Mere Christianity—That Nudged Atheists and Agnostics Toward the Faith, and Encouraged and Nurtured Believers
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C.S. LEWIS: A PROFILE IN FAITH C.S. Lewis: A Profile in Faith edited by Joel S. Woodruff, Ed.D. & Thomas A. Tarrants, III, D.Min. Published by the C.S. Lewis Institute http://www.cslewisinstitute.org 1 C.S. LEWIS: A PROFILE IN FAITH Copyright C.S. Lewis: A Profile in Faith C.S. Lewis Institute 8001 Braddock Rd, Suite 301 Springfield, VA 22151 ISBN: 978-1-939477-03-3 Copyright © 2013 This material was previously published in the C.S. Lewis Institute publication Knowing & Doing. Credit Cover photo by Arthur Strong, 1947 2 C.S. LEWIS: A PROFILE IN FAITH Table of Contents Part I: Lewis’s Life and Faith: Chapter 1: The Life of C.S. Lewis (1898 - 1963), by Dr. Lyle W. Dorse Chapter 2: The Cost of C.S. Lewis’s Witness, by Dr. Christopher Mitchell Chapter 3: The Generous Heart of C. S. Lewis, by Dr. Joel S. Woodruff Chapter 4: The Prayer-Life of C.S. Lewis, by Dr. James M. Houston Chapter 5: C. S. Lewis the Evangelist, by Dr. Philip G. Ryken Part II: Lewis’s Thought and Teaching: Chapter 6 C. S. Lewis’s Seven Key Ideas, by Dr. Art Lindsley Chapter 7: C. S. Lewis on Authentic Discipleship, by Dr. Christopher Mitchell Part III: Lewis’s Family & Friends: Chapter 8: The Brother of C. S. Lewis: Major Warren Hamilton Lewis (1895-1973), by Marjorie Lamp Mead Chapter 9: The Friendship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, by Dr. Earl F. Palmer Chapter 10: The Wife of C. S. Lewis: Helen Joy Davidman (Mrs. C.S. Lewis) (1915-1960), by Dr. Lyle Dorsett Part IV: Writers Who Influenced Lewis: Chapter 11: Lewis’s Mentor from the Past: George MacDonald, by Tanya Ingham Chapter 12: The Wiy G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), by Elesha Coffman Chapter 13: Lewis’s Contemporary: Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957), by Dr. Art Lindsley 3 C.S. LEWIS: A PROFILE IN FAITH Editors Thomas A. Tarrants, III, D. Min. Dr. Tarrants serves as Vice President of Ministry at the C.S. Lewis Institute, has lived in the Washington, D.C. area since 1978 and served as President of the Institute from 1998 to April 2010. Prior to coming to the C.S. Lewis Institute, he served as co-pastor of Christ Our Shepherd Church and Director of The School for Urban Mission, both based in Washington, D.C. He is the author of two books and is a consultant for Church Discipleship Services, developing discipleship programs and materials to strengthen the local church. Tom holds a Master of Divinity Degree, as well as a Doctor of Ministry Degree in Christian Spirituality. He is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Church Alliance. Joel S. Woodruff, Ed.D. Dr. Woodruff serves as Vice President of Discipleship & Outreach at the C.S. Lewis Institute and has worked in higher education, "tent-making," nonprofit administration, and pastoral ministries in Alaska, Israel, Hungary, France, and Northern Virginia. He served as Dean of Students, Chaplain, and Professor of Bible & Theology at European Bible Institute, where he helped train Europeans both for professional ministry and to be Christian leaders in the marketplace. Prior to joining the C.S. Lewis Institute, he was on the leadership team of Oakwood Services International, a nonprofit educational and humanitarian organization. He is a graduate of Wheaton College, earned his M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and has a doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University. As a Parish- Pulpit Fellow, he studied Biblical Backgrounds & Archaeology in Israel for a year. 4 C.S. LEWIS: A PROFILE IN FAITH Introduction The C.S. Lewis Institute was founded in 1976 to equip followers of Jesus in the legacy of C.S. Lewis to articulate, defend, and live their faith in personal and public life. Lewis was a sinner saved by grace through faith, who through reason and imagination was led into a relationship with Jesus. While not perfect, his life is an example to us of how God can use soMeone who is radically coMMied to being a disciple of Jesus in all areas of life. He was not a trained theologian, a clergyMan, or priest. Instead, he was an English Literature tutor and lecturer at Oxford University and Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University, who used the gifts that God had given him to point people toward Jesus Christ. His books of fiction, apologetics, science fiction, autobiography, poetry and non- fiction, and his essays and sermons have instructed and inspired millions. The manner in which he lived his life, as well, was a witness to the loving work of the Holy Spirit in his life. This book includes chapters wrien by a variety of authors, including soMe of the greatest Lewis scholars in the world, for the C.S. Lewis Institute’s journal, Knowing & Doing. The chapters together present a profile of the life and faith of C.S. Lewis, and are organized into the following four areas: Lewis’s life and faith, his thought and teaching, his family and friends, and writers who influenced Lewis. We hope that all who read the accoMpanying chapters in this book on Lewis will be inspired to fully dedicate their lives to knowing and doing all that our Savior has coMManded us as His disciples. 5 Part I: Lewis's Life and Faith 6 C.S. LEWIS: A PROFILE IN FAITH CHAPTER 1 C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) Author, Christian Apologist, Oxford Don by Lyle Dorse, Ph.D. Billy Graham Professor of Evangelism, Beeson Divinity School Dr. Dorsett holds the Billy Graham Chair of Evangel- ism at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala- bama. He is the author of numerous books, among them biographies of Joy Davidman (Mrs. C.S. Lewis), E.M. Bounds, Dwight L. Moody, and Billy Sunday. Keenly interested in the life and writings of C.S. Lewis, he has published a volume of Lewis’s Letters to Children, The Essential C.S. Lewis, and Seeking the Secret Place: The Spiritual Formation of C.S. Lewis. His most recent book is A Passion for God: The Spiritual Journey of A.W. Tozer. Lyle also serves as Senior Pastor of Christ the King Anglican Church in Homewood, Alabama. Lyle and his wife, Mary, founded and currently serve as directors of Christ for Children International, a mission to the im- poverished in Mexico. The DorseNs have two children and four grandchildren. 7 C.S. LEWIS: A PROFILE IN FAITH CHAPTER 1 “ ’M tall, fat, rather bald, red- I faced, double-chinned,black- haired, have a deep voice, and wear glasses for reading,” C.S. Lewis wrote to a young adMirer in 1954. If the famous author had been prone to notice clothing, he might have added that his trousers were C.S. Lewis. Used by permission of the Marion E. Wade Center, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. usually in dire need of pressing, his jackets thread bare and blemished by snags and food spots, and his shoes scuffed and worn at the heels. But Jack, as C.S. Lewis’s friends knew him, was not bothered by fashion. It is not that he was slovenly. On the contrary, he was meticulous about the precise use of words, the quality of evidence presently in arguments, and the meter in verse. Nevertheless, the style and condition of personal aire was near the boWoM of his list of concerns, whereas books and ideas were among his top priorities. Early Influences Lewis was born into a bookish family of Protestants in Belfast, Ireland, November 29, 1898. His father, Albert,and his mother, Florence Augusta Hamilton, possessed first-rate minds, and they were members of theChurch of Ireland. Eclectic in their reading tastes, they purchased and read many books, and their love for the printed word was passed on to their children. Jack and Warren (his only sibling, three years his senior)were not only read to aloud and taught to read, they were encouraged to use the large family library. 8 C.S. LEWIS: A PROFILE IN FAITH CHAPTER 1 In his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis recalled early Memories of “endless books.” “There were books in the study, books in the dining rooM,books in the cloakrooM, books (two deep) in the great bookcase on the landing, books in a bedrooM, books piled as high as my shoulder in the cistern aic, books of all kinds,” he remembered, and none were off limits to him. On rainy days—and there were many in northern Ireland—he pulled volumes off the shelves and entered into worlds created by authors such as Conan Doyle, E. Nesbit, Mark Twain, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. After brother Warnie was sent off to boarding school in England, Jack became soMewhat reclusive. He spent more time in books and an imaginary world of “dressed animals” and “knights in armor.” But he did More than read books, he wrote and illustrated his own stories as well. If Warren Lewis’s exile across the Irish Sea to school in 1905 drove Jack further into himself and books, his mother’s death froM cancer in 1908 Made him even more withdrawn. Mrs. Lewis’s death came just three Months prior to Jack’s tenth birthday, and the young man was hurt deeply by her passing. Not only did he lose a mother, his father never fully recovered froM her death. For many years thereafter, both boys felt estranged froM their father, and hoMe life was never warm and satisfying again. The death of Mrs.