beversluis described Lewis's arguments as "textually careless and theologically unreliable", [ ] and this particular argument as logically unsound and an example of a false dilemma.

Wright criticizes Lewis for failing to recognize the significance of Jesus's Jewish identity and setting — an oversight which "at best, drastically short-circuits the argument" and which lays Lewis open to criticism that his argument "doesn't work as history, and it backfires dangerously when historical critics question his reading of the gospels", although he argues that this "doesn't undermine the eventual claim".

Lewis used a similar argument in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobewhen the old Professor advises his young guests that their sister's claims of a magical world must logically be taken as either lies, madness, or truth. One of the main theses in Lewis's apologia is that there is a common morality known throughout humanity, which he calls " natural law ".

In the first five chapters of Mere ChristianityLewis discusses the idea that people have a standard of behaviour to which they expect people to adhere. Lewis claims that people all over the earth know what this law is and when they break it. He goes on to claim that there must be someone or something behind such a universal set of principles.

These then are the two points that I wanted to make. First, that 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. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in.

Lewis also portrays Universal Morality in his works of fiction. In the second chapter of Mere ChristianityLewis recognizes that "many people find it difficult to understand what this Law of Human Nature In responding to the second idea Lewis notes that people often complain that one set of moral ideas is better than another, but that this actually argues for there existing some "Real Morality" to which they are comparing other moralities.

Finally, he notes that sometimes differences in moral codes are exaggerated by people who confuse differences in beliefs about morality with differences in beliefs about facts:. I have met people who exaggerate the differences, because they have not distinguished between differences of morality and differences of belief about facts. For example, one man said to me, "Three hundred years ago people in England were putting witches to death.

If we did — if we really thought that there were people going about who had sold themselves to the devil and received supernatural powers from him in return and were using these powers to kill their neighbours or drive them mad or bring bad weather, surely we would all agree that if anyone deserved the death penalty, then these filthy quislings did.

There is no difference of moral principle here: the difference is simply about matter of fact. It may be a great advance in knowledge not to believe in witches: there is no moral advance in not executing them when you do not think they are there. You would not call a man humane for ceasing to set mousetraps if he did so because he believed there were no mice in the house.

Lewis also had fairly progressive views on the topic of "animal morality", in particular the suffering of animals, as is evidenced by several of his essays: most notably, On Vivisection [ ] and "On the Pains of Animals". Lewis eschewed political involvement and partisan politics, took little interest in transitory political issues, and held many politicians in disdain.

He refused a knighthood for fear that his detractors might then use it to accuse him of holding a political viewpoint, and he saw his role as a Christian apologist. His worldview was Christian, but he also did not believe in establishment of Christian parties. He avoided the political sphere, although he was not ignorant of it. Lewis referred to this work as almost his own favourite, although he felt it had been largely ignored.

Instead, he paid attention to ideas, with the intent of recovering them. In The Abolition of Man"Lewis offered the postmodern world a vision of reality that could make sense of our lived moral experiences, and he put forth a powerful defense of natural law as a necessary basis for "the very idea of a rule which is not tyranny or an obedience which is not slavery".

Lewis continues to attract a wide readership. InThe Times ranked him eleventh on their list of "the 50 greatest British writers since ". His Christian apologetics are read and quoted by members of many Christian denominations. Flowers were laid by Walter Hoopertrustee and literary advisor to the Lewis Estate. An address was delivered by former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it I see c s lewis biography history project else. Lewis has been the subject of several biographies, a few of which were written by close friends, such as Roger Lancelyn Green and George Sayer. The Chronicles of Narnia has been particularly influential.

Rowling 's Harry Potter. Lewis's work, [ ] accusing Lewis of featuring religious propaganda, misogyny, racism, and emotional sadism in his books. Most of Lewis's posthumous work has been edited by his literary executor Walter Hooper. Kathryn Lindskoogan independent Lewis scholar, argued that Hooper's scholarship is not reliable and that he has made false statements and attributed forged works to Lewis.

