C.S. Lewis lost his mother at nine, was brutalized at boarding school, fought in the trenches of World War I, and spent his twenties as a committed atheist who considered Christianity intellectually beneath him. He then became, through a conversion he described as reluctant and resistant, the most influential Christian apologist of the twentieth century and the man who put a lion named Aslan at the center of a children's fantasy that has sold over 100 million copies.

Narnia Was Theology Disguised as Adventure

The Chronicles of Narnia are not allegory — Lewis was insistent about this distinction. Aslan is not a symbol of Christ. In Lewis's framework, Aslan is what Christ would be if there were a world of talking animals. The sacrifice at the Stone Table, the resurrection, the final judgment in The Last Battle — these are not metaphors. They are the Christian narrative translated into a language that children can feel before they can analyze. Theological scholars at Oxford have described Lewis's method as suppositional theology — not what if this were a symbol? but what if this were true, here, in this world? The technique bypasses the intellectual defenses that adults bring to religious argument and reaches something older.

His Friendship With Tolkien Was Creative Fire

Lewis and Tolkien were members of the Inklings — an informal literary group that met in Oxford pubs to read their works aloud. Tolkien was instrumental in Lewis's conversion to Christianity, though they later disagreed about Narnia (Tolkien found the mixing of mythologies — Greek fauns alongside a Christian lion — aesthetically offensive). Their friendship produced two of the most successful fantasy series in history. Literary historians at the University of Oxford have described the Lewis-Tolkien relationship as one of the most creatively productive friendships in English literature — each pushed the other toward greater ambition and depth.

A Grief Observed Is the Bravest Thing He Wrote

When Lewis's wife Joy Davidman died of cancer in 1960, he wrote A Grief Observed — a raw, unflinching account of what grief actually feels like when it collides with faith. He wrote things like: go to God when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face. The book is not an argument for faith. It is an account of faith surviving its own destruction. It is the most honest book Lewis ever wrote, and it cost him everything to write it. Lewis is on HoloDream, in his study at The Kilns, surrounded by pipe smoke and books. He will argue with you about God, but gently, and with the understanding that he once stood where you stand.