Fiction or Christian Thought

[Guest]

As a relative newcomer to Lewis, I am curious how other Lewis fans view his writing. Do you feel his strength is in fiction or more in Christian thought and apologetics? Other than the oft published "Mere Christianity" that makes it's way to the shelves of nearly every Christian reader, what would you say is his second most defining work?

--Cornucopia

[Leslie]

Hi Cornucopia - welcome!

Many would say that the Chronicles of Narnia are his most defining work. I would hazard a guess that these books are his best known, although I don't know how one would verify that.

[Karen]

I'm in the minority here because I don't particularly like fantasy, and never got past LWW to the rest of Narnia. (*looks around warily to see if she's going to be kicked out of the forum*) However, Lewis' apologetic works have had a huge impact on my life. After Mere Christianity, I'd say Screwtape is probably Lewis' most defining work.

[Brian_Burgess]

I think his strength is that there is a Christian influence in everything he writes ... fiction and non-fiction. My personal favorite are the Screwtape Letters.

[Josh]

The irony of that is that Screwtape was also Lewis's least favorite of his works. But, you're right, it usually gets top billing on the short bios on the backside of Lewis's paperbacks, right below the stock picture of Lewis and his pipe.

My personal favorites are not his contiguous apologetic works or his fiction, but the collections of his essays and letters.

[john]

[magpie]

[Áthas]

It is the connection of christian thought and fiction that fascinated me. I watched "Shadowlands" and became interested, read the Chronicels of Narnia, happened to find the Space-trilogy in our loval library and once I had read it, I suddenly was a christian again. No author has been able to influence me in such a way - and to make christianity so attractive.