When The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is released to theaters on December 9, C.S. Lewis will no doubt become part of the national conversation—again. This issue of Christianity Today focuses on Lewis's rising influence over the decades, but the movie will have a life of its own. For complete coverage of the film, you'll want to check out ChristianityTodayMovies.com. Managing editor Mark Moring has pulled together a tremendous lineup to help understand the movie and all things surrounding it.

As might be expected, C.S. "Jack" Lewis has been no stranger to people on our hallway. I was introduced to Lewis in high school by way of the first volume of his science fiction trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet. Another CT staffer who first read Lewis in high school is senior associate editor Stan Guthrie. He says, "The first book I read by Lewis was Mere Christianity. I had already made a decision for Christ as a teenager coming out of a secular worldview, but I was looking for intellectual reasons to bolster my faith. Lewis amply provided them."

Many of our staffers met Lewis as children through his Narnia series, some before they were Christians and some without realizing that Lewis was a Christian. Rob Moll, associate online editor, has an interesting two-part story that led to a momentous change in his life.

"In 6th grade, my public school teacher read The Horse and His Boy to our class. That got me reading the whole Narnia series. The funny thing is, I knew nothing about Lewis being a Christian.

"It wasn't until my senior year in college, when I was assigned Till We Have Faces, that I learned more about Lewis. We were studying world religious literature, and Lewis was the Christian representative. At the time, I was running ...