Her fanciful theories have been pretty thoroughly discredited. Several C. Lewis Societies exist around the world, including one which was founded in Oxford in The C. Lewis Society at the University of Oxford meets at Pusey House during term time to discuss papers on the life and works of Lewis and the other Inklings, and generally appreciate all things Lewisian.

InThe Most Reluctant Converta biographical drama about Lewis's life and conversion, was released. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read View source View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikisource Wikidata item. British writer, lay theologian, and scholar — Joy Davidman.

First World War and Oxford University. Had God designed the world, it would not be A world so frail and faulty as we see. Chair at Cambridge University. Lewis [ 60 ]. Main article: Lewis's trilemma. Further information: The Abolition of Man. Main article: C. Lewis bibliography. McGrath, Alister Tyndale House. ISBN Retrieved 9 August Mere Christianity.

New York: Harper Collins. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online ed. Oxford University Press. Subscription or UK public library membership required. Mathematics Today. Lewis Timeline". Lewis Foundation. Archived from the original on 16 May Retrieved 11 March Archived from the original on 28 February Retrieved 28 February Jack's Life: The Life of C.

Lewis, Part 1, Little Lea". Lewis Institute. Archived from the original on 1 July Retrieved 7 March Jack: C. Lewis and His Times. ISBN X. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. Archived from the original on 6 April Retrieved 4 February Beyond the Shadowlands: C. Lewis on Heaven and Hell. New York: MacMillan St. The Magical World of Aleister Crowley.

Simply C. Crossway Books. Orlando, FL: Harvest Books. It appears your browser does not have it turned on. Please see your browser settings for this feature. EMBED for wordpress. Want more? Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! Publication date Topics Lewis, C. There are no reviews yet. Lewis also continued his love affair with classic mythology and narratives during his later years: His book Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold featured the story of Psyche and Cupid.

Lewis' landmark series, The Chronicles of Narniahas seen a number of on-screen iterations, including a cartoon version of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe that was released in and a film series. A movie version of The Silver Chair was slated to hit theaters in the near future, with filming starting in the winter of Lewis' relationship with his wife, Joy, has also been depicted in Shadowlandspresented as a play and two films; one of the film versions was directed by Richard Attenborough and starred Anthony Hopkins as Lewis.

During the s, Lewis began writing the seven books that would comprise The Chronicles of Narnia children's series, with The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe being the first release. The story focused on four siblings who, during wartime, walk through an armoire to enter the magical world of Narnia, a land resplendent with mythical creatures and talking animals.

Throughout the series, a variety of Biblical themes are presented; one prominent character is Aslan, a lion and the ruler of Narnia, who has been interpreted as a Jesus Christ figure. Lewis would assert that his Narnia stories weren't a direct allegory to the real world. Though the book received some negative reviews, it was generally well-received by readers, and the series retained its international popularity over the following decades.

InLewis joined the faculty of Cambridge University as a literature professor, and in he married an American English teacher, Joy Gresham, with whom he had been in correspondence. Lewis was full of happiness during the years of their marriage, though Gresham died of cancer in Lewis grieved deeply for his wife and shared his thoughts in the book A Grief Observedusing a pen name.

InLewis resigned from his Cambridge position after experiencing heart trouble. However, the school closed down inand Lewis returned to Ireland. After one year, though, Lewis was sent back to England to continue with his studies. But this time the experience was mostly positive. As a teen, he loved poetry, particularly the works of Homer and Virgil.

In the yearLewis enrolled at Oxford University. There, he was a great scholar acquiring a triple first, which was one of the highest honors achievable. Nonetheless, inhis college life was a bit interrupted when he decided to volunteer for active duty in WW1, to serve in the British military. After WWI inLewis went back to Oxford where he took up his studies once again with great enthusiasm.

Inhe graduated with first-class honors in Latin and Greek literature, philosophy and ancient history. After his graduation from Oxford, Lewis was appointed to a vital teaching post in the English department there. He remained at Oxford for almost three decades.