Christian History Home > Issue 7 > Beyond the Double Bolted Door
Beyond the Double Bolted Door
The death of his wife severely tested Lewis's faith as well as his theology
DR. JOHN BEVERSLUIS Dr. John Beversluis is a professor of philosophy at Butler University. He has recently written C.S. Lewis and the Search for Rational Religion published by Eerdmans. This article treats some of the themes developed in more detail in that volume | posted 7/01/1985 12:00AM
In assessing Lewis’s significance as a Christian apologist, the key is chronology. He is, of course. best known for his writings of the ’40s, and it is as the author of such celebrated books as Mere Christianity, The Pilgrim’s Regress, Surprised by Joy, The Problem of Pain, and Miracles that he is revered by many readers. But these early books are neither the whole nor even the most important part of the story. There is another more disconcerting side to the C.S. Lewis phenomenon—namely, the dark legacy of his later years. If we ignore or minimize it, we will be left with a very one-sided and highly misleading picture of Lewis and end up valuing him for the wrong reasons.
There is, of course, no denying the fact that, so far as the prospect for Christian apologetics is concerned, the Lewis of the ’40s is a far more encouraging figure. In these early books he fairly leaps from the page as the 20th century’s foremost defender of the faith, “the Apostle to the Skeptics” confronting his unbelieving ... To view this item, you must be a member of ChristianHistory.net.
